Q&A – 29 March 2021
Selling charcoal and money laundering
My aunt was found selling charcoal without a permit to sell or buy forest produce. At the time of her arrest she had already sold a number of bags of charcoal and had some amount of cash in her poach. She is now being charged with selling forest produce without a licence contrary to the Forest Act and is also being threated that money laundering may be added to the charge sheet from the proceeds of charcoal she sold contrary to the Anti-Money Laundering Act. Can money laundering be charged for selling charcoal which is what many poor Tanzanians do for a living or is it maliciously being charged to deny my aunt bail? I find it very strange that such threats can be validly made for selling charcoal in Tanzania.
HH, Mtwara
As strange as it may sound, unfortunately in this case, the prosecutor can add money laundering to the charge sheet.
The scope of money laundering in Tanzania is extremely wide. Illegal sell of charcoal is an environmental crime and section 3 of the Anti- Money Laundering Act lists environmental crime as a predicate offence for which money laundering can be charged. Therefore, under law if your aunt is charged with money laundering vide section 12(a) of the Anti-Money Laundering Act, she will be properly charged, because she engaged herself in a transaction that involves amounts which are proceeds of a predicate offence.
Other predicate offences for which money laundering can be charged include offences like terrorist financing, illicit arms trafficking, participating in an organised criminal group, trafficking in human beings and smuggling immigrants, sexual exploitation, illicit trafficking in stolen or other goods, corruption practice, counterfeiting,
Pledging of pension benefits
I work for a private company and contribute to the National Social Security Fund. I took a personal loan from a savings and credit cooperative society popularly known as a SACCOS and pledged my pension benefit as a security for the loan. Am I allowed to do that and Is this contract valid in law?
PP, Dar
It is interesting that you are asking this question after you secured the loan through this pledge! Hopefully your intention is not to not pay this loan.
Section 20 and 52 of the NSSF Act makes the pension accruing to the employee inalienable. Hence pension benefits, owing to their nature, are not liable to attachment to pay the pensioner’s debt. Any security, pledge or assignment which purports to include pension benefit or contribution due from the employer or employee to the Fund is void.
However, there are two situations where pension benefits can be attached. One is where the pension entitlement is used as collateral for home mortgage for a member who has not attained the age of retirement. Two, is where the employee is convicted of an offence involving dishonesty and the convicting Court is satisfied that the employer has suffered financial loss as a result of that offence. In such a situation, the Court may order the compensation to the employer to be paid out of the employee’s pension benefit entitlement provided that the total compensation to the employer does not exceed the total employee’s share contributed to the Pension Fund.
Child born without a marriage
When I was a teenager I had sexual intercourse with a girl and got a child with her. Since I was still in school, I did not marry her. Recently I learnt that my child was attending secondary school but staying with her grandmother and her mother is married to another man. Last year I went to visit my child’s grandmother in order to take my daughter but the grandmother refused. She claimed that I did not marry my daughter’s mother so I have no right to claim the child. Can you guide me if I can claim the right to my daughter in a Court of law?
HS, Morogoro
We are sorry to say so but it is quite shameful and odious that after all these years of your irresponsible behaviour and neglect, you suddenly, one day, wake up and decide to claim your child.
Chapter 8 of the Customary Law (Declaration) Order, 1963, addresses the issue of a child born without a recognised marriage. The Order provides that a child born without a marriage belongs to the parents of her/his mother and not the father. If the father wants to take the child he must do so before the mother stops lactating. Alternatively, the father must marry the mother of the child if she is not yet married. If the father does not want to marry the mother, he must pay maintenance cost of the child from the date the child was born if he was not providing the maintenance cost before claiming the child. It is the mother of the child who is given power by law to declare who is the father of the child. In your case, and with the irresponsible behaviour of yours, notwithstanding that you were ‘in school’, you seem to have done neither.
You should consult a lawyer for further guidance.
Notice pay subject to pension deduction
I work for a private company and recently signed a mutual separation agreement with my employer. One of the terminal dues agreed upon was 3 months’ remuneration in lieu of notice of termination of my employment. When I went to collect my terminal dues I was surprised to be told that my 3 months’ notice pay was subjected to pension contribution deduction. Is this correct?
UI, Dar
This is correct. Notice pay is indeed subject to pension contribution deduction because it is a wage. Section 2 of the NSSF Act makes it clear that payment made by the employer to the employee in lieu of notice of termination of employment is a wage and is subject to pension contribution deduction.