T he major political event dominating the landscape in 2015 was the highly contested General Election which ushered in Dr John Pombe Magufuli as the new President of Tanzania. In an election that was regarded as the most competitive and the most unpredictable since multi-partyism was reintroduced in 1992, Magufuli garnered 8,882,935 votes representing 58.46% of the vote while leading opposition candidate Edward Lowassa gained 6,072,848 votes. Although, 14.5 million Tanzanians cast their vote, over 23 million people across the country were registered through the newly introduced biometric voter registration system. More familiarly known as the Bulldozer, for driving a programme to build roads when he served as the Minister of Works, President Magufuli has a reputation of being pragmatic and is results driven politician. People saw his sense of humour during the campaign trail when he would drop to his knees and perform push-ups because critics suggested he was unfit for office. He is as highly regarded on the continent, as he is among his peers – for taking bold action against excessive government expenditure, firing what he considers “lazy and incompetent” civil servants. He cancelled independence anniversary celebrations and directed that the money be used for health services. He cut foreign trips by government officials saying ambassadors can do the work. As his list of impulsive “do good” actions grow, so does his list of admirers. 76 So This is Democracy? 2015 While the continent celebrate his triumphs, the media sector are concerned with the legislation that the Government has introduced throughout the year and which many felt Magufuli would repeal or amend in an attempt to ensure that media freedom and freedom of expression are maintained. By the end of April 2015, the Government introduced four bills that directly impact on the media. These were; The Cybercrimes Bill, 2015, The Statistics Bill, 2013, The Media Services Bill, 2015 and The Access to Information Bill, 2015. A review of the four pieces of legislation in An Assessment of the New Tanzanian Media Laws of 2015: points out that while the government argued that the four bills were needed to facilitate access to information and regulate the media sector, its critics argue that these laws contain draconian measures that will close down democratic space. If all these bills are measured on the basis of issues of rights to freedom of expression and information and the likelihood of these rights being compromised or violated by provisions in the act, then they all go against the international benchmarks of media freedom and media regulation and they contravene African and international standards on numerous counts and should be rewritten. The contraction of media freedom through legislation and other measures question President’s commitment towards democracy, human rights and development.