(Bloomberg) -- Tanzania's opposition vowed to challenge President John Magufuli's passing of a law they said will sharply restrict political activities and makes the East African nation a one-party state.
Magufuli assented to the Political Parties Act in mid-February, according to the Government Gazette, a step that opponents only discovered this weekend. The legislation appoints a regulator to monitor the funding, membership and plans of opposition groups, with critics saying it could effectively criminalize dissent.
Magufuli's “assent formally declared our country a de facto one-party state,” Zitto Kabwe, a lawmaker who heads the opposition Alliance for Change and Transparency, said by text message. “We will continue to work together as an alliance of political parties to oppose the law through judicial process.”
Magufuli, who's nicknamed the “bulldozer,” has waged a war on corruption and battled international companies to win Tanzania a greater share of mining profits since his election in late 2015. But he's also accused of presiding over a crackdown on the press and once-vibrant opposition that's prompted some Western donors to withhold funding.
Tanzania's main opposition party, Chadema, criticized the legislation and said Saturday it was planning a legal challenge. “We will continue to consult with other political parties and stakeholders to find the best way possible to have this law suspended,” it said in a statement.
To contact the reporter on this story: Ken Karuri in Dar es Salaam at kkaruri@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Malingha at dmalingha@bloomberg.net, Michael Gunn, Paul Richardson
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