Miscellaneous Provisions

Any person holding any office established by this Constitution (including the office of Minister, Deputy Minister, or Member of Parliament, except an ex-officio Member of Parliament) may resign by giving notice in writing and signed by him, in accordance with the following procedure: (a) if such person was appointed or nominated by one person, then such notice of resignation shall be submitted to the person who appointed or nominated him, or where he was appointed, or nominated by a body of persons, then such notice of resignation shall be submitted to that body of persons; (b) if that person is the holder of the office of President, then the notice of resignation shall be submitted to the Speaker; (c) if that person is the Speaker or Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, the notice of resignation shall be submitted to the National Assembly; and (d) if that person is a Member of Parliament, then that notice of resignation shall be submitted to the Speaker.

A person who has given notice of resignation pursuant to the provisions of subarticle (1) of this Article shall be deemed to have resigned from the day the notice of resignation is received by the person or body of persons concerned, or when it is received by any person authorized by a person or body of persons concerned to receive the notice of resignation, but where the notice of resignation states that that person will resign some later day after the receipt of that notice by the person or body of persons concerned, then that person shall be deemed to have resigned from such later day.

Where any person holding any office established by this Constitution, (including the office of the Minister, Deputy Minister or Member of Parliament, except an ex officio Member of Parliament) resigns, then, if he has all the necessary qualifications and is in every respect eligible, he may be reappointed or renominated to hold such office in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution.

Nothing in the provisions of subarticle (3) shall preclude a person holding the office of President from being re-elected to that office while he holds the office of President.

For the purpose of interpreting the provisions of this Constitution in relation to the procedure of appointment to the service of the Government of the United Republic, it is hereby declared that any person having power pursuant to this Constitution to appoint or nominate another person to hold a certain office has also the power to appoint or nominate a person to act in, or to temporarily perform the functions of, that office: Provided that these provisions shall not apply to the offices of Minister, Deputy Minister, Justice of the Court of Appeal, Judge of the High Court, Member of the Commission for Human Rights and Good Governance or Member of the Electoral Commission.

The following rules shall also apply for the purposes of interpreting the provisions of this Constitution concerning the procedure of appointment to offices in the services of the Government of the United Republic: (a) where a person holding a certain office pursuant to the provisions of this Constitution is on leave pending vacation of office, then another person may be appointed to that office, notwithstanding that the other person is still in service; (b) where two or more persons concurrently hold a certain office pursuant to their appointment in accordance with the rules laid down in paragraph (a) of this subarticle, then in those circumstances if the need arises to perform any duty connected with that office the person last appointed shall be deemed to be the only person holding such office; and (c) where pursuant to provisions of this Constitution a person is appointed to act in or to perform the functions of a certain office when the substantive holder of that office fails to perform the duties connected with that office, then it shall not be permitted to inquire into or to make any representations against such appointment on the ground that the substantive holder did not fail to perform the duties connected with that office.

