FORMER anti-graft czar Edward Hosea is the new President of the Tanganyika Law Society (TLS).
He was elected to head the premier bar association in the country on Friday in one of the closely contested elections in recent years.
Dr.Hosea, a former director general of Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB), garnered 297 votes.
His closest challenger Ms Flaviana Charles obtained 223 votes but was closely followed by Mr.Shehzada Walii who got 192.
The voting,at the Arusha International Conference Centre (AICC), was preceded by TLS annual general conference of the association.
The current TLS Constitution, the President serves a one year, non-renewable term during which he or she will steer the society to improved fight for rule of law.
Dr. Hosea takes over from Dr, Rugemelezi Nshala, an environmental lawyer, who has been at the helm of TLS for the past two years.
A famous Arusha lawyer Albert Msando, who was expected to pose a challenge to the stalwarts, emerged fourth with 69 votes.
But it was the former TLS President Francis Stolla who performed poorly, emerging fifth with a mere 17 votes.
Dr. Hosea, who exited PCCB in December 2015 after coming into power by the fifth phase government, is no stranger to legal advocacy.
As the PCCB boss, he was elected on board to various anti-corruption bodies in Africa and the Commonwealth countries.
Only a decade ago, he was the chairman of the African Union Advisory Board on Corruption, an organization based in Arusha.
He has also served as the president of anti-graft agencies in the Commonwealth countries (Africa and Southern Africa Development Community (Sadc) bloc.
In his pre-election media briefs, the soft spoken lawyer was categorical he would not waver in advocating for the rule of law.
However,he promised to as well strive to improve relations between the bar association and the government which often go sour.
Relations between the two sides had not been rosy for years but went much low in 2017 with the election of Tundu Lissu as TLS President.
By then Mr. Lissu was a lawmaker for Singida East in the opposition Chadema party. Later the same year, he survived an assassination attempt.
Dr. Hosea said with the election as the TLS chief he would use the forum to address the challenges facing the legal sector.
These, according to him, include seeking reduction of membership fees from Sh. 600,000 to Sh. 400,000.
He also promised to work with other legal platforms in the country to fight what he described as "repressive laws" as well as introduce insurance cover to TLS members.
He has repeatedly denied that he was fired by the late President John Pombe Magufuli during the latter's purge upon taking over power in November 2015.
After his election, he said TLS would not budge for its fight for the rule of law and that this would include a free judiciary.
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