TANZANIA: BAN/DAILY NEWS/26/10/17 SABANews 1
DAR ES SALAAM – The government of TANZANIA has banned a daily newspaper and its on-line service for lying about the levels of HIV infections in the SADC country.
The DAILY NEWS says the TANZANIA DAIMA will not be operating for the next THREE months after it claimed 67 percent of the population was living on ARVs.
Information Services Department Director and Government Spokesperson HASSAN ABBASI has revealed the move in a statement in the commercial capital, DAR ES SALAAM.
He says the TANZANIA DAIMA Editor has apologized for publishing the misleading information, but the Minister of Information, Culture, Arts and Sports has had no choice except to act because of past events.
Mr ABBASI says the State has been issuing a number of reminders to the publication to respect the national laws and the basics governing the profession of journalism, after committed many offences.
In DECEMBER last year, had a headline saying DANGOTE Aivuruga Serikali, (kiSWAHILI for ‘DANGOTE Confuses the Government’) and told lies about the Minister of Industries, Trade and Investment – and failed to validate the information.
In mid-MAY this year, it carried yet another provocative article headed Mchanga Hofu Tupu, which defamed and mocked the government – pretending to quote Attorney General GEORGE MASAJU.
The DAILY NEWS says the TANZANIA DAIMA Editor then wrote a letter apologising to the authorities, admitting the quotes were not the words of the Attorney General.
Nevertheless, the Editor published yet another story in AUGUST this year – with a headline saying Polisi Wasaka BOMBADIER kwa LISSU (meaning ‘Police search for BOMBARDIER at LISSU’s premises’).
The headline insinuated the law-enforcement agents had gone to the home of opposition MP TUNDU LISSU to search for an aircraft, BOMBADIER Q-400, that the State bought but was seized in CANADA – which was a mockery of the government and its police force.
The authorities demanded an apology to be published on 25 AUGUST 2017, but the Editor of TANZANIA DAIMA only decided to do so on 26 AUGUST this year.
The government of TANZANIA says it has, this time, had to invoke the relevant legal instrument after the daily newspaper suggested only 37 percent of the population was free of HIV, as the rest of TANZANIANS were on ARVs./Sabanews/cam