NEWSPAPER SUSPENSION: GOVERNMENT UNMOVED

UNCLAS DAR ES SALAAM 000155

SIPDIS
SENSITIVE

FOR AF/E JTREADWELL, INR/AA FEHRENREICH, AF/PD - STRASSBERGER,
IIP/AF, INR/MP

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KDEM MCAP KPAO TZ
SUBJECT: NEWSPAPER SUSPENSION: GOVERNMENT UNMOVED

REF: DAR ES SALAAM 33


1. (SBU) Minister of Information, Sports and Culture George
Mkuchika, meeting with Ambassador Lenhardt February 2, defended his
90-day suspension of Swahili weekly "Kulikoni" for publishing
"seditious" material (reftel). Mkuchika argued that the suspension
was fully in accordance with Tanzanian law. The 1976 Media Law
prohibiting "seditious" language authorizes the Minister of
Information to decide when to take action against a media organ and
what penalty to impose. He said that Kulikoni's reporting that
military exams had been leaked violated the 1970 National Security
Act, under which only authorized officers are permitted to speak on
behalf of the military, and was therefore seditious. Mkuchika said
Kulikoni had declined his request to provide the sources of its
information for the story and had instead suggested the GOT form its
own investigative committee. Mkuchika said he had warned Kulikoni
several times prior to the suspension (he did not indicate what
other articles had inspired the warnings). Mkuchika said that after
he announced the suspension he had met with the editors of
Kulikoni, who expressed remorse and said they intended to "start
over," which he found satisfactory.


2. (SBU) Deflecting blame from himself onto the "outdated" 1976 law,
enacted when there were only three media outlets, all
government-run, Mkuchika said a new Media Bill is in draft. The new
bill would create a new body to hear complaints about the media,
removing authority for sanctions from the Ministry of Information.
Mkuchika said he expected the bill would be approved in the next
(April) parliament session, assuming the Cabinet accepted the draft.
He promised the proposed bill would be printed in the major papers
to allow public comment. He noted that stakeholders had already
given some input.


3. (U) Ambassador Lenhardt, who had opened the discussion by
emphasizing that the strong relationship between the U.S. and
Tanzania enables us to speak frankly, stressed that we would not
want the issue of media freedom to be a continuing problem.


4. (SBU) Comment: Minister Mkuchika glossed over the considerable
opposition aroused to his 2009 effort to revise media legislation,
which failed primarily because of the government's intent to
severely restrict media ownership. His defense of his own actions
is entirely self-serving, since the current Act gives him full
latitude not only to decide whether published material is
"seditious," but also to determine appropriate sanctions, which
could stop far short of suspension. Moreover, he failed to mention
that the government already had the option to bring its complaints
to the Media Council of Tanzania. End comment.


5. (SBU) Representatives of the donor working group on governance
issues met with Kulikoni's owner, Reginald Mengi, subsequent to the
Ambassador's meeting with Mkuchika. They reported that Mengi asked
that the international community not intervene with the GOT
regarding the suspension.

LENHARDT