African democracy rarely elicits global excitement, but when Samia Suluhu Hassan became the first female president of Tanzania, promoted from vice-president in 2021 following the death of President John Magufuli, the whole world took notice. The buzz was chiefly due to Suhulu’s reform programme. Without pressure to do so, she immediately embarked on sweeping democratic reforms to free up the country’s civic space from the stranglehold of her own party, the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduz (CCM).
A product of a 1977 party merger, the CCM (Swahili for Party of the Revolution) has a long history rooted in Tanzania’s liberation movement. It has won every general election in Tanzania since 1995 when multi-party democracy was introduced, making it the second-longest-ruling party in Africa – though critics often question the transparency of the polls, accusing the ruling party of clinging to power.
Among Suhulu’s reforms were the reversal of a Magufuli-era ban on opposition political rallies, lifting prohibition on media outlets, releasing political prisoners and granting pardon to political exiles. She even accepted an invitation to be guest of honour at the opposition Chadema party’s International Women’s Day event – a marked contrast to a past when opposition leaders were gunned down in broad daylight and basic liberties asphyxiated. Under her rule, Tanzania became a beacon of hope in East Africa, a region where democratic regression is the norm.
But four years on, ahead of a crucial October poll in which she will seek election, Suhulu appears to have ditched reforms and reverted to the authoritarian playbook of her predecessor. In response to growing demands for electoral reform, Suhulu has embarked on a brutal crackdown reminiscent of the Magufuli years. In April, Chadema opposition leader Tundu Lissu was arrested alongside several other party members, and charged with treason. Lissu had been organizing rallies with the call ‘no reforms, no election’ to demand sweeping reforms, including an overdue constitutional review, independent electoral commission and independent presidential candidates.
Lissu’s ongoing trial has led to sustained public outcry within the country and further afield. In May, two prominent Kenyan activists accused Tanzanian authorities of torture, sexual harassment and deportation when they travelled there to observe Lissu’s trial.
‘The effect of this is that CCM is forfeiting an opportunity to start managing its exit from over 60 years in power,’ exiled journalist and human rights activist Maria Sarungi Tsehai told New Internationalist. ‘It is clear that they are no longer popular to put it mildly and that the majority of Tanzanians, especially the youth, want change.’
Tanzania’s electoral commission has now barred Chadema from the poll altogether, claiming that the party failed to meet the deadline to sign a mandatory code of conduct and leaving Suhulu with scarcely a genuine opponent in the game. Though disappointing, Suhulu’s democratic backslide is nothing new. Rather, it is the latest iteration of a familiar trend in a continent where impending elections have proven to be the Achilles heels of many democratic reformers.
