Want to marry a second man

I am a married woman but apparently there is this foreign man who wants to marry me since it is a cultural practice that is accepted in his community. This had me wondering what the law says about having multiple husbands. Can you please clarify the laws around polyandry in Tanzania?
IM, Kagera

Polyandry is an offence in Tanzania, although in a few countries it is legal. According to section 152(1) of the Law of Marriage Act [Cap. 29 R.E 2019] (the LMA) a married woman who marries another man commits an offence. Similarly, a man who marries a woman, who is married to another man, knowing or having reason to believe that she is so married, commits an offence. Any person who commits polyandry shall be liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 years.

Further, it is also prohibited to participate in a ceremony. Remember, even your friends, family and any person who participates in the marriage ceremony can also be held liable. Section 152(4) of the LMA clearly states that any person who participates in any marriage ceremony with knowledge of the fact which makes the ceremony a nullity commits an offence and shall be liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 years.

Note that it is a good defence for a person charged with polyandry offence that he or she believed his or her spouse, or the spouse of the person with whom he or she purported to contract marriage, as the case may be, to be dead or that the marriage had been dissolved and had reasonable grounds for that belief. Since this is not the case for you, we advise that you abide by the law and keep yourself out of trouble. Your lawyer can guide you further.

Copyright for published work

I am a young aspiring author who has caught the interest of a publishing house. I am set to meet the publisher to discuss the release of a novel but am hesitant with this venture after hearing stories of authors who were treated unfairly by publishers. I want to protect my work from copyright infringement and unfortunately am not conversant with matters of copyright.  Kindly guide me.
PM, Dar es Salaam

Congratulations on your upcoming novel. In simple terms, a copyright is a legal right that protects original creative works from unauthorized use or reproduction. Section 4 of the Copyright and Neighboring Rights Act (the Act) defines a copyright as the sole legal right to print, publish, perform, film or record a literary or artistic or musical work. According to section 5 (1) of the Act, authors of original literary and artistic work shall be entitled to copyright protection for their work as provided in the Act, by the sole fact of the creation of such work.

These rights, as provided in section 8 of the Act, comprise of the exclusive economic and moral rights of the author to use the copyrighted work. In contrast, copyright infringement is the unauthorized use of a copyrighted work without the permission of the copyright owner. In determining whether there is an infringement, it must be shown that the infringer used or exploited the work of a registered copyright owner, without the owner’s permission. In that regard, registering your work is important to create a copyright over it. Publishing houses usually have contractual arrangements with authors which, among other things, include clauses on copyright ownership. It is important that you engage a lawyer who can guide you further to protect your copyright. We wish you all the best.

Forced to confess

I was a university student in my final year of studies when I took part in a public peaceful protest against unemployment of new graduates. The protest was peaceful but quickly turned violent after a group of thugs disrupted the entire mission of our march. In the chaos, several students were arrested and I was among them. We informed the police that we had nothing to do with the violence. Nonetheless, the police tortured us into confessing. They took our confessional statements and brought us to Court, where we were quickly found guilty and convicted based on forced confessions. I have served my sentence but during my time in prison, I learned that there were irregularities in the admitted evidence used to convict us. What does the law say about forced confessions? Please guide me.
VH, Dodoma

We are sorry to hear about your peril. Unfortunately, we cannot comment on the irregularities of the admitted evidence since we do not have all the facts of the case. Regardless, we will provide general comments on the disputed confessional statements. Matters concerning evidence in a trial are governed by the Evidence Act, Cap 6 R.E 2022] (the Evidence Act). According to section 27 of the Evidence Act, a confession voluntarily made to a police officer by a person accused of an offence may be proved as against that person. The onus (duty) of proving that any confession made by an accused person was voluntarily made by him lies on the prosecution. Further, a confession will be held to be involuntary if the Court believes that it was induced by any threat, promise or other prejudice held out by the police officer to whom it was made or by any member of the Police Force or by any other person in authority.

Courts have held in numerous cases that a confession to an offence made to a police officer, is admissible evidence. However, the claims that an accused person has made a confession is not treated casually by Courts. The prosecution should always prove that there was a confession made and the same was made freely and voluntarily obtained. If what you are saying is true, then you had every right to appeal against the conviction and sentence but you cannot do so now because you have served your sentence. Your lawyer can guide you further.