The Applicants in this case, the Editor of Mwanahalisi, a local weekly newspaper, and the newspaper’s publisher, Halihalisi Publishers Ltd., were aggrieved by the decision of the 1st Respondent, to indefinitely ban the publication of Mwanahalisi. The impugned decision was published in the Government Gazette as the Newspapers (Cessation of Publication) (Mwanahalisi) Order, 2012 (GN No. 258 of 27th July 2012). The ban was done under powers vested in the Minister by section 25(1) of the Newspapers Act, 1976.
The applicants thus filed the present application, which sought leave to file an application for orders of certiorari, mandamus and prohibition against the Respondents. They had also applied for the substantive orders of certiorari, mandamus and prohibition and maintenance of the status quo ante, “upon the grant of leave”. The Respondents raised two points of preliminary objection. They argued that the application was incompetent for being accompanied by a defective affidavit; and the application was incompetent for containing private and public law remedies. They argued that it was wrong for the Applicants to pray for an order restoring the status quo, which was a private law remedy, in the same application where the public law remedies of certiorari, mandamus and prohibition were also sought.