A precedent of sorts has been set in Tanzania's parliamentary history, with a member of the public for the first time receiving the go-ahead to file a complaint over remarks made against him by an MP during debate in the National Assembly.
The matter has become a cause celebre, pitting the flamboyant media mogul Reginald Mengi, one of the country's most prominent businessmen, against the MP for Mkurunga, Adam Malima.
Even more significant is the fact that the controversy touches on the twin issues of the responsibility of media owners to society and the doctrine of parliamentary immunity.
The complaint by Mr Mengi - the proprietor of ITV television station - arises from accusations by Mr Malima that the television station was devoting disproportionate airtime to Mr Mengi compared with more deserving national issues.
In the written complaint, Mr Mengi accused the MP of hiding behind parliamentary privilege to malign him. Subsequently, Speaker Samuel Sitta, in keeping with Commonwealth parliamentary tradition, referred the matter to the House's Committee for Rights, Ethics and Powers, which is chaired by Juma Suleiman Nh'unga, to investigate the issue and recommend appropriate action.
Previously, it was parlia-ment that summoned journalists and, on one occasion, a civil servant, to answer charges of either lowering the dignity of the House or of disobeying its orders. Its sanctions against those who transgress on its dignity have been swift and binding.
According to the tradition in Commonwealth democracies, the Speaker has the duty of care in law to ensure that debate is in good taste and that MPs take responsibility for their utterances, especially when they touch on individuals who cannot defend themselves in the House.
Mr Sitta, who assumed office promising to enforce "standards and speed" in parliamentary procedures during his tenure, might have sought to discourage MPs from using the floor of the House to settle scores with members of the public. But the status of the complainant in this case could have influenced the Speaker's decision.
If the Committee for Rights, Ethics and Powers finds that Mr Malima has maligned Mr Mengi and ITV, Mr Sitta has powers to sanction the MP by either suspending him, ordering him to withdraw the offending remarks or demanding an apology.
But because proceeding in the House are protected by the Parliamentary Privileges and Immunities Act of 1998, Mr Mengi will not be able to take any legal action against the MP even if parliament finds that he has a case to answer.
With the debate focusing on the parliament and the role of the Speaker as guardian of the public interest, the role of the media and its obligations to society seem to have been forgotten.
Legal experts who spoke to The EastAfrican say that the House has a watchdog role over other sectors of society, and where it is felt that a media organisation is either biased or taking a position that is likely to incite a section of society against another, MPs have a responsibility to blow a whistle.
The Committee for Rights, Ethics and Powers will have to decide whether the MP's accusation that the TV station was giving its proprietor Mr Mengi disproportionate coverage compared with that given to national leaders, constituted an attempt to malign the businessman.
In contributing to debate after the presentation of budget estimates for the Ministry of Information, Culture and Sports last month, Mr Malima accused Independent Television (ITV), which is owned by Mr Mengi's IPP Group, of giving too much airtime to personal issues involving Mr Mengi while denying national leaders adequate coverage.
This, he charged, was an abuse of media freedom since what Mr Mengi was indulging in was self-promotion, which is not the reason for which he was was granted TV frequencies.
Mr Malima cited as an example an incident involving President Jakaya Kikwete, who was given only a minute and half when he was addressing a public gathering on the looming famine in the country. He accused the TV station of giving the same amount of coverage to Prime Minister Edward Lowassa, when he spoke on the same issue.
He contrasted this with the coverage of nearly 10 minutes, during the same broadcast, of a visit by pupils from Zanzibar to the Coca Cola Kwanza Plant in Dar es Salaam, which Mr Mengi chairs.
Mr Malima also gave the example of the coverage given by ITV to a visit by Mr Mengi to a madrassa where he spoke about an imam with whom he had a personal dispute.
According to the MP, this "trivial" matter was also given nearly 10 minutes while speeches by the Minister for Public Safety Bakari Mwapachu and the Inspector General of Police Said Mwema to a meeting of top policemen to discuss the rising number of armed robberies in the country, were given "negligible airtime."
