Tanzanian government has banned Tanzania Daima, a daily newspaper, allegedly for flouting communication laws.
The paper will now not able to publish and sell inside and outside the country.
The government says the privately-owned daily newspaper ignored warnings.
The newspaper is now required to apply afresh for the license or appeal the decision through the Minister of Communications in the country.
Information Services department in a statement indicated that the tabloid was banned for publishing several stories with false information.
The stories include one published on its Sunday edition on the number of Tanzanians on anti-retroviral drugs. The headline of the article stated that 67 per cent of Tanzanians are on ARVs.
In October 2017, the newspaper had been banned for 90 days for allegedly publishing false information.
Earlier on June 15, privately-owned Mawio paper was banned for 24 months, with the government suspending both its print edition and online platforms.
Tanzania’s information minister Harrison Mwakyembe said in a statement that the paper was suspended for publishing the photos of two former presidents Benjamin Mkapa and Jakaya Kikwete on its June 15-21 edition and linking them to a government probe into allegations of misconduct in the mining sector.
In March 2019, Tanzanian authorities banned the country’s major English language newspaper, The Citizen, for seven days.
The newspaper had published two articles, one about US lawmaker, Bob Menendez, raising concerns about “the gradual spiral of respect for civil liberties in Tanzania” and another reporting that the Tanzania shilling was falling against the US dollar.
On April 16, 2020, Tanzania’s communications regulator banned the privately owned Mwananchi newspaper from publishing online for six months and fined it five million Tanzanian shillings ($2,173) for allegedly publishing false news.
The Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority alleged that the newspaper published false and misleading news on its social media platforms on April 13, violating the country’s 2018 online content regulations, according to the notice.
