Initial results in Tanzania's parliamentary and presidential elections are expected to be announced shortly following Wednesday's (December 14) poll. Turnout was high and the only reports of violence came from Zanzibar, where opposition protesters were hurt in clashes with police. The governing Chama Cha Mapinduzi party is expected to retain its majority. The election had been delayed for several weeks following the death of a vice-presidential candidate. Campaigning ended on a dramatic note on Tuesday, when presidential frontrunner Jakaya Kikwete collapsed at a rally.

After two consecutive five-year terms, Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa will retire after elections on 14 December. Known as a brilliant and largely socialist politician, he nonetheless adopted a pragmatic approach in his efforts to improve the country's economy. Mkapa's two terms in office have brought to Tanzania significant economic progress, although much more needs to be achieved if the nation is to be placed on the same economic footing as some other developing countries.

Tanzania goes to the polls, on December 14th with 15.6 million registered voters expected to elect president, Members of Parliament and civic leaders.

The number of voters taking part in this year’s election is a significant rise over the 12 million people who took part in the 2000 polls and the 10 million voters who participated in the 1995 general election.

Voting is expected in 48,000 polling stations throughout the country.
Ten presidential candidates are contesting the top seat. The polls mark the end of President Benjamin Mkapa’s ten- year reign,given a constitutional term limit.

Tanzania is the one of the poorest countries in the world. 60 per cent of the population live on less than £1.40 a day and Tanzania has a total debt of £4.4 billion. Furthermore, 9.8 million Tanzanians do not have access to safe water (28 per cent). Biwater is a company with an annual turnover of £160 million that provides water services around the world. Early this year the Tanzanian Government spectacularly terminated a water privatisation contract with Biwater just two years into a ten year contract for failing to improve water supplies. Now Biwater wants compensation for the money it would have got if the contract had lasted ten years - this will amount to millions, and will take years to resolve. Click on the web link provided to protest against the Biwater action.

Tanzania’s government has temporarily closed two newspapers for allegedly violating the law. The prime minister’s office ordered Tanzania Daima not to publish over the weekend while Amani, a tabloid, was to suspend production and distribution for 28 days. The government accused Daima of maligning President Benjamin Mkapa, an offence under the Newspapers Act.

Campaigners have condemned UK water company Biwater for suing Tanzania, one of the poorest countries in the world. The company was kicked out earlier this year for allegedly failing to make required investments under a $102 million privatisation contract or to improve water services in Dar es Salaam.

A paper from the University of Leicester in the UK describes how Tanzanian non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the cities of Arusha and Dar es Salaam make use of email and the Internet in their daily operations. The paper examines the role of ICTs within the wider context of liberalisation in Tanzania and the ways in which ICT usage among local NGOs reinforces specific relationships with Northern NGOs and donors.

Patients at Tanzania's main referral hospital continued to be neglected on Tuesday as a strike by junior doctors and medical interns entered a sixth day, despite the government acting on their demand by almost doubling their salaries. Tanzania's chief secretary, Matern Lumbanga, told a news conference on Monday that the government had raised the monthly minimum salary for the doctors from 226,860 shillings to 403,120 shillings (1 US dollar = 1,180 Tanzania shillings) effective January 2006.

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has not contacted more than 100 Zanzibaris who fled to Mombasa to escape violence in their country. The members of the opposition Civic United Front (CUF) arrived in Mombasa two weeks ago from Zanzibar. The Zanzibaris fled to escape arrests on allegations that they stirred unrest during elections in their country.The refugees used dhows, anchoring at Shimoni port, 75 kilometres from Mombasa.

The Tanzanian National Electoral Commission (NEC) announced this week that general elections will take place on 14 December following the postponement of a 30 October poll due to the death of a presidential running mate. Elections did take place 30 October on Tanzania's semi-autonomous island of Zanzibar, with the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (Party for the Revolution) winning the elections. The vote was marred by clashes between security forces and opposition supporters. Issa Shivj assesses the choices available for Tanzanian voters.

‘So my prayer to the socialist god is to get to have the American one-party system in Tanzania. ... So my hope is that you can have another party; you can have two parties in Tanzania, both believing in the essentials of the Arusha Declaration. Then try to see which is going to be more efficient in implementing it. But one socialist party, one capitalist party well, theoretically yes, but I don’t know how it can work.’

Julius Nyerere said this fifteen years ago when the debate on multi-party democracy had just begun and the Nyalali commission (The Justice Francis Nyalali Commission in the early 1990s found that only 20 per cent of Tanzanians wanted to revert to the multiparty political system) was making the rounds of the country to get people’s views. Nyerere went on to draw an analogy with the American system where, he said, there were two parties; ‘but they’re really one party!’ ‘Both parties agree on the basic national objectives. Internally, both of them are highly capitalist. Externally, both of them are imperialist.’ Elsewhere, Nyerere expressed the hope that the ruling party Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) would split and that you would get two strong parties, both socialist and both nationalist.

The socialist god, fortunately for a few, unfortunately for the many, did not answer any of Nyerere’s prayers. Instead of the CCM splitting into two strong parties, it buried the Arusha Declaration itself, and with it both nationalism and socialism.

Today we have some 18 or so parties with perhaps two or three credible ones. But there is hardly any great difference in their vision, outlook or