5.2 On Access to Justice

Of particular importance for our purposes are the powers the proposed legislation gives to the Registrar to reject an application for registration. Under Clause 15, the Registrar may refuse to register an organisation on a number of vaguely defined grounds, in particular if its proposed name is considered "undesirable" or if its constitution violates the national constitution or "any other written law".¹ The latter provision is especially pregnant with dangers for, as is now well documented, many written laws in this country themselves violate the country's Constitution. The Government has, nevertheless, resisted calls to put its legislative house in order through repeal or amendment of these laws. Forcing the constitutions of NGOs to conform to these unconstitutional laws will lead to the reproduction of Tanzania's authoritarian political traditions.

Now what happens to an applicant for registration who feels dissatisfied by the decision of the Registrar of Organisations? As we have already considered, the proposed NGO Policy recommended that the decision of the Registrar should be appealable in the ordinary courts of law including, presumably, the High Court and the Court of Appeal.

It should come as a surprise, therefore, to realize that the proposed legislation has recommended exactly the opposite. Under Clause 16(1), "a[ny] person who is aggrieved by the decision of the Registrar to grant registration of an Organisation may appeal to the Minister". This is precisely the provision under the Societies Ordinance which was denounced in the fourth draft of the proposed policy as "considerably limiting access to court" and characterized as unconstitutional by the Presidential Commission on Party Systems.

1. Ibid., cl. 15(1). These conditions are substantially similar to the provisions of section 9 of the Societies Ordinance.