Disputed Bill gets JK’s nod

President Jakaya Kikwete  

By Bernard Lugongo, The Citizen Reporter

In Summary

The revelations came after members of the committee questioned the ministry of Communications, Science and Technology over why it was not educating the public over the Bill since it was approved by Parliament.

Dar es Salaam. President Jakaya Kikwete has assented into law the contentious Cybercrime Bill which the National Assembly approved recently, Parliamentary Committee on Infrastructure was told yesterday.

The revelations came after members of the committee questioned the ministry of Communications, Science and Technology over why it was not educating the public over the Bill since it was approved by Parliament.

Responding, the director for Information and Communications Technology (ICT) at the ministry, Dr Ally Simba, said the Bill was signed into law on April 25.

He said the ministry was waiting for the document to be signed before it embarked on awareness campaigns. “It’s just yesterday (Tuesday) that we got notification of the assent. We’re now going to educate the people,” he noted.

There has been a general public outcry over content of the law and issues it doesn’t address. Dr Simba said some issues have already been amended by the House committee.

On April 1, Parliament passed the Bill that attempts to address child pornography, cyberbullying, online impersonation, electronic production of racist and xenophobic content, unsolicited messages, illegal interception of communications, and publication of false information.

The Bill was passed despite criticisms from opposition politicians, journalists, social media practitioners and human rights activists. Leading opponents of the legislation from civil society even said they would take the government to court if the president were to assent the Bill into law.

The commentators fear that the police could use the law to harass online activists in the name of suspicion of cyberbullying and could deter freedom of expression.

The bill also criminalizes the sending of information “without prior solicitation” by electronic means. While this section is intended to address spam and phishing attacks, it could be interpreted quite broadly.

They argue that the Bill, which relates to the aforementioned new bills on Access to Information, Media Services, and Statistics — all of which could have a serious impact on free expression in Tanzania.

During the yesterday’s meeting, the Parliamentary committee on infrastructure also wondered over why the ministry’s 2015/2016 budget estimates has lowered development budget from Sh29 billion during 2014/2015 budget to Sh20 billion for 2015/2016 budget.

Reacting to the concern, minister for the ministry, Prof Makame Mbarawa, said the decision to reduce the development budget was due to the forthcoming general election and failure by donors to disburse all required budget support funds.