From: Maggid Mjengwa

My take:

Ambassador’s ‘way of thinking’ could also be US’s ‘ way of thinking’. Alfonso Lenhardt is a diplomat.

Maggid. Iringa.

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” In a democratic society, freedom of press is paramount as media has a role and responsibility to disseminate information to help people make informed judgements.

..so, to shut down a press is to my way of thinking counter to that objective..

…Journalists have a part to play as well, by being professional- reporting the facts without bias, being as accurate as possible and doing it in a timely manner must not be compromised.

….In every situation there are two sides to the coin but I do not like what has happened… and I hope that will be rectified in some way.

I am not at all happy with the notion of suspending media houses in this case press organaizations because I would hope that as I said, it is freedom of the press.”- Alfonso Lenhardt, Former US ambassador to Tanzania, The Citizen, 4th October, 2013.