Food for thought: Is Tanzania a multi-party dictatorship?

Mwalimu Julius Nyerere famously fashioned Tanzania as a ‘one-party democracy’. Much as this may sound contradictory, the term gained popular usage. The inverse notion could as well be possible in keeping with the Nyerere mould of thinking. That is to say Tanzania is a ‘multi-party dictatorship’.

This rather damning characterization of this state of our politics is a result of the continued denial of the right to be an aspirant without necessarily belonging to a political party. It is a matter that Nyerere made no bones about in 1995.

Most regrettably, it is civil society rather than opposition parties that are on record advocating resolutely this most fundamental of political rights. It is against this sad backdrop that my upshot is Tanzania deserves unreservedly to be labelled as a ‘multi-party dictatorship’.

Our parties essentially operate a cartel-type system that stifles any attempt at upsetting their apple cart. The word cartel was even once used in Britain to refer to the way the major political parties use their numbers to stem any reform of the electoral system. Ours is of course a very different context.

Quite fortuitously, in thinking about this pivotal matter I stumbled upon a publication from 0ctober 2005 -- Tanzania Lawyer journal. This journal appears to have long disappeared from circulation, which is a plain reflection of the “intellectual wasteland” that veteran journalist Jenerali Ulimwengu once mentioned.

In that edition was an astonishing presentation by the then-Registrar of Political Parties, John Tendwa, which is a terrible indictment on our political leadership. I thought it only fitting to reproduce it in abridged form.

“The issue of an independent candidate has been as old as the multi-party system itself in the country. It came about in early 1993, hardly a year after the country has entered into multi-party democracy, by law, that is under the Political Parties Act No.5 of 1992, and the amendment of the United Republic Constitution 1977, as per Article 20(1) which brought about the multi-party system. The issue of an independent candidate has been discussed by various groups in the society, through debates, public rallies, workshops etc. and several papers were presented and later there was a judicial decision in the case of Reverend Christopher Mtikila vs Attorney General: Dodoma High Court Civil Case No.5 of 1993. (Unreported)

The human rights activities and the legal minds on the Bill of rights contained in the constitution, cast the bad eye in the constitution with regard to the provisions which allow the enactment of laws or the doing of any lawful act to limit or curtail the very basic rights and freedom enshrined in the constitution. The issue of independent candidates has been taken as one of the matters regarded to abrogate by law the rights of an individual to participate in the political activities. It is strongly argued that such a situation constitutes a serious threat to the effective protection of human rights...

In a symposium on the 14th November 1994 titled Towards 1995: Proposals for a new constitutional, electoral and union order, the issue of independent candidates was also strongly discussed. On this there were arguments for and against this constitutional and legal set-up.

One of the participants, Jenerali Ulimwengu, an MP then, noted that the issue of independent candidates gives more heat than light. He pointed out that he supports fully independent candidates to be allowed to contest elections. In his opinion, it was contradictory to allow a citizen to vote while not a member of a party, and at the same time refuse the same citizen to stand as an independent candidate. In practical terms he noted an independent candidate can be a better compromise.

Is the position the same 13 years after the multi-party system?

To this question the answer is no. Today there is more political maturity than it were in 1992 - 1995. There are several examples to show how people could vote for an individual of their choice rather than the one sponsored by the party to which they belong. There is the Karatu CCM case with Dr. Slaa as the choice of the people. Slaa was a member of CCM and during the CCM opinion poll for nomination of their candidates in 1995 he emerged 1st among the counterparts, but was later dropped by CCM. The Karatu people told him to join any party if that was the condition and they will vote for him. He joined CHADEMA and they voted him in. If he had stood as an independent, by then he would have been voted in as well.

As we go towards the 2005 general election there is more desire of the people to stand as independent candidates rather than contesting through party processes.

There are several countries which have independent candidates in both parliamentary and local government elections and they are doing well. To mention a few, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa and Botswana. Today we can also introduce the said system so that we can remove a cast of doubt on our democratic inspiration.

What should be done then?

In my opinion and in support of independent candidates, I find that the current legal position is a denial of the constitutional right to freedom of association as guaranteed under Article 20 of the United Republic of Tanzania.

I propose the following process to be adopted in the future so as to move a step forward.

1) Independent candidates should be allowed to stand at the grassroots level, councils and parliamentary level. This is because the accountability of the representatives is towards the voters.

2) There should be rules and regulations which will impose certain conditions on these candidates. For example, it could be provided in the law that each independent candidate must be supported by a specific number of nominees in the area he or she intends to stands depending on the position being contested.

3) Since it is practically impossible for new political parties to sponsor candidates in all wards and all constituencies, for avoidance of monopoly of politics, the electoral laws and the constitution be amended to provide for independent candidates.

Conclusion

I believe that with 30 years of multi-party politics in the country, it is high time we develop our democratic system. While the constitution provides for the right to participate in political activities and in the running of the government, the same constitution denies these rights to an individual to participate in the governing of the country. There are very able Tanzanians who can qualify for elective offices but would not like to be associated with any existing parties. The current legal set-up denies them the opportunity to serve the country.”

It speaks volume that at the high-profile political gathering in Dodoma in December, not a single voice spoke out on this outrage. This must be the overriding agenda for President Samia and the lawmakers. Even the former Speaker of the National Assembly, Pius Msekwa, only last July ‘lamented’ on the provision for private candidates by writing “the matter has been ‘mishandled’ or ‘mismanaged’, in the sense that its implementation has been unfairly neglected, or ignored.”