No agreement on legality of ban on meetings

Dar es Salaam. There was a serious disagreement yesterday between the government on the one side and activists and opposition politicians on the other, over whether the police ban on political parties internal meetings announced on Wednesday,  was legal.
While officials from the Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC) and of those from Chadema said the police ban was illegal, the minister for Constitutional and Legal Affairs Dr Harrison Mwakyembe, defended the police move, claiming it was legal simply because the Police has the powers to disallow unlawful assembly when there are indicators of breach of peace. The ban on internal meetings came a day after four policemen were killed while on guard at a CRDB Bank branch in Mbande on the outskirts of Dar es Salaam.
The police claimed the killings were an act of vengeance against the Force caused by incitement from a group of people. It further said the incitement is the work of internal political meetings and social media campaigns.  
Yesterday’s disagreement is part of the back-and-forth involving the government on the one side and the opposition and activists  on the other over what the latter say is well calculated efforts and plans to kill the Opposition and stifle democracy.

President Magufuli banned political rallies and demonstrations on June 23, 2014 till the next General Election in 2020, saying people needed time to participate in development projects instead of politicking.  Dr Magufuli’s ban provoked strong reaction from political stakeholders, with Chadema saying it would launch an operation known in its Kiswahili acronym as Ukuta on September 1 to challenge the ban.
Chadema secretary general Vincent Mashinji told reporters yesterday that the police had neither constitutional nor legal powers to ban party meetings.
He added that by using the excuse of the “killings of the four policemen and the indicators of more planned violence” the police were usurping the powers of the President to declare a state of emergency.
“Only the President can declare a state of emergency through Article 32 of the Tanzania Constitution of 1977,” Dr Mashinji noted.
The director of LHRC Helen Kijo-Bisimba said the ban on both public rallies and internal meetings contravened the Tanzanian Constitution. No individual, including the President can have the powers to unilaterally suspend those rights, according to Dr Kijo-Bisimba.
“We advise President John Magufuli to build a habit of ensuring that his statements do not contravene the laws of the land and people’s rights. He must understand that his statements and orders are such that they can lead to violations of rights and privileges of Tanzanians. We also advise him to recant his ban on public rallies till 2020 as it contravenes article 3(1) and 20(1) of the Constitution, the Political Parties Act of 1992 and the Political Parties Regulations of 2007,” Dr Bisimba said.
But Dr Mwakyembe yesterday urged political parties to respect the ban on political meetings as it was legal, binding, and permanent. “The ban is aimed at maintaining peace and so it is a legal. Every political party, every Tanzania must respect the ban,” Dr Mwakyembe said.
He advised the opposition to engage the government in talks and negotiations if they do not agree with the ban.
However, Mr Tundu Lissu, Chadema’s legal adviser and the MP for Singida East, said the ban on internal meetings, which was an extension of the ban on public rallies, was in essence a prohibition of political activities in the country because no political party can survive without holding both internal meetings and public rallies.