Tanzanian Opposition Needs to Remain Steadfast in the struggle for democratic space

Amid the gloom, doom and distress over the defection of its members to the ruling party, the opposition in Tanzania should not relent in their pursuit of competitive multiparty politics in the country. Over the past few months there has been a plethora of defections, both at the parliamentarian and councilor levels across mainland Tanzania. So systematic has been the defection that whenever Humphrey Polepole, the Ideology Secretary of long time ruling CCM party calls a press conference, we expect nothing less than another unveiling of an opposition defector. The most dramatic one was the unveiling of Monduli constituency legislator Julius Kalanga late into the night. It was almost like the European football transfer deadline frenzy where clubs try and beat the 11:59 PM transfer deadline. Another Chadema MP Mwita Waitara also announced his defection to the ruling party. He was received and handed a direct nomination for the Ukonga seat. And just like the ones who defected before him, smeared and besmirched his former party and its leader Freeman Mbowe.

Chadema leader Freeman Mbowe in a past political rally

The politics of defection is not a new phenomenon. In fact, the opposition was a beneficiary of high profile defections in the run up to the general elections in 2015. To curb what is known as party hopping or party switching, advanced democracies world over have come up with legislations that are restrictive and punitive to the defectors. There is no doubt that the wave of defections in Tanzania has made a mockery of the country’s fledgling democracy. With a weak Political Parties Act, a government-controlled Office of the Registrar of Political Parties, an electoral commission that is hostage to the ruling party and a parliament that is controlled and dominated by CCM, it is going to be very hard to build a country with strong democratic ideals.

Tanzania’s political culture is still drawn from the Ujamaa legacy. The way people are politically socialized in Tanzania is as if they are beholden to the ruling party. The legacy of the single party rule even compelled people to overwhelmingly propose that Tanzania remain under single party rule when the Nyalali Presidential Commission that looked into political reforms in the early 1990s. About 80% of the respondents said they wanted the single party rule to continue. It took the intervention of Mwalimu Nyerere to change things.

The opposition in Tanzania since the election of President John Magufuli has been crippled with government restrictive pronouncements and periodic crackdown of its main leaders. President Magufuli banned political rallies until the next election in 2020. Opposition lawmakers have also been arrested, harassed and embarrassed by the state. Arusha Urban lawmaker Godbless Lema of Chadema was denied bail and jailed for alleged seditious remarks against the president. Other opposition MPs have also tasted state wrath with constant arrest and detention. Outspoken Chadema MP Tundu Lissu was almost assassinated when his car was riddled with bullets in September 2017 in Dodoma. He is still recuperating in Belgium. His counterpart Joseph Mbilinyi “Sugu” was also jailed for five months for allegedly insulting the president. The political space in Tanzania has really shrunk. There is fear and anxiety among the people. The police force is by effect has become an extension of the ruling party with constant harassment of opposition leaders and even journalists.

The systematic coopting of opposition leaders into the ruling is being facilitated by the electoral commission – the National Electoral Commission (NEC). The ruling party CCM gives the defectors direct nomination for the by-election. The by-elections are characterized by fear, intimidation and electoral fraud with the result being a free pass for the defector. The recent defections mean another by-election. These by-elections are very expensive especially to an administration that rallies on the mantra of ‘cutting down government spending’. When asked about the cost of the by-election, Mwita Waitara shamelessly remarked “the expenses of the elections do not concern me.”

Despite the testing times, the opposition in Tanzania should weather the storm and not relent on the struggle for democratic space. The turbulent political times the country is going through will only awaken the need for political reforms through a resuscitation of the stalled constitution process.