AFRICAN JOURNAL OF LAW AND PRACTICE

Tanzania’s Personal Data Protection Act: A Harbinger for the Realisation of the Right to Privacy?

2025-09-23T02:47:01+00:00

Protecting privacy is critically important, as it is a fundamental part of personal freedom and dignity. In an era marked by increasing digital connectivity, safeguarding this right has become even more crucial. Although Tanzania has enshrined the right to privacy in its Constitution for many years, it did not have a data protection law until 2022. This article examines whether the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA) effectively promotes the realization of the right to privacy. Using a doctrinal legal research approach, it evaluates the PDPA’s effectiveness against internationally recognised data protection standards, with a focus on principles, rights, and limitations. The evaluation reveals that while the PDPA represents a significant advancement in safeguarding the right to privacy, it also has the potential to undermine it. This is because it incorporates fundamental principles and rights related to personal data, alongside vague limitations that could compromise the right to privacy. Consequently, the PDPA appears to grant the right to privacy on one hand, while taking it away with the other. Therefore, this paper recommends amending the PDPA to enhance its role in safeguarding the right to privacy in Tanzania.

Legal Guarantees for the Establishment and Functionality of Ombudsman Institution: A Case for the Insurance Ombudsman Service of Tanzania

2025-09-23T02:49:52+00:00

The concept of Ombudsman represents an institution or a person appointed to receive and investigate complaints against maladministration by public servants and resolve disputes amicably between consumers and service providers. This article aims to expound its basic legal guarantees for the establishment and functionality of the Ombudsman institution in line with the fundamental elements of independence, accountability, fairness and effectiveness. Employing doctrinal research approaches and reviewing ombudsman instruments and literature and case laws from other jurisdictions, it identifies legal personality status, independent resources and sustenance structures as well as procedural and substantive terms of reference as cumulative keys in guaranteeing the functionality of the ombudsman institution. In that view, it shows that the Tanzanian Insurance Ombudsman Service legislative framework does not reflect these key guarantees for its functionality. It ultimately recommends legislative and institutional improvement to entrench those legal guarantees and thereby enhance independence, accountability, fairness and effectiveness in the functionality of the insurance ombudsman service.

Are Universities Compliant? A Study of Tanzania’s Personal Data Protection Act in Higher Learning Institutions

2025-09-23T02:52:14+00:00

In November 2022, the United Republic of Tanzania enacted the Personal Data Protection Law (PDPA). It established a comprehensive framework for the processing of personal data. The Act has a significant impact on higher learning institutions, which are custodians of vast amounts of personal data from students, staff, and other stakeholders. The law designates the institutions as data controllers and processors, and they are obligated to process personal data in accordance with the provisions of the Act. This article examines the compliance of higher learning institutions with the Act. Employing a doctrinal legal research approach, the article assesses Universities’ compliance with the PDPA and its regulations. The findings indicate that, although the PDPA has been in place for more than two years, the compliance rate remains extremely low among higher learning institutions. This is due to a lack of data protection policies in universities and awareness training, as well as the absence of data protection officers. The article recommends that Universities appoint data protection officers and register with the Data Protection Commissioner as data controllers, which demonstrates compliance. In addition, the universities must ensure that personal data is processed in accordance with the Act and that their data protection policies and procedures are regularly updated to maintain ongoing compliance.

Who Qualifies as a Corporate Social Responsibility Stakeholder? Assessing Tanzania’s Legal Regime Against International Standards

2025-09-23T02:54:20+00:00

It has been challenging for businesses to identify relevant stakeholders for corporate social responsibility. This article assesses how current laws in Tanzania identify stakeholders and whether such identification aligns with international frameworks. The article adopted doctrinal research to critically examine the structure, certainty, and scope of laws in identifying relevant stakeholders. Then, the article comparatively analysed the laws of Tanzania and their alignment with international frameworks. It is found that current laws identify government actors, employees and potential victims of business activities as relevant stakeholders based on the impact and inclusive bases. However, such identification falls short of international standards because it is narrow-based, government-centric, ambiguous, and lacks a requirement for regular review and updating. Consequently, other relevant stakeholders, including consumers and local communities, are often excluded from corporate social responsibility, ultimately diminishing their role in promoting responsible business practices for sustainable development in Tanzania.