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| Title: | The Judiciary and the Interpretation of Tanzania's Constitution: Problems and Prospects |
| Author: | Lugakingira, Justice Kahwa |
| Year: | 2001 |
| Periodical: | East African Journal of Peace and Human Rights (ISSN 1021-8858) |
| Volume: | 7 |
| Issue: | 1 |
| Pages: | 1-15 |
| Language: | English |
| Notes: | biblio. refs. |
| Geographic terms: | Tanzania East Africa |
| Subjects: | constitutions 1997 rule of law Law, Human Rights and Violence Politics and Government law Tanzania. Constitution Civil rights constitutional reform Judicial opinions history |
| Abstract: | Writers on constitutional developments in the Commonwealth frequently point out that Britain, a country without a written constitution, bequeathed its former colonies with written constitutions when they attained statehood and that, almost invariably, the constitutions embodied a Bill of Rights. The Republic of Tanganyika was the only country in East Africa to promulgate a constitution that did not include a Bill of Rights. The general view is that Britain's insistence on a Bill of Rights in independence constitutions was for the protection of foreign economic interests rather than out of concerns for the welfare of the native populations. Tanganyika got away without a Bill of Rights largely because its settler population was not significant politically and economically. It seems, however, that the Bill of Rights lobby had made some impression as may be jugded from the features of the Interim Constitution of 1965 which contained for example a preamble reading like the Bill of Rights. It was not until 1984 that a Bill of Rights was incorporated in Tanzania's Constitution. This paper examines the judicial interpretation of Tanzania's Constitution focusing on the Bill of Rights. It approaches the subject under two broad sections, each roughly coinciding with a constitutional event. The opening section is dominated by the Interim Constitution of 1965 and it is argued that, on the whole, opportunities to address constitutional issues went untapped. The second section addresses the Bill of Rights and some issues of interpretation which have arisen. Notes, ref. |