Q&A – 28 January 2019
Marriage with fiancé absent
I am intending to get married to a man who works abroad who unfortunately cannot make it to the wedding and wants to send a representative on his behalf to appear for the wedding. I am worried whether or not this marriage will be valid? What are the legal consequences and is this allowed?
JF, Arusha
In Tanzania the Law of Marriage Act recognizes a marriage as a voluntary union of man and a woman intending to last for their joint lives and built on mutual consent and the understanding of the two parties. Marriages in Tanzania can be contracted in civil form or where both parties belong to a specified religion according to the rites of that religion. In essence a marriage is a contract between the man and woman.
This law requires the parties to a marriage to be present in person at the ceremony otherwise such marriage can be regarded as a nullity. However the marriage will not be void if the party to a marriage is represented by another person and there is a witness who was present when that party gave his/her consent. Therefore, the fact that your fiancée won’t be present at your wedding should not get you worried, only that the witness before whom the consent was given must be present during the wedding.
Although the law does not clearly state the manner under which the consent should be given to the representative, the wording of section 38(2) of the Law of Marriage Act can be interpreted to mean the witness should be physically present when the consent is given.
In your case, if the witness present is the same one who was present when your fiancé appointed the representative, your marriage will be valid. Please note that you will be marrying your fiancé not his representative!
This is a very rare provision to have ever been used and you may want to ensure that you also consult your lawyers.
False information on Whatsapp
Someone has been sending out false and malicious information about me and my business on Whatsapp. It has gone viral and has really damaged me. I am financially in turmoil and find it difficult to defend my position. Is there any law that governs all the false information that goes around on Whatsapp? Can I sue Whatsapp as a platform for carrying such false information?
EE, Dar
When the Cyber Crimes Act was enacted few years ago, a very controversial section was included in the law, which will, in this instance greatly assist you in your pursuit for justice. Section 16 of this law states that any person who publishes information or data presented in a picture, text, symbol or any other form in a computer system knowing that such information or data is false, deceptive, misleading or inaccurate, and with intent to defame, threaten, abuse, insult, or otherwise deceive or mislead the public or counselling commission of an offence, commits an offence, and shall on conviction be liable to a fine of not less than five million shillings or to imprisonment for a term of not less than three years or to both.
The Cyber Crimes Act defines computer system as a device or combination of devices, including network, input and output devices capable of being used in conjunction with external files which contain computer programmes, electronic instructions, input data and output data that perform logic, arithmetic data storage and retrieval communication control and other functions. Our opinion is that Whatsapp is covered in this definition and hence the false information on Whatsapp is an offence under section 16 which on conviction can lead to a minimum 3 year sentence.You can report this to the police for their appropriate action.
On suing Whatsapp, since it has been used a medium to defame you, there is a chance that you can sue it although no precedents exist to that effect yet.
Aggrieved by decision of TCAA
I had applied for several air operating licences to the Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority (TCAA). All licences were denied on financial grounds and I have appealed to the High Court against such decisions. The TCAA has raised preliminary arguments in Court to delay the case. What can I do?
PT, Mwanza
Under the Tanzania Civil Aviation Act, if you are aggrieved by a decision of the TCAA, you need to go before the TCAA internal review committee. It is this committee that will review the decision of the TCAA and make a further decision. You cannot go straight to the High Court as this Court has no jurisdiction, and the TCAA is right in its preliminary objections and these are not meant to delay Court proceedings.
The review should have been filed 14 days after receipt of the record of decision. We suggest that you succumb to the preliminary objection or withdraw your case at the High Court, and proceed to file an application for extension of time to file the review before the internal review committee. If you provide sound grounds for such extension of time, you might be granted such extension and then you will be able to file the review.
If you are then still aggrieved by the decision of the internal review committee, you can appeal this to the Fair Competition Tribunal.