Report calls for change in Tanzania’s bail system application

Kenya Maasai women who were detained in a Tanzanian jail after being released on bail. PHOTO | FILEBy APOLINARI TAIRO

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Human-rights activists in Tanzania are calling for a change in the country’s criminal law that deny accused persons the right to bail as police conduct investigations.

They say granting suspects bail in bailable crimes will widen human rights and decongest remand prisons.

The activists also say that the police and the Judiciary are abusing the criminal law that bars prosecutors and courts from granting bail, causing unnecessary and unrightful holding of people accused on trumped up charges or even framed for offences.

The Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC) in its latest study titled Non-Bailable Offences in Tanzania addresses the issue of long and protracted investigations, with some never concluded as accused persons remained incarcerated for long periods.

The study blames this on laws regulating criminal proceedings. The study has drawn lessons from Kenya, Malawi, Zambia and Zanzibar, that have similar laws as applied by Commonwealth member states.

LHRC director of Advocacy and Reforms Fulgence Massawe said that the legal study was conducted in the neighbouring countries in order to reveal the weakness of Tanzania’s criminal procedure code.

Criminal Procedure Act

He added that the Criminal Procedure Act 1985 includes provisions that deny bail to people charged with certain bailable offences.

Human-rights activists now want the government of Tanzania to review the Act to allow bail for suspects of offences with the exclusion of murder and treason.

The Act originally included provisions that automatically deny bail for certain offences, but Tanzania recently added crimes related to terrorism, cybercrime and money laundering among those whose suspects cannot get bail.

“The government has to review and allow temporary release of an accused person awaiting trial, regardless of the increasing number of laws prohibiting it because non-bailable offences might be an abuse to fulfill ulterior motives,” Mr Massawe said.

The High Court of Tanzania recently found that mandatory prohibition of bail is unconstitutional.

The court's decision restored discretion to the judiciary. As such, the question of whether to grant bail, whatever the alleged offence, would have been a matter for the individual judge to decide. The government would then review the laws to allow bail to suspects under special conditions to be decided.

The study also says that pre-trial detentions have been on the rise recently, with a number of accused persons who were charged with non-bailable offences held indefinitely.

The LHRC says that just like Zanzibar and Uganda, the legislature in Tanzania mainland should limit the time within which investigations are conducted and the trial commences, and sanction non-compliance by allowing bail to an accused person when the trial does not start within the prescribed time.

In August, Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu had directed the police force to speed up criminal investigations to ensure timely delivery of justice. She also directed that the police release suspects when they fail to complete investigations.

Addressing the Senior Police Officers Conference 2021 in Dar es Salaam, President Samia also directed the Police to consult with other stakeholders and work on laws that deny bail pending investigations to reduce the cost burden on the government to keep them in remand prisons.