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the Charter, which stipulates that “[e]very individual shall be entitled to
equal protection of the law”.
In the light of Article 2 of the Charter above quoted, the alleged
discrimination might be related to a distinction based on “political or any
other opinion”.
To justify the difference in treatment between Tanzanians, the
respondent has, as already mentioned, invoked the existence of social
needs of the people of Tanzania based, inter alia, on the particular
structure of the State (Union between Mainland Tanzania and Tanzania
Zanzibar) and the history of the country, all requiring
a gradual
construction of a pluralist democracy in unity.
The question then arises whether the grounds raised by the Respondent
State in answer to that difference in treatment enshrined in the above
mentioned constitutional amendments are pertinent, in other words
reasonable, and legitimate.
As the Court has already indicated, those grounds of justification cannot
lend legitimacy to the restrictions introduced by the same constitutional
amendments to the right to participate in the Government of one’s
country, and the right not to be compelled to be part of an association
(supra, paragraphs 107 – 11 and paragraphs 114 -115).
It is the view of the Court that the same grounds of justification do not
legitimise the restrictions to not be discriminated against and the right to
equality before the law. The Court therefore concludes that there has
been violation of Articles 2 and 3(2) of the Charter.