Tanzania bans school textbooks for promoting LGBTQ rights

The Tanzanian government has banned a popular series of children’s books from schools on the grounds that they violate local cultural values of the Eastern African country, Nation Africa reports.

Education Minister Adolf Mkenda on Monday took aim at “The Diary of a Wimpy Kid” books, and said the government was monitoring libraries in both public and private schools to make sure they were not on their shelves, the media reports.

“The Diary of a Wimpy Kid” books are written by US author Jeff Kinney. Mkenda also ordered a ban on other books including “Sex Education: A Guide to Life”.

“We are banning these books from schools and other education institutions because they contradict Tanzanian cultural norms and morals,” Mkenda told reporters in the political capital Dodoma.

“The books also violate the good practices of bringing up our children,” he said, calling on parents to inspect their children’s bags to make sure they did not have the books.

He added that the banned books were on a first list of “unacceptable books” and urged the public to report other similar books as part of an ongoing investigation.

Last week, President Samia Suluhu Hassan met university student leaders and asked them to be careful with some “imported cultures”, Kenyan media reports.

“If you are a Tanzanian, live in accordance with our cultures,” Hassan said. Her comments reportedly followed remarks by a senior member of the ruling CCM party, Frank Haule, who claimed that same sex activity was rampant in universities.
“That practice is contrary to our cultures and is prohibited by religious books,” Haule said.