Govt bans weekly Raia Mwema tabloid for 90 days
What you need to know:
- Through a statement issued by the Director of Information Services, Dr Hassan Abbas, said the government had banned the tabloid for publishing an article entitled ‘Uraisi Utamshinda John Magufuli’(John Magufuli’s presidency doomed to fail).
Dar es Salaam. The government on Friday September 29 banned a local weekly tabloid, Raia Mwema, for 90 days.
Through a statement issued by the Director of Information Services, Dr Hassan Abbas, said the government had banned the tabloid for publishing an article entitled ‘Uraisi Utamshinda John Magufuli’(John Magufuli’s presidency doomed to fail).
The government says the article for which the tabloid has been banned was a “fair comment” but insisted that some lines purportedly quoting President John Magufuli were “cooked.”
“This tabloid has been warned repeatedly in the past,’’ said the statement.
According to the statement, the decision to ban the tabloid as made in accordance with Section 59(2) of the Information Services Act, 2016, which gives the Minister of Information the powers to ban the newspaper.
RaiaMwema Board Chairman Jenerali Ulimwengu has confirmed it, saying the decision was made in reference to the story published on Wednesday September 28. “We have been told that, the reason for the ban was our Wednesday’s story and others which were published in 2013. Right now I’m consulting other members to see a way forward,” he said briefly.
The government’s decision comes barely 10 days after another weekly tabloid, Mwanahalisi, published by the Hali Halisi Publishers Limited (HHPL) was banned from publication for two years.
