Tanzania
Tanzania performs at the mid-range across all four categories of the Global State of Democracy framework. It is among the world’s top performers in Absence of Corruption. Over the past five years, Tanzania has experienced notable declines in the factors of Elected Government, Credible Elections, and Economic Equality, but has improved in Freedom of Expression. The country has maintained some of the fastest growth rates in Africa as a result of its strategic location as one of East Africa’s most important seaport hubs, abundant natural resources and political stability. Despite this, the economy remains chiefly agrarian; other important sectors include tourism, mining, construction, and manufacturing.
Prior to its independence in 1961, Tanzania had been a colony first of Germany and then of the United Kingdom. Its first president was its independence leader Julius Nyerere, who governed the country from 1964 to 1985. Present-day Tanzania was formed in a 1964 union between the mainland of Tanganyika and the islands of Zanzibar, which remain to this day a semi-autonomous region with its own elected president. Unlike many other African countries, ethnicity does not constitute a major cleavage in Tanzania. This reflects the success of a sustained policy of nation-building carried out under Nyerere, the unifying influence of the Swahili language, and the country’s unusually high ethnic diversity, which has disincentivized ethnic-based resource competition.
While the country has retreated from Nyerere’s socialist policies, his influence looms large, and is evident in the significant powers that the president continues to wield. While the country’s politics has long been dominated by the governing Chama cha Mapinduzi party, it took an authoritarian turn under recent (former) president John Magufuli, who banned political rallies, arrested opposition leaders, and enacted new media restrictions. In this context, Tanzanians express a strong appetite for democratic reform. Since 2021, when Magufuli passed away and was succeeded by his vice president, Samia Suluhu Hassan, the government has implemented several reforms to liberalize the country’s restrictive political system.
Tanzania is divided in several matters of social identity. The LGBTQIA+ community is a frequent target of intimidation and violence and same-sex relations are prosecuted under the country’s colonial era-sodomy law. The country has the largest population of people with albinism in the world, and this population regularly faces violent harassment and exclusion. Rates of gender-based violence are also high, with 40 per cent of women between the ages of 15 and 49 having experienced physical violence. Furthermore, Tanzania’s pastoralist Maasai community has been subjected to severe human rights abuses during repeated forced evictions. In January 2024, the Tanzania National Parks Authority’s paramilitary rangers were reported to have shot and arrested several Maasai herders.
Looking ahead, it will be crucial to watch progress on the government’s reform agenda. This has led to improvements in Free Political Parties and Freedom of the Press, as a ban on political rallies was lifted and media laws were liberalized. Likewise, Tanzania’s parliament recently passed legislation aimed at strengthening the independence of the National Electoral Commission. However, the postponement of key constitutional reforms until after the 2025 general elections, reveals the continued existence of autocratic tendencies within government and has raised questions about the future of the reform agenda.
Last updated: June 2024
https://www.idea.int/democracytracker/
September 2024
Opposition official killed in acid attack, investigation launched
On 8 September, a senior Tanzanian opposition leader was found dead after being brutally beaten and doused with acid. According to media reports, on 6 September, Mohamed Ali Kibao was forced off a bus by suspected security agents while travelling to his hometown, Tanga. Kibao, a retired military intelligence officer, joined the opposition party Chadema (Chama cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo) in 2008 and was a member of its Secretariat. The killing has sparked outrage, with President Samia Suluhu Hassan condemning the murder and calling for a swift investigation. Chadema claims the attack was politically motivated, highlighting a troubling rise in tensions as opposition figures face growing instances of arbitrary arrests and detention ahead of local elections in December 2024 and the general elections set for next year.
Sources: BBC, The Citizen, U.S. Embassy in Tanzania, The East African, International IDEA
August 2024
Hundreds of opposition leaders arrested in the run-up to local elections
Tanzanian security forces arrested hundreds of supports of opposition movements and parties, including Party for Democracy and Progress (Chama cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo, Chadema) Chairman Freeman Mbowe, former presidential candidate Tundu Lissu, as well as several journalists for violating a ban on holding a Youth Day rally. The arrests – which began on 11 August ahead of Chadema’s planned International Youth Day celebration in the city of Mbeya – signaled growing repression ahead of the local government elections in December 2024 and the 2025 presidential election. Authorities justified the banning of the event and the subsequent crackdown by claiming that Chadema was planning violent protests, ostensibly drawing parallels to unrest in neighboring Kenya. Human rights groups condemned the mass arrests and arbitrary detentions, with concerns mounting over President Samia Suluhu’s use of state power to suppress political opposition. Mbowe and Lissu were both released on 13 August after posting bail.
Sources: The Citizen, Africa Confidential, The New York Times, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International
January 2024
First political protest in years held peacefully
The first significant opposition protest in many years took place in Dar es Salaam on 24 January. In January 2023, President Samia Suluhu Hassan announced the termination of a ban on most political rallies that had been imposed by former president John Magufuli in 2016, but the government continued to repress protests, most notably in June 2023. In the event on 24 January, thousands of supporters of the opposition Party for Democracy and Progress (Chama cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo, CHADEMA) peacefully rallied to call for reforms to the electoral laws and constitution that would decrease the power of the president, particularly relating to the independence of the electoral management body (EMB).
Sources: The Citizen, Al Jazeera, Human Rights Watch
August 2023
Prominent critics of government port deal arrested
In August, police arrested three prominent critics of a controversial deal struck by the Tanzanian government, under which the country’s ports are to be run by an Emirati company. Willibrod Slaa, a former parliamentarian and ambassador, Boniface Mwabukusi, a lawyer, and Mdube Nyagali, a political activist, were arrested between 12 and 13 August having publicly criticised the deal. According to their lawyers, the three face charges of treason, which carries the death sentence, although no official information about the specific charges has been released. The Tanzanian government stated that their arrest had nothing to do with their criticism of the port deal, but rather calls, it alleges they made, for the violent overthrow of the government. However, commentators say the arrests are part of a crackdown on the deal’s critics, with Human Rights Watch reporting that between June and August 2023 at least 22 critics (including protesters) were arbitrarily detained or threatened by authorities.
Sources: Africa Confidential, Amnesty International, Legal and Human Rights Centre, British Broadcasting Corporation, Human Rights Watch
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