What is at Issue
Tanzania has seen relative peace, historically a non-aligned,
and was consequential in supporting regional liberation efforts leading to
independence of multiple African countries. The end of the Cold War produced
conditions conducive to formation of multiple political parties in Tanzania,
breaking from one-party State. The period also saw growth of civil society as
well as private media outlets. Tanzania also embarked towards a somewhat open
economy. Lately though, the Motherland is facing a testing time in dealing with
a multi-party democratic system in the face of Opposition parties, political
and Human Rights figures attempting to foster the exercise of democratic ideals.
For context, recent local elections saw significant
disqualification of Opposition party candidates for reasons that these parties,
some Church figures, Human Rights groups, and the Law Society say are unfair
and unconstitutional. Various such stakeholders are citing election processes
and procedures as lacking. With national Presidential and Parliamentary
elections scheduled for October 2025, the main Opposition party Chadema stakeholders and Human rights
activists have mounted a campaign proposing that No reforms no elections. This has landed the leader of the
Opposition in detention, now charged with treason.
- The Government is urged to safeguard justice, safety, peace and free speech of the Tanzanian population.
- The Government is called to promptly and appropriately address reports of unexplained disappearances and abductions, thus ensuring Tanzania avoids developing a culture that tolerates violence
- Need for State apparatuses to promptly respond with appropriate info when people are detained for law and order and security reasons under their care
- Multiple condemnations of shedding of blood, abductions and disappearances as evil by wide ranging church denominations
- Call on the Government to identify emerging criminal elements who may be implicated in abductions or disappearances for possible financial or political gain
- The level of concern and desperation is also evident in a range of groups continuously dedicating to extended prayer and fasting in expectation of spiritual intervention over the country
External Pressure
The developments have also prompted the European Parliament
to pass a resolution asking Tanzania to release the Leader of the Opposition
Party and address Human Rights concerns. Amnesty International and other
regional and global Human Rights bodies have all weighed in. In response
Tanzanian authorities are saying the interference is unwarranted arguing that Tanzania
is a sovereign.
Past Exercise of Pluralism under One Party
To help make sense of the present it is useful to broadly
put a spotlight on the previous system. Following independence from the
British, Tanzania consolidated a one-party system as a cornerstone to how her
version of democratic practices functioned. The populations for a substantial
period were steeped in one-party system thinking. The majority of us for better
or worse, our own mentalities were cultivated in that system (Chama Kimeshika Hatamu, broadly
translated as Supremacy of the Party).
It is important for all stakeholders to grasp this state of affairs because in
building democratic societies it also means you are dealing with
every-day-people’s frames of reference in relation to how they conceptualise
democracy.
In my view, in the context of post-independence period the
one-party mentalities may have served a positive function. Presumably the
ruling party used its supreme
position to exert its agenda of nation-building period that saw extensive
social development initiatives across the country from mass education,
workforce development through proliferation of colleges and higher learning
institutions, spread of healthcare centres, water and electricity provision in
urban centres, and so on. It was a different time, before the global project of
neo-liberalism. Keynesian economics was somewhat still in play. And Tanzania
navigated through the non-aligned path as Cold War endured.
There are signs that in the years of one-party State Tanzania
accommodated some measure of pluralism in that the interests of working people
(labour) were assumed to be embedded and
affiliated with the ruling party. In this sense post-independence some of the
civil society agenda relating to union and women’s interests, it seems came to
be absorbed (or subsumed?) and functioned from within the ruling party (refer
to history of JUWATA also Umoja wa Kina Mama under TANU and later under CCM). Needless to say, as this was era
of central planning encompassing areas such as education, healthcare, agriculture,
employment, and such, for its time there was a measure of plurality in the policy
agenda and outcomes.
As such, the issue at hand goes beyond ensuring multiple
parties have opportunity to exercise their democratic will and duty, but also in
moving towards such inclusion, it is helpful to the ongoing building of democracy
to take into account that for the majority of the population the notion of pluralist democracy is not something
that is extensively embedded in the psyche. Historically, as a general
population we have had limited opportunity to develop awareness that pluralism of
political parties and civil society are essential part of what makes a healthy
democracy. This is important to
recognise so as not to misread or misunderstand when the general Tanzanian
population seems silent about how to respond when faced with inadequate Government
action amidst scary abductions or questionable arrests.
It is also true though that safety, justice and peace are
such fundamental values to human dignity and positive functioning of any
society. These matters including general societal social and economic wellbeing
surely are also key to the reason of the
state (raison d’etre). Surely our
learned rulers and their advisers will be aware that this is important even
from the perspective of Government or State legitimacy. I suppose that is also
what makes recent happenings quite puzzling. Inability to address
disappearances, abductions and related matters surely does not augur well with
our desperate desire to see Tanzania move forward.
If one-party mentalities came about through historical political cultivation, as such, the building of a more plural democracy requires a shift in how we visualise or conceptualise the future.