In this Constitution unless the context otherwise requires - “military law” means a law or command issued pursuant to a law regulating discipline in a Force; “member of armed force” when used in connection with any armed force, includes any member of the armed force who in accordance with the military law of the Force, is subject to the discipline of that Force; “the House of Representatives” means the House of Representatives of Zanzibar referred to in Article 106 of this Constitution and which performs its functions in accordance with this Constitution and the Constitution of Zanzibar, 1984; “Parliament” means the Parliament of the United Republic referred to in Article 62 of this Constitution; “Political Party” means a political party which has been granted full registration in accordance with the Political Parties Act, 1992; “Judiciary” has the meaning ascribed to it in subarticle (1) of Article 116 of this Constitution; “Judiciary of Zanzibar” means the Zanzibar Judiciary which includes all the courts within the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar; “Chief Justice” means the Chief Justice of the Court of Appeal who is specified appointed and whose functions are prescribed in Article 118 of this Constitution; “Chief Justice of Zanzibar” means the Chief Justice of the High Court of Zanzibar who, pursuant to the Constitution of Zanzibar, 1984, is the head of the Zanzibar Judiciary; “Force” means any of the armed forces and includes any other force established by this Constitution or in accordance with law and which is governed by military law; “Commonwealth” means the organization whose members include the United Republic and every country to which the provisions of section 7 of the Citizenship Act, 1961, apply; “Oath” shall have the meaning ordinarily ascribed to it and includes any formal declaration permitted by law to be used instead of an oath; “oath of allegiance” means the oath to be loyal to the State and to the Government of the United Republic; “ethics of Office of Judge” means ethical rules guiding the conduct of persons holding the office of judge or magistrate; “office in the service of the Government of the United Republic” shall have the ordinary meaning of that expression and includes service in the Armed Forces of the United Republic and in the Police Force or other force established in accordance with law; “court” means any court having jurisdiction in the United Republic except a court established by military law; save that for the purposes of Articles 13, 14 and 15 of this Constitution it shall include a court established under military law; “High Court” means the High Court of the United Republic or the High Court of Zanzibar; “Union Matters” means all public affairs specified in Article 4 of this Constitution as being Union Matters; “State Authority” includes the Executive and the Legislature of the United Republic, as well as the Executive and the House of Representatives of Zanzibar; “Attorney-General” means the Attorney-General for the United Republic referred to in Article 59; “the Government” includes the Government of the United Republic, the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar or a District Council or Urban Authority, and also any person exercising any power or authority on behalf of the Government or local government authority; “Local Government Authorities” means the local government authorities established under Article 145 of this Constitution for the purposes of exercising the people’s power; “Mainland Tanzania” means the whole of the territory of the United Republic which formerly was the territory of the Republic of Tanganyika; “Tanzania Zanzibar” means the whole of the territory of the United Republic which formerly was the territory of the People’s Republic of Zanzibar and which was previously referred to as “Tanzania Visiwani”; “General Elections” or “people elections” means an election of a President and of the Members of Parliament representing electoral constituencies, which is held subsequent to the dissolution of Parliament; “Ujamaa” or “Ujamaa and Self Reliance” means the society’s life principles for building a Nation that observes democracy, self reliance, freedom, equality, fraternity and unity of the peoples of the United Republic; “Minister” means a Member of Parliament appointed to the office of Minister, except Deputy Minister, and that definition shall also apply to the Vice-President; “Zanzibar” has the same meaning as Tanzania Zanzibar.

The following rules shall be applied for the purpose of construing the provisions of the Constitution, that is to say - (a) whenever a reference is made to the function of the office of President it shall be construed to include powers to perform various duties and functions as the Head of the Government of the United Republic, and also such other functions or duties if so provided in this Constitution or in any other law that such other powers or duties ate powers of the President; (b) whenever reference is made to an office in the service of the Government it shall be construed that the office concerned is within the service of the Government of the United Republic unless it is stated otherwise and whenever reference is made to the Government’s department, it shall be construed that the department concerned is a department of the Government of the United Republic unless it is stated otherwise ; (c) if pursuant to the provisions of this Constitution there is any matter required to be performed or to be dealt with by any political party, then that matter shall be performed or dealt with by that party in accordance with the procedure laid down by that party for that purpose, and also in conformity with the provisions of this Constitution or any law enacted by Parliament for that purpose; (d) for the purposes of this Constitution, a person shall not be deemed to hold office in the service of the Government of the United Republic by reason only that he is receiving pension or other payment of that kind in respect of his past service in the Government of the United Republic or in any former Government of Mainland Tanzania or in the Armed Forces or the Police Force of the Government of the United Republic or former Government of Mainland Tanzania or of Zanzibar; (e) in this Constitution, unless the context requires otherwise, whenever reference is made to the holder of a certain office by reference to the designation of his office such reference shall be construed to include any person who is acting in, or who has been duly appointed to perform the functions of that office; (f) in this Constitution wherever there is a reference to the power to remove the holder of an office in the service of the Government of the United Republic, it shall be construed that the power concerned includes the power conferred in accordance with the provisions of any law which requires or permits that person to retire: Provided that the provisions of this rule shall not be construed as conferring power on any person to require a Justice of the Court of Appeal, a Judge of the High Court or the Controller and Auditor-General to retire from office; and (g) in this Constitution, wherever there is reference to a law which replaces or repeals another law, it shall be construed that the law concerned includes a law which amends that other law or which extends the application of that other law whether with or without modification or amendment, or a law which introduces new provisions in another law.

This Constitution may be cited as the Constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania, 1977.

This Constitution came into operation on the 26th of April, 1977.

This Constitution shall apply to Mainland Tanzania as well as Tanzania Zanzibar.