Proof of birth by affidavit

I applied for an ordinary passport and in the application form I attached my birth certificate and an affidavit of birth of my late father sworn by my uncle who is only two years older than my late father. The immigration officer rejected the affidavit of my uncle on the ground that since my uncle was only two years old at the time of birth of my father, he cannot prove the place and date of birth of my late father. Can you guide me if this is the legal position or is it just a personal view of the immigration officer?
SL, Mtwara

Section 12 of the Tanzania Passports and Travel Documents Act, No.20 of 2002 prescribes the documents that need to be attached to the application for a passport or a travel document. Among the documents that must be attached to the application for a passport or a travel document are; a birth certificate or an affidavit of birth or certificate of naturalization of the person applying for the passport and a birth certificate or an affidavit of birth or certificate of naturalization of the parent of the person applying for the passport.

The law imposes a condition that where the affidavit regarding birth of the applicant or the applicant’s parent is sworn or affirmed by a person who was present at the time of birth of the applicant or the applicant’s parent, such person must be a person who is not less than 5 years older than the applicant or the applicant’s parent. In other words, confirmation of the place and date of birth for the purpose of issuing a passport must be made by a person who is not less than 5 years older than the person whose place and date of birth he is confirming. Since the gap of age between your late father and your uncle is only 2 years, your uncle is barred by section 12(3)(b) of this Act to swear or affirm an affidavit regarding the birth of your later father. Hence the officer is correct in his position.

Malicious accusation to the Police

I have had a land dispute with my neighbour for a long time and the dispute is pending in Court for two years now.  Two weeks ago, my neighbour reported me to the police that I insulted him, an accusation which is a total lie. I want to report him to the police as well for malicious accusation but I am getting different opinions, some are telling me that in law once a person reports a crime to the law enforcement agent, he is protected and cannot be charged or prosecuted for reporting for any offence attributed to his report to the police. Others are telling me that I can report him to the police as long as I have proof that the report he made to the police is a lie. Can you please guide me?
SR, Manyara

Section 9 of the Whistleblower and Witness Protection Act, 2015 protects a whistleblower only where the whistleblower gives the information to the law enforcement agent in good faith and with reasonable and probable cause for suspicion that he genuinely believed the crime was committed by the person he accused to the law enforcement. A whistleblower who gives malicious or false information to the law enforcement agent commits an offence under section 17 of the Whistleblower and Witness Protection Act and is liable to imprisonment for a term of not less than 1 year or to a fine of not less than TZS 3 million or to both imprisonment and fine.

Arrest order by District Commissioner

When the District Commissioner was visiting our ward, he ordered my friend to be arrested and detained because he was inciting people to oppose a health project that is carried out in our ward. The District Commissioner seemed to have acted on wrong information he was given by the political opponents of my friend. My friend was arrested and was in police custody for three days. Every time we asked the police to give him bail they told us that they cannot grant him bail until they get approval from the District Commissioner who ordered his arrest. What can we do to have my friend released from Police custody?
FT, Mara

Section 15 of the Regional Administration Act [Cap. 97 R.E 2002] gives a District Commissioner power to order verbally or in writing the arrest of a person who commits an offence in his presence; a person he reasonably believes to have committed an offence or a person he believes is likely to commit a breach of the peace. However, the law requires a person arrested under the order of the District Commissioner to be set free or brought before a magistrate with competent jurisdiction within 48 hours.

The District Commissioner is obliged to make a recorded reason for ordering the arrest and cause a copy of that recorded reason to be submitted to the magistrate at the time of bringing the suspect before the magistrate. The magistrate has power to admit the suspect brought before him to bail pending completion of the investigation of the offence for which the suspect is charged. Where the suspect is not released on police bail and is not brought before the magistrate within 48 hours, the suspect or his lawyer can petition the District Court for order that the person detained in police custody under the order of the District Commissioner be released or brought before a magistrate. Disobedience of the magistrate’s order constitutes the offence of contempt of Court and is punishable under section 114 of the Penal Code. Since your friend was in custody for more than 48 hours, you had a right to engage a lawyer to petition the District Court to order his release.