Towards Plural Multi-party Democracy
On paper, Tanzania appear to subscribe to the notion of a multi-party
system, but now fundamental questions and issues are coming to the fore and
need to be worked through for democracy to flourish. What are the basic
democratic tenets or principles underpinning Tanzania’s political system? I
have listed some points here common to most democratic systems:
- Need to embrace a common understanding that a democratic system contains diverse groups and interests all of whom can freely participate in decision-making processes, and thus enriching the outcomes and wellbeing of population groups
- Individual freedoms naturally exist, they cannot be extinguished or abolished. These individual freedom underpin choices that each individual in society can exercise in relation freedom of expression (free speech), freedom of religion, freedom to pursue economic activities, freedom to associate, and freedom of movement
- Political parties, labour unions, business associations, industry and professional associations, community and religious organisations, having legitimacy to offer input into decision-making structures
- These inputs tend to be done peacefully through various forums or contested but in respectful .manner – for example, different parties are free to seek electoral representation through fair elections, unions organise and promote their political agenda including through affiliated political parties and independently.
- Under pluralist practices interest groups such as industry association, community groups, and Peak professional bodies all engaged in an ongoing way in providing views to Government.
- Example, in developing countries is quite normal for any group to offer inputs from local to legislative for a through wide ranging decision-making structures
- This doesn’t means every always gets what they want, but it means Governments decisions become balanced and enriched, thus enhancing the common good and general public interest
- Inputs also ensures policy decisions and programs are far richer and responsive to community needs. It is an acknowledgement that no one is capable of being a depository of all knowledge and wisdom. And that general community wellbeing benefits through more inclusive decision-making mechanism
- Need to embrace a common understanding that a democratic system contains diverse groups and interests all of whom can freely participate in decision-making processes, and thus enriching the outcomes and wellbeing of population groups
- Political parties, labour unions, business associations, industry and professional associations, .community and religious organisations, having legitimacy to offer input into decision-making structures
- These inputs tend to be done peacefully through various forums or contested but in respectful .manner – for example, different parties are free to seek electoral representation through fair elections, unions organise and promote their political agenda including through affiliated political parties and independently.
- Under pluralist practices interest groups such as industry association, community groups, and Peak professional bodies all engaged in an ongoing way in providing views to Government.
- Example, in developing countries is quite normal for any group to offer inputs from local to legislative for a through wide ranging decision-making structures
- This doesn’t means every always gets what they want, but it means Governments decisions become balanced and enriched, thus enhancing the common good and general public interest
- Inputs also ensures policy decisions and programs are far richer and responsive to community needs. It is an acknowledgement that no one is capable of being a depository of all knowledge and wisdom. And that general community wellbeing benefits through more inclusive decision-making mechanism
At Risk of being distracted?
Coincidentally, current democratic difficulties are
occurring at a critical very critical time when countries and regions across
the global are re-setting and re-positioning economically and geo-politically. This
begs the question what’s going on to make us stuck not solving the basics when
huge monumental changes are happening around the globe that have ramifications
for all countries, our own included. Just to think loud here of some the reset
in play (the reader may have many better ideas for such list), I am thinking:
- With the current pressure on the USA Treasury Bonds, how is that affecting positively or negatively the Tanzanian shilling?
- With the US imposition varied imposition of tariffs across the globe including impacts of tariffs upon some of our trading partners, how are we faring? How are we mitigating or and diversifying?
- Are any of our gold resources available to help protect Tanzania in any potential repositioning to minimise inflation effects of the US Dollar on economy? (middle aged people will remember in the early 1980s one dollar was equivalent to Tsh. 10, today you will need over Tsh. 2600
- With emerging historical shift facing UN Bretton Woods institutions (i.e. IMF and World Bank), how is Motherland Tanzania repositioning? How do we avoid debt traps that characterised the IMF and relevant “donor” countries?
- With the rise of new technologies and the strategic competition between USA and China and more, what the impacts for us, and how are we positioning? This includes how are we safeguarding data that may be collected from across the population by foreign companies?
- For countries around the world that are leveraging our economic resources, how in turn are we attempting to make such economic partnerships mutually beneficial?
- How are we pro-actively and strategically drawing upon the breadth of expertise across our population in positioning/re-positioning, including from a across Opposition parties in a drive to promote the wellbeing of Tanzanian populations?
To me, it seems there is another notable policy risk in that
because our legitimate concerns about lack of action in addressing safety and
justice, this is depriving the opportunity to scrutinise election policies for
the upcoming election this year. If we are serious about building a productive
democracy, this particular time we should have been focussing on examining the
strength and weaknesses of policy proposals of different political parties and
candidates. But now Alas! The drama involving abductions and disappearances
leaves less room to question or explore policy directions relevant to parties.
The same can be said about impact of lack of progress in addressing systemic
gaps to improve election procedures.
Food for Thought
- For multi-party democracy to flourish, it helps if those participating in the system hold a shared understanding that pluralism is a valuable tool essential for general societal wellbeing, effective economic, social and cultural participation.
- As significant, this crisis appears tied up with concerns about individual rights to associate .and fully participate in political life in shaping future directions such as economy and contributing to policy directions and strategies for the betterment of the wellbeing of the whole Tanzanian population. It is not a zero-sum game.
- Current inability to effectively address the concerns about multi-party democracy could be .putting Tanzania at risk from continued peace and prosperity, at a time when the world is .engaged in global geo-political reset.
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