Tanzania, In what is considered a first for one of the most peaceful countries in Africa, took to the streets to question the credibility of their election. A sham election – if you may – where president Suluhu won 98% of the vote. A total of 31 million votes.
Well, even former president Maghufuli, he of the hapa kazi tu phrase, beloved leader across E. Africa despite his shortcomings, won only 10M votes.
But no, Samia won 31m votes at a time when most people were rioting and the country was under a total media blackout. She ran against herself and won with a landslide.
It is time we as Africans went back to the drawing board and agreed that the word democracy has lost its magic. It now leaves a bitter taste in the mouth anytime it is uttered. Democracy is the devil that is slowly becoming Africa’s undoing. Almost everywhere you turn is a planted western puppet courtesy of democracy.
Democracy was once the language of liberation; the promise that freedom would mean better lives and accountable leaders. After all the colonialism shenanigans, we were sure that democracy would restore our dignity. But alas! Decades later, we are discovering that the ballot box is nothing but a trapdoor.
Power-hungry leeches, who think of themselves as God-chosen leaders for life will do anything to retain power. And they do. Lives are being lost, no longer considered sacred or worth a dime. Corruption has risen to levels never seen before, while tax-paying citizens wallow in poverty. And do you know what the the worst part is? That nobody even pretends to care anymore.
The African Union, that old boys club where African presidents meet to drink expensive alcohol while laughing at the peasants, has even gone ahead to acknowledge Mrs Samia’s election win. Amidst all the protesting, the media blackouts, the alleged piling number of deaths – amidst all that, they came a whisker short of congratulating her. The African Union doesn’t care and they do not even hide it anymore. The UN, well, as usual, they are “deeply troubled” about what is going on in Tanzania. Like that will change anything for the poor Tanzanians.
But we do practice democracy, right? We vote. We campaign. We debate on television. We do everything a democratic nation does, don’t we?
And yet, try to peel back the surface and a different reality begins to emerge. Power rarely changes hands, and when it does, it moves from one elite to another. It is a few old men seated somewhere playing chess with our lives. Democracy, it seems, has become what one scholar called rule by consent and not by choice. We are asked, no…we are forced to endorse systems that fail to protect us or represent us. And if we refuse to, we get shot in the head. Or chest. Or, as one president said, the legs would do just fine. “Shoot them on the legs while they are running!” Or so he said.
What people’s will? The idea of the people’s will has been replaced by the illusion of it.
Tanzania is not alone. Kenya’s faith in democracy flickers between election violence and courtroom drama. A five-year cycle of chaos and hope that keeps repeating itself. Meanwhile, Uganda’s democracy has fossilized under the same face for decades. Rwanda presents the paradox of order without opposition while Ethiopia’s experiment with reform has dissolved into civil conflict.
And then there’s Sudan, a warning we refuse to learn from.
The region feels like a row of dominoes, each leaning precariously on the next. And as Tanzania trembles, the others watch in fear. From what I see, paid government bloggers that have suddenly sprouted from nowhere on x from different East African nations, attacking like bees under every post addressing the Tanzanian issue, something is clearly up.
What’s happening in Tanzania feels like the first piece in a grand domino. Some leaders recognize that if the people win this, then probably a regime shift will begin to happen.
And they are scared.
The fear of an African spring, perhaps?
East African leaders are haunted by the ghost of the Arab Spring. They watched how swiftly regimes fell when ordinary people realized their collective power. One day you are a president, the next day you are cooling your heels in prison.
The illusion of power, where leaders think they will rule forever and are untouchable. Only to wake up one day to the realization that nobody is untouchable. The Tsar, the royal family During the reign of terror, Osama bin Laden, Even Africa’s own Gaddafi. All of these and more that learnt this lesson the hard way.
During the Arab spring, African leaders also saw how chaos followed and how revolutions were hijacked. They saw how hope quickly turned into new forms of oppression. So they have learned to preempt. To cut the internet for security and to detain opposition for stability purposes. Now they control narratives for peace. Each move justified by fear of the very citizens that are supposed to love them. Why is it so hard for African leaders to do the right thing and avoid all these?
Well, If they think they’ve smelt fear, they have not seen anything yet. Young Africans, now connected, are angry and beginning to question everything. They are less loyal to flags and more loyal to fairness. We have seen them – now more than ever, questioning if democracy is the only way to govern. What If this so called democracy is just a way for the world’s powerful few to place their puppets in various African countries? I mean, let us not kid ourselves. When was the last time an African country held fair and free elections?
Stolen, rigged elections are quickly becoming the norm. What is the point in spending billions of dollars in a process that has become a lie? No wonder citizens all over the place are beginning to romanticize military take over. And can you blame them, when their hearts are bleeding so much with no one to turn to?
Has democracy failed Africa, or has Africa simply failed to redefine democracy for itself. We borrowed a Western model meant for societies with different histories and economies. We built institutions without building trust and laws without legitimacy. We built elections without equality.What’s happening in Tanzania may indeed be the first domino. But whether it topples into chaos or consciousness will depend on us. I guess all we can do…..what? What can we do? Sit and watch? Keep fighting?
The hopelessness is overwhelming.
