Defeat of Democracy’ Feared in Tanzania

Barbarosa

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Apr 16, 2015
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Hii ni Makala kutoka Jarida la Muzungu Bloomberg International kuhusu nchi yetu, ndani yake Mbunge ktk Mkoa wa Kigoma
Zito Kabwe anaifananisha Tanzania yetu na ,,Nazi Germany " na kwamba Raisi wetu ni sawa na Adolf Hitler, imeandikwa ndani.

Muandishi ni Mkenya anaitwa Kenneth Karuri!

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Tanzanians already have to watch what they publish, tweet and even sing. Now President John Magufuli’s administration is poised to put opposition parties under even more scrutiny.

Proposed amendments to the East African nation’s Political Parties Act would give a regulator sweeping powers to monitor the funding, membership and plans of opposition groups. Critics say it could effectively criminalize dissent, already rare three years after Magufuli took office. One firebrand lawmaker compared it to legislation in Nazi Germany.

“We are watching the defeat of democracy in Tanzania,” said Nic Cheeseman, professor of democracy at the University of Birmingham in the U.K. “It is a slow and painful death by a thousand cuts. If current trends continue, there will not be much left by the next election” in 2020.

Should such a forecast come true, it would edge Tanzania ever closer to one-man rule under a president who’s nicknamed the “bulldozer” and predicts his party will govern forever. As he wages war on corruption and battles international companies to win the country a greater share of mining profits, Magufuli is also accused of presiding over a wide-ranging crackdown on the press and a once-vibrant opposition. Mineral- and gas-rich Tanzania has East Africa’s largest economy after Kenya.


Ruling Party Dominance
Although various iterations of the Chama Cha Mapinduzi party have governed since Tanzania was unified in 1964, opponents say there was leeway for political debate, even during the rule of Julius Nyerere, the nation’s uncompromising founding father. The 1992 parties act introduced multi-party democracy; the 2015 vote, which Magufuli won, was the closest-ever contest.

Under changes to that act approved by Tanzania’s parliament, a new regulator would be responsible for monitoring a swath of activities carried out by political parties and advising the government on its findings. That could mean it probing opposition parties’ internal elections, income, spending and training plans, among other things -- with fines or jail-time to any leader found to have contravened the act.

Critics say the amendments, which still need Magufuli’s approval to become law, are vaguely worded, leaving it unclear what exact information could be demanded from the opposition. The registrar is guaranteed immunity from prosecution and can suspend any party not seen as complying with its requirements.


Hitler Comparisons
Government spokesman Hassan Abbasi said the law would help the registrar “oversee democracy, rule of law and accountability within the parties.” It will “lead to more transparency in party internal elections, financial reporting and property registry,” he said.

But Zitto Kabwe, a lawmaker who heads the opposition Alliance for Change and Transparency and has previously been detained for criticizing the government, pulled no punches when he addressed Tanzania’s parliament in late January.

The proposals, Kabwe said, mirror Germany’s Enabling Act of 1933 that allowed Adolf Hitler to issue decrees separate from the Reichstag. “Hitler used the same law that parliament has passed to abolish political parties and forced some legislators to flee the country,” he told lawmakers in the capital, Dodoma.

Kabwe’s comparison “may sound extreme, but it’s not completely unfair,” said Rachael McLellan, a doctoral candidate at Princeton University who’s studying opposition parties and decentralization in Tanzania. “The bill creates an environment that is so difficult, expensive and time-consuming to navigate that it essentially legislates opposition parties out of existence.”

The law will make it harder to publicly oppose the government and campaign for votes, which in turn will affect the opposition’s ability to retain their seats in parliament or in local councils, she said.

Opposition Chama Cha Demokrasia Na Maendeleo party lawmaker, Tundu Lissu, said a September 2017 attempt on his life, was politically motivated.

The secretary-general of the opposition Civic United Front, Seif Sharif Hamad, was blunter.

“This law is another ploy by the regime to further stifle the political space in the country,” he said.


‘Defeat of Democracy’ Feared in Tanzania
 
Hii ni Makala kutoka Jarida la Muzungu Bloomberg International kuhusu nchi yetu, ndani yake Mbunge ktk Mkoa wa Kigoma Zito Kabwe anaifananisha Tanzania yetu na ,,Nazi Germany " na kwamba Raisi wetu ni sawa na Adolf Hitler, imeandikwa ndani.

Muandishi ni Mkenya anaitwa Kenneth Karuri!

‘Defeat of Democracy’ Feared in Tanzania
Huyu dogo Zitto, hajui kule Ujerumani na ulaya kitendo tu cha kuonesha alama ya chama cha Nasi ni kosa? Ashukuru JPM ni mpole.
 
Mzoea vya kunyonga, vya kuchinja haviwezi. Tumsaidie Zitto kutambua kwa kitabu cha enzi zake na JK kilikwisha kufungwa kitambo.
 
Itabidi slowslow awaongezee posho huko Lumumba maana majukumu yameongezeka siku hizi hadi kwenye international media. Bila shaka itakuwa mmegawana kanda kama za kibalozi vile. Kazi mnayo awamu hii.
 
Sheria hovyo kama hizi ni dhihirisho tosha kuwa serikali inaona haijafanya chochote cha kuweza kuwashawishi wananchi wawaunge mkono hivyo njia pekee wanayoona ni kuua upinzani wa vyama.

Huu ni mkakati wa hovyo sana ambao nina uhakika wafadhili wao watakwamisha utekelezaji wake muda sio mrefu. Hauwezi kufaulu. Never.
 
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