The Exercise of Discretionary Power by District Commissioners in Tanzania: The Paradigm of The Power to Arrest

Abstract

Discretionary power exists to ensure decisions ofadministrators are not caged by silent elucidation ofthe law. It allows administrators to use theirreasonable common senses but which arecontrolled by law, to decide over various mattersthat come before their competence. This articleaims at critically discussing the exercise ofdiscretionary powers by District Commissioners(DC ' s) in Tanzania especially with respect to powerof arrest. The article begins by giving the meaningand application of discretionary powers to DC ' s inTanzania. The article further traces the historicaldevelopment of laws and policies relating toexercise of discretionary powers by DC ' s inTanzania and analyses the current laws which givemandate to the DC ' s to exercise discretionarypowers. The article cites and discusses few caseswhere DC ' s exercised the power of arrest. Prior to conclusion and recommendations, the articlediscusses the exercise of discretionary powers in ahuman rights perspective.Keywords: discretionary powers, DistrictCommissioners, power to arrest, abuse of exerciseof power, right to disobey unlawful order.