Expatriate maintaining bank account outside Tanzania

I am an expatriate working in a key sector in Tanzania for the last eighteen months having a fixed term contract which will expire on 30 June, 2024. I want to transfer part of my money from my local bank account to the account I hold in my home country but the local bank is telling me I am not allowed to maintain a bank account in my home country. Is it true that the laws of Tanzania do not allow expatriates to maintain bank accounts in their home countries? Is this not impracticable as I cannot be expected to close my account in my home country when I come to temporary work in Tanzania. Where would I keep money I have saved if I am supposed to do so?
EN, Mwanza

That is true. It is an offence under regulation 3(5) of the Foreign Exchange Regulations, 2022 (GN No. 294 of 2022) for a resident other than a bank or financial institution in Tanzania to open or maintain a bank account outside the United Republic without express permission of the Governor. Regulation 3 of the Foreign Exchange Regulations, 2022 defines a resident to mean a person who resides consecutively or whose centre of predominant economic interest is in the United Republic for twelve months or more. Since you have been working in Tanzania for 18 months, you have become a resident hence under regulation 3(5) of the Regulations, you are not allowed to maintain a bank account outside the United Republic unless you have sought and obtained express permission of the Governor.

Unfortunately, we are unable to answer your question on where you should keep your funds whilst working here. However, these Regulations are quite new and remain untested, and there is always room for amendment. Perhaps you should consult your Minister in the key sector that you work in who can take it up with the Minister for Finance and the Bank of Tanzania.

Government letters marked confidential

I am dealing with a lot of Government departments and see that every letter that comes to our company is stamped ‘CONFIDENTIAL’ or in Swahili ‘SIRI’. What are the implications of such words in correspondences with the Government? Is this something that can cause problems for the recipient of these letters? I have noted that even some letters that have no confidential content in them are marked confidential or siri. How do I know which is which?
AK, Moshi

Once a letter from the Government ministry, agency or institution is stamped with a stamp bearing the words ‘confidential’ or ‘siri’, it means the information contained in that letter is regarded in term of section 5(1) of the National Security Act [Cap.47 R.E 2002] as classified and holder of such information is not allowed to communicate or leak the information contained in the letter to any person other than a person to whom he is authorised to communicate to or a person to whom he has the duty, in the interest of the United Republic, to communicate. Leakage or communication of the contents of the letters from the Government marked ‘confidential’ or ‘siri’ constitutes a serious offence which attracts imprisonment of up to 20 years. It does not matter how many letters marked ‘confidential’ or ‘siri’ you received from the Government, you are still bound to make sure the information contained in those letters are not leaked or communicated to a third party.

Age limit for marriage

I am a healthy 80 year old man and have a 29 year old girlfriend. Just as I was planning to get married, my cousin who is a self-proclaimed bush lawyer says that I am above the age for marriage especially considering that there is a 51-year gap between us. He says there is a recent change in law that intends to discourage elderly persons getting married at this age to protect their health. Is there such an age restriction for marriage and if so how can I work around it? It is high time I settle down with a second wife as I am in a polygamous marriage at the moment. My second question is whether my current wife can object to this marriage?
FG, Dar

You are certainly energetic for an 80 year old.

We have gone through various amendments to the Law of Marriage Act and have not come across any such restriction that disallows you as an 80 year old to get married or remarried in a heterosexual marriage. There is a minimum age to get married, which doesn’t apply to either of you.

Whilst it is indeed encouraging that a person of your age is able to get a girlfriend 51 years younger, we must warn you that not being able to cohabit is a ground for divorce. Understandably there is medicine available to ensure that you are able to do so, but we thought it was pertinent to inform you of this risk. We wish you all the best.

On the objection, your wife can certainly object. The Act states that  where a man married under a polygamous marriage has given notice of an intended marriage, his wife or, if he has more than one wife, any of his wives may give notice of objection to the registrar or registration officer to whom the notice of intention was given, on the ground that (a) having regard to the husband’s means, the taking of another wife is likely to result in hardship to his existing wife or wives and infant children, if any; or (b) the intended wife is of notoriously bad character or is suffering from an infectious or otherwise communicable disease or is likely to introduce grave discord into the household.