Legal Digest – October 2015

No appeal for Nolle Prosequi

In an interesting turn of events, the Court of Appeal held few weeks ago that when the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) proceeds to file a Nolle Prosequi against an accused person, the DPP cannot come under appeal or revision to the Court of Appeal.

The backdrop of this case relates to Criminal Application No. 2 of 2012 in the Criminal Sessions Case No. 63 of 2006 in the High Court of Tanzania at Tarime where the respondents were faced with murder.

The Republic proceeded to seek leave of the Court to withdraw the criminal case under Section 91(1) of the Criminal Procedure Act and the Honourable Judge declined the request.

The DPP, dissatisfied with refusal by the High Court, filed an application for Revision at the Court of Appeal seeking to quash and set aside the order of the High Court.

The Court of Appeal quoting Criminal Appeal No 19 of 2002 between Kweyambah Richard Quaker v The Republic (unreported) was very clear that with effect from 14 December, 2002 when Act No. 25 of 2002 came into operation, any appeal or application against a ruling in what is clearly an interlocutory proceeding would contravene the provisions of section 5(2)(d) of the Appellate Jurisdiction Act, 1979, as amended by Act No. 25 of 2002.

By that amendment no appeal or application for revision lies against or be made in respect of any preliminary or interlocutory decision or order of the High Court unless such decision or order has the effect of finally determining the criminal charge or suit, as the case maybe.

Advocates remuneration increased

Advocates Remuneration Orders, 2015 GN 264 OF
2015, made under the Advocates Act were published mid July 2015. The order applies to the remuneration of an advocate by a client in both contentious and non-contentious matter, for costs between parties in the High Court, sub ordinate courts to the High Court and Tribunals.

An advocate may charge interest at 12% per annum on his disbursements and allowable costs from the delivery of his bill to the client, provided that such claim for interest is raised before the amount of the bill has been paid or tendered in full.

Judges adequately trained for election petitions

More than 80 High Court Judges from across the Country have been undergoing training on how to handle election petitions. Another round of training is scheduled during the first two weeks of October 2015.

Tanzania goes to election on 25 October 2015 in what is going to be one of the closest elections that the ruling party has had to go through since adopting multi party politics.

The Non-Citizens Act comes into force

After a lot of discussions in various forums and across the media, The Non- Citizens (Employment Regulation) Act 2014 has finally come into effect on 15 September 2015. This is a very important development affecting organizations who will bring in non-citizens to work in Tanzania. The Act regulates and realigns the legal regime for employment and engagement in other occupations by non-citizens.

This law puts in place the Ministry of Labour and Employment under the Labour Commissioner to be the coordinating authority for proper issuance, cancellation or renewal of work permit.

The new application process will effectively start from 1 October 2015. The non-citizen employee who has been issued with work permit will also have to apply for residence permit from the Immigration department.

There will be additional fees to pay for issuance of work permit on top of the residence permit that will be issued by the Immigration department, increasing the overall cost.

Around the World

Ex-Congolese vice-president on trial at ICC for witness-tampering
A former Congolese vice-president charged with murder and rape has appeared alongside several of his defence lawyers in the international criminal court’s first witness-tampering and bribery trial.
Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo, 52, is among five defendants said to have paid for people to be coached and encouraged to give false testimony at a war crimes trial in The Hague.

Woman awarded £184,000 in UK’s first caste discrimination case
A woman recruited from India to work in Britain and paid as little as 11p an hour has been awarded nearly £184,000 compensation in one of the UK’s first claims of caste discrimination.
Permila Tirkey, from Bihar – one of India’s poorest states – was kept in domestic servitude by her employers in Milton Keynes and forced to work as their cleaner and nanny.

Child labour on Nestlé farms: chocolate giant’s problems continue
Children younger than 15 continue to work at cocoa farms connected to Nestlé, more than a decade after the food company promised to end the use of child labour in its supply chain.

Russia Reduces Wheat Export Levy
Russia’s Ministry of Agriculture has announced a reduction in the export tariff on wheat, with effect from October 1, 2015. The charge was introduced at the end of 2014 in response to the weakening ruble. According to Ministry of Agriculture figures, it has resulted in a drop of over 30 percent in wheat exports from Russia.