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.
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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