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Wednesday, September 15, 2021

Tanzania’s democracy in decline as ruling party maintains authoritarianism grip

By Osoro Nyawangah, MWANZA Tanzania

As international communities celebrate the International Day of Democracy today September 15, Tanzania authorities have stepped up efforts to constrain opposition parties and barriers to accessing information in recent years.

In every region of the world, democracy is under attack by populist leaders and groups that reject pluralism and demand unchecked power to advance the particular interests of their supporters, usually at the expense of minorities and other perceived foes.

The International Day of Democracy was established through a resolution passed by the UN General Assembly in 2007, encouraging governments to strengthen and consolidate democracy.

In the words of the United Nations, “International Day of Democracy provides an opportunity to review the state of democracy in the world. Democracy is as much a process as a goal, and only with the full participation of the international community, can the ideal of democracy be made into a reality.”

The International Day of Democracy owes its existence to the Universal Declaration on Democracy, which was adopted on September 15, 1997 by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), which is an international organization of national parliaments.

In the following years, Qatar led efforts to promote an International Day of Democracy.

Finally, on November 8, 2007, the day was established as the UNGA adopted by consensus the resolution titled “Support by United Nations system of efforts of governments to promote and consolidate a new or restored democracies.” 

The IPU suggested that the occasion be celebrated on September 15 to commemorate the adoption of Universal Declaration on Democracy 10 years prior.

The first such celebration took place in 2008. Every year, events take place under an individual theme.

The theme for International Day of Democracy changes every year. "Covid-19: A Spotlight on Democracy" was the theme in 2020. This year, the United Nations will focus on "strengthening democratic resilience in the face of future crises."

While celebrations in 2019 took place under the theme “Participation" and in 2018 the theme was “Democracy under strain: Solutions for a changing world.”

From 2013 to 2016, the events took place under the taglines of “Strengthening voices for democracy,” “Engaging youth on democracy,” “Space for civil society” and “Democracy and 2030 agenda for sustainable development,” respectively.

The values of freedom, respect for human rights and the principle of holding periodic and genuine elections by universal suffrage are essential elements of democracy.  In turn, democracy provides the natural environment for the protection and effective realization of human rights.

These values are embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and further developed in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which enshrines a host of political rights and civil liberties underpinning meaningful democracies.

Even though Tanzania still ranks above neighboring countries in terms of transparency, accountability, and civil rights; rapid democratic declines in recent years pose an ongoing concern.

Improving governance in Tanzania is constrained by an increasingly powerful executive branch, closing civic space, violations of human rights, lack of political competition, a still-emerging civil society, limited government capacity, low public accountability, and barriers to accessing information.

Incumbent leaders and ruling party are corrupting governance and spreading antidemocratic practices across the country.

These actions are opportunistic, but are often cloaked in an ideological agenda; and as they become increasingly common, they are fuelling a deterioration in conditions that will have national implications for the cause of human freedom.

In 2016, the government banned all political rallies and demonstrations outside election periods, sharply curtailing parties’ ability to mobilize public support.

In 2019, the CCM used its parliamentary supermajority to pass amendments to the Political Parties Act that further eroded the rights of opposition groups.

The amendments included a provision empowering a government minister to regulate party coalition formation, a ban on political fundraising from international sources, a rule prohibiting political parties from engaging in “activism,” and the introduction of a number of tools that the registrar can use to investigate and interfere with the internal operations of targeted parties.

The amendments also gave the registrar legal immunity, further reducing accountability for the office.

According to the Freedom House, an institution that works to defend human rights and promote democratic change, with a focus on political rights and civil liberties, Tanzania’s freedom score has declined to 34% from 40% maintaining its ‘partly free’ status.

The Freedom House that acts as a catalyst for freedom through a combination of analysis, advocacy, and action in its new report says that the October 2020 presidential election period was marred by reports of widespread fraud and vote-rigging, widespread arrests, threats and violence against the opposition.

The report further informs of forced dispersal of public gatherings by the authorities, the effective prohibition of independent election monitors, and numerous other serious problems as cause for the decline.

“The regime mobilized the army to Zanzibar amid growing unrest ahead of the Zanzibari presidential polls, and both the army and police were implicated in a spate of violence against opposition activists and civilians.” The report states adding that as many as nine people were killed in one instance on the island of Pemba, when security forces fired on demonstrators attempting to stop the transport of allegedly fraudulent ballots.

Unlike the 2015 poll, the 2020 legislative election was marred by extensive allegations of fraud and intimidation.

Widespread interference in nomination processes, both bureaucratic and physical, led to around 30 opposition candidates being denied a spot on the ballot.

“Numerous legislative and local government candidates were detained during the campaign period, including high-profile Chadema lawmakers Godbless Lema and Halima Mdee.”

The report says that on election day, opposition politicians complained of election interference and fraud. “The results showed that 97 percent of the directly elected seats went to the CCM, substantially increasing the party’s majority.”

Following the elections, key opposition legislative candidates sought asylum, including Godbless Lema, who was granted refugee protection in Canada.

The Vice Chairman of Chadema, Tundu Lissu, also went back in exile in Belgium following the intense presidential election in 2020 that saw his civil disobedience in protest of what he perceived as a constitutional coup d'état, have him once again be the target of death threats.

The opposition was granted a small number of women’s special seats in line with their share of the vote, the main opposition party, Chadema, refused to take up these seats.

However, a group of 19 women legislators from the party defected and were seated in the legislature; they were then formally expelled by Chadema. Several of these women took their legislative seats upon being released from police custody, prompting speculation of coercion.

Freeman Mbowe, leader of Tanzania’s main opposition party (Chadema) has been behind bars since July 21 when he was arrested along with other senior party officials in a night-time police raid just hours before they were to hold a public forum to demand constitutional reforms and introduction of an Independent Election Commission.

He is facing  “terrorism” charges, in a case denounced by his supporters as a politically motivated move aimed at crushing dissent.

The National Electoral Commission (NEC) is appointed by the Tanzanian president. Magufuli’s appointment of Wilson Mahera as the new NEC director in October 2019 was criticized by Chadema and ACT leaders; arguing that Mahera, who had previously run for office as a CCM candidate, was a partisan figure.

The NEC was criticized for poor administration of voter registration processes ahead of the 2020 elections, and in 2020, the body oversaw the rejection of dozens of legislative and local candidates on technicalities and in early October ordered the suspension of Lissu’s presidential campaign for a week, saying he had used incendiary language.

Opposition parties accused NEC of being complicit in widespread ballot stuffing and use of “ghost voters” to increase CCM vote shares.

The Zanzibar Election Commission also is appointed by the Zanzibari president, though the opposition nominates two of the seven members. In 2018, the then president Ali Mohamed Shein appointed all seven new members to the commission.

Tanzanians have the right to organize into political parties, but the ruling CCM enjoys considerable incumbency advantages that stifle competition.

The system of state funding for parties under the Political Parties Act of 2015 disproportionately benefits the CCM. Political parties are regulated by a presidentially appointed registrar whom the opposition criticizes for partisan bias.

An historic decision to make Tanzania a multi-party state was taken at the extra-ordinary national conference of the ruling party (Chama Cha Mapinduzi) held in Dar es Salaam on 18-19 February 1992.

The national conference was called to discuss the recommendation of its national executive committee (NEC) that a multi-party democracy should be introduced in Tanzania.

The government subsequently, issued constitutional proposals and amendments for deliberations by the Tanzanian parliament on 28 April, 1992 that ended Chama Cha Mapinduzi’s status as the sole legal political party and as the supreme organisation of state.

Following a decade of putative democratisation, the election campaign laid bare the crude authoritarian logic of the ruling party. As the Africa Center for Strategic Studies notes,

“Violence has become deeply embedded in Chama Cha Mapinduzi’s current calculus of control.”

A particularly chilling instance of political violence was the September 2017 attempt on the life of Tundu Lissu, who survived 16 gunshots.

The intimidation of the opposition and its supporters continued throughout the election, backed by censorship and efforts to disqualify hundreds of opposition legislative and local government candidates; in some cases with the clear aim of giving Chama Cha Mapinduzi a better chance of winning the seat.

Meanwhile, a new law gave the state power to oversee, and even suspend, civil society groups and media outlets; this further limited freedoms of association and information.

These strategies continued even after Chama Cha Mapinduzi had officially won 84% of the presidential vote and 97% of legislative seats, when a number of senior opposition party members were arrested.

The Chadema party that used to have more than 100 members of parliament, now have only one member.

The first president of Tanzania, Julius Nyerere gained credit by voluntarily leaving office in 1985, one of the first African leaders to do so. Yet he left a legacy of censorship and ideological indoctrination that helped to cover up some of the abuses of his regime and continues to underpin state repression today.

The Newspaper Act of 1976 and associated laws allowed the president to ban publications – domestic and imported alike. It was the precursor to the Media Services Act (2016), which was used to crack down on the press under Magufuli.

In the 1990s, Chama Cha Mapinduzi won elections on the mainland with ease, so civil society groups and opposition parties were allowed to operate with relative freedom. This changed around 2010, when Chama Cha Mapinduzi’s vote-share drop started to alarm the regime.

It was after the main opposition party, Chadema began to make significant inroads that Chama Cha Mapinduzi started to move against civil society and the media.

President Samia Hassan, sparked hopes of a process of democratic reform when it appeared that she had lifted “a ban on all media”, and committed her government to transparency and accountability.

Real change would mean revising and removing repressive legislation and structures so that they cannot be employed in future but repressive media laws remain on the books.

And while the president noted that “we should not ban the media by force”, she added “we should ensure they follow the rules”; just hours after her celebrated statement on media liberalization, the government rolled it back, “clarifying” that it was only online television that was being unbanned.

In functioning democracies, the media provides information to the public, mediates between citizens and politicians, and serves as a watchdog, uncovering abuses of power and forcing institutions to correct their course.

In practice, the delineation between politics and the press is unclear even in responsive democratic states and in authoritarian regimes, journalists and outlets are increasingly coopted, harassed, and silenced by those in power.

New leaders can claim the reformer’s mantle, but giving them too much credence before serious structural reforms have taken place sells democracy short and increases the risk of authoritarian relapse when political opposition begins to rise.

Real and sustained democratic progress in Tanzania will require not just a new leader, but the emergence of supportive pro-reform factions in the ruling party to support their ideas. - Africa

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