By Rogers Wanambwa

KIU, Main Campus – On Monday 27th December, 2021, the Minister for Home Affairs in Tanzania announced that Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan had pardoned 5,704 prisoners to mark the nation’s 60 years of independence. 

George Simbachawene, the Minister for Home Affairs, said prisoners covered under the presidential amnesty include those that have served over a quarter of their jail terms and who were jailed before 9th October, 2021.

According to Simbachawene, President Suluhu also pardoned prisoners aged over 70 years, pregnant women and mothers jailed with babies, and prisoners with physical or mental disabilities.

However, the minister said the health conditions of prisoners with physical or mental disabilities should be certified by regional or district medical officers in areas where their prisons were located.

The minister added that other beneficiaries of the presidential amnesty are prisoners that have been in jail for 15 years and those under detention.

Those who will not be considered for the amnesty include prisoners serving life sentences, facing death sentences, and those jailed for corruption, illegal weapons, rape, drugs abuse, and human trafficking. 

Others who will not benefit from the acquittal are prisoners convicted of impregnating schoolgirls and armed robbery. Tanzania marked its 60th Independence Anniversary on 9th December, 2021.