" No room for opposition: Tanzania lawyer loses job at top firm and position at the roll of advocates"

A Tanzanian lawyer and former President of Tanganyika Law Society (TLS) has been permanently removed from the roll of advocates just a day of losing her job at IMMMA Advocates. Ms Fatma Karume shared on Twitter a letter that was sent to her by IMMMA Advocates terminating her partnership on the grounds of her involvement in political activism, making politically motivated statements and communication on the social media and other platforms. “6 lawyers draft and sign a cease and desist letter to another lawyer for daring to express herself on the regression of democracy and rule of law in Tanzania dubbing it “political activism”, seemingly clueless of one’s Constitutional right to freedom of expression,” tweeted Karume.

Karume has also accused the firm of double standards saying that the firm did not take the same action for a partner who was a minister in the previous government. “If you defend the rule of law, democracy in a dictatorship you are dubbed a “political activist” and terminated in breach of a deed of partnership by IMMMA a law firm that had no qualms flaunting a partner sitting as a Minister in the ruling CCM. Ethics are a rare commodity,” tweeted Karume. However, the move by the Tanganyika Law Society (TLS), Advocates committee to permanently remove her from the roll of advocates camas as a shocker owing to the fact she was president of TLS just a year ago.