The National Assembly of

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...

( sw, Bunge la Tanzania) and the

President of Tanzania The President of the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Rais wa Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania) is the head of state and head of government of the United Republic of Tanzania. The President leads the executive branch of the Government of Ta ...

of the United Republic make up the Parliament of Tanzania. The current Speaker of the National Assembly is

Tulia Ackson Tulia Ackson (born 23 November 1976) is the Speaker of the National Assembly of Tanzania, in office since 2022. She was appointed as a Member of Parliament by President John Magufuli. Early life Ackson was born on 23 November 1976 in Bul ...

, who presides over a unicameral assembly of 393 members.

History

The National Assembly of Tanzania was formed as the Legislative Council of Tanzania Mainland – then known as

Tanganyika Tanganyika may refer to: Places * Tanganyika Territory (1916–1961), a former British territory which preceded the sovereign state * Tanganyika (1961–1964), a sovereign state, comprising the mainland part of present-day Tanzania * Tanzania Main ...

– in 1926. The Council was formed under a law enacted by the British Parliament called the Tanganyika Legislative Council Order and Council. The law was gazetted in Tanganyika on 18 June 1926. The Council consisted of 20 members when it was formed on 7 December 1926 under the Chairmanship of the Governor of Tanganyika, Sir Donald Cameron. The first Speaker was appointed to replace the Governor as the Chairman of the Council in 1953. The office of Speaker was first occupied on 1 November 1953. In 1958, the Council got a few elected representatives for the first time. This was the first election allowed in the colony. Of the three political parties which participated in the elections, namely Tanganyika African Union (TANU), United Tanganyika Party (UTP) and African National Congress (ANC), only TANU won in some constituencies, thus becoming the first party to have elected members on the Council. Second elections for positions on the Council were held in 1960. These elections were part of the preparations being made to make Tanganyika an independent nation. All members appointed by the Governor were abolished and the people of Tanganyika were allowed to elect all members of the Council. In the same year, the name of the Council was changed to Legislative Assembly. The changes made in this year were constitutionally necessary so as to allow the President of Tanganyika to give assent to all laws passed instead of the Queen of the United Kingdom.

Mandate

The Parliament – the National Assembly and the President of the United Republic – obtains its mandate and functions from Chapter 3 of the Constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania. The Constitution contains Articles that grant for the establishment, composition and functions of the Parliament.

Functions

The Parliament has powers to deal with both Union and non-Union issues which are not in the scope of the

Zanzibar Zanzibar (; ; ) is an insular semi-autonomous province which united with Tanganyika in 1964 to form the United Republic of Tanzania. It is an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of many small islan ...

Government. It is responsible for discussing bills and passing laws. It also scrutinizes the actions of the Executive arm of the Government.

Composition

Article 66 of the Constitution of Tanzania outlines the following categories of members:

References

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Government of Tanzania Dodoma

History

Mandate

Functions

Composition

See also

References