Legal Quagmire of Arbitrary Arrests and Detention in Tanzania: Analysis of The Law and Practice

Abstract

This study is on the prevailing arbitrary arrest and detention in Tanzania.  While there is a possibility of a person committing a criminal offence, his right to be protected under the law remains intact and thereby he should not be subjected to arbitrary arrest and detention, torture, and inhuman or any degrading punishment. These protections are afforded in myriad legal instruments both at global, regional and domestic levels. However, in Tanzania, the act of arresting a person has been associated with a variety of disturbing forms of conduct, torture, inhuman and degrading treatments during the time of arrest and hence leading to arbitrary arrest and detention contrary to the clear constitutional protections accorded to the suspects by the law. There is perceived insufficiency prevailing in the existing laws on arrest and detention in Tanzania which attribute to the violation of basic and fundamental human rights during arrest and detention in Tanzania. The insufficiencies include the laws giving overwhelming powers to arresting authorities, giving multiple authorities powers to arrest and detain, increased practices of arbitrary arrest and detention and overwhelming powers given to the DPP. On the other side, the study revealed that the perceived insufficiencies in the laws on arrest and detention in protecting human rights against abuse during arrest and detention have led to multiple legal effects or consequences such as delays in the prosecution of cases, denial of justice to the accused and victim of crime, denial of the constitutional right to bail, forum shopping by the prosecution, retracted and repudiated confessions and trial within trials