Has Tanzania really become more democratic?
We tried to register a new political party and found the nation’s touted progress to be missing in action.
Andrew Bomani
Opposition parties on the continent have significant challenges to overcome if they hope to win power, corruption not least among them, as seen in ruling parties who buy votes or use security forces to intimidate voters. But at least in countries such as Kenya and Uganda opposition parties can form and compete in elections. In Tanzania, which goes to the polls next year, new opposition parties can’t even get registered.
I know because I tried.
Believing that Tanzanians deserve a bigger choice of parties – after the main two parties won 97% of the vote in the presidential election of 2020 – I joined forces with a like-minded comrade to form the Independent People’s Party.
Like any serious leaders, our first thought was to make the party official by applying to the Office of the Registrar of Political Parties. Little did we know that what is supposed to be a straightforward administrative procedure would become the all-encompassing struggle of our fledgling party’s brief existence.
Everything about this process has been made unnecessarily difficult. The requirements are hard to determine, and communication from the registrar is limited. Despite this, we completed the necessary forms and submitted them on 4 May 2023. And then … nothing.
It took constant chasing up to get a response a month later. We were then told that further information was required, including proof of our citizenship.
Despite having previously led another political party, and my father being the former attorney general of Tanzania, I was informed that I have failed to prove my citizenship. Not only does this undermine our basic democratic rights, it also threatens to put us at risk of statelessness.
We now understand why Tanzania has not registered a new political party since 2014! This is no way to prepare for a credible election, and belies the idea that the country has become more democratic under President Samia Suluhu Hassan. That’s an oversimplification at best – or worse, a misleading lie.