A sigh of relieve for bloggers in the John Magufuli country Tanzania. Court has put on hold temporarily the government’s order to levy fee for blogging. Next hearing is pending and until then the earlier order of communications regulator remains suspended.
A joint case was filed by six human rights watchdogs, media organizations and several bloggers in high court against the new rules, asking the judiciary to block such implementation of taxing freedom of speech with up to $900.
Judge Fauz Twaib said in his ruling the information ministry and the state communications regulator (TCRA) would not enforce the deadline of new rules until another hearing to decide the case.
Under the new rules the Magufuli government wants bloggers to submit a pre-defined form to furnish details of shareholders, share capital, qualification of staff, citizenship of owners and training programmes of the organization. A tax clearance certificate is also required to obtain an operating licence.
Those who defy to the rules could be heavily fined and imprisioned too.
Presently most of the bloggers are individuals in the country and so they are not registered companies. Meeting registration requirements will be difficult for them.
Amid such taxing scenario several Tanzanian bloggers have shut down their websites and have quit blogging. Many may follow too.
Magufuli was elected in 2015 as president vowing to curtail corruption and speed up economic growth in the country.
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