Guide to Foreign and International Legal Citations - New York ...

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TANZANIA
Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania (United Republic of Tanzania)
I. COUNTRY PROFILE (Common Law)
Tanzania is a republic comprised of twenty-six regions. Tanzania’s official languages are
Swahili (also known as Kiswahili) and English. Its legal system is based on the common law
tradition.
The Union Constitution (Katiba ya Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), which was
adopted in 1977, establishes the form of government. It was amended in 1984 to include a Bill
of Rights and has been amended several times since. The 1992 amendments to the Union
Constitution implemented a multiparty democracy in Tanzania.
Executive power is vested in the Government. The head of the Government is the
President of the United Republic, who is also the head of state. The President is directly elected
by the people to a five-year term. The Vice President is also directly elected by the people to a
five-year term on the same ballot as the President. According to the Constitution, if the President
comes from the mainland, the Vice President must come from Zanzibar, and vice versa.
Members of the Cabinet, including the Prime Minister, are appointed by the President.
Legislative power is vested in the unicameral National Assembly (Bunge). 232 of the
274 Members of the National Assembly are directly elected by the people, thirty-seven Members
are women, nominated by the President, and five are members of the Zanzibar House of
Representatives. All members serve five-year terms. The National Assembly enacts legislation
that applies to the entire United Republic, as well as legislation that applies only to the mainland.
The National Assembly may amend the Constitution by a two-thirds majority vote of both the
Zanzibar and mainland representatives.
Zanzibar is a semi-autonomous region governed by the 1984 Zanzibar Constitution. The
President of Zanzibar, who is head of government for matters internal to Zanzibar, is directly
elected by the people of Zanzibar to a five-year term. Zanzibar also has its own House of
Representatives, which enacts legislation for Zanzibar for all non-Union matters. The fifty
Members of the Zanzibar House of Representatives are directly elected by the people of Zanzibar
to five-year terms. The Union Constitution provides that any law promulgated by the House of
Representatives that is under the jurisdiction of the National Assembly is void and vice versa. It
further provides that any law enacted in Zanzibar that conflicts with the Union Constitution is
null and void.
Judicial power is vested in the courts, which consist of the Permanent Commission of
Enquiry (the official ombudsman), the Court of Appeal, the High Court, the District Courts, and
the Primary Courts. The Court of Appeal consists of a chief justice and four judges. The High
Court consists of a Head Judge (Jaji Kiongozi) and twenty-nine judges appointed by the
president and holds regular sessions in all regions. Constitutional disputes between the Union
Government and the Zanzibar Government are referred to the Special Constitutional Court of the
Union, which has equal representation from Zanzibar and the mainland.
The Primary Courts, which are courts of limited jurisdiction, hear petty civil cases and
misdemeanors. Appeals from decisions of the Primary Courts are heard by the higher courts.
The Higher Courts are courts of unlimited civil and criminal jurisdiction. The Court of Appeals
of the United Republic is the highest court.