Tanzania Contested Elections Vol. 5

This book examines the conduct of Tanzania's legal profession during the 2025 electoral cycle, with particular focus on the Public Bar Association (PBA) and its institutional rivalry with the Tanganyika Law Society (TLS).

It argues that the PBA's selective enforcement of professional norms-condemning the TLS legal aid boycott while remaining silent on state violations of due process, electoral fairness, and administrative legality-constitutes a form of professional complicity in democratic backsliding.

Drawing on a series of interconnected events, including the police assault on lawyer Deogratius Mahinyila, the disqualification of ACT-Wazalendo presidential candidate Luhaga Mpina, the treason trial of CHADEMA leader Tundu Lissu, the arrest of activist Lucy Shayo, the summons of whistleblower Humphrey Polepole, and the denial of reinstatement for public servants under Circular No. 1 of 2015, the book identifies a consistent pattern of selective legal enforcement.

Across these cases, the PBA is shown to have issued one major intervention: condemnation of the TLS. On all other issues involving state power, it remained silent.

The book concludes that the fragmentation of Tanzania's legal profession-between government-aligned legal officers and independent advocates-has weakened institutional accountability and enabled executive dominance. It argues that without a unified professional commitment to due process and constitutionalism, the rule of law becomes selectively applied and politically contingent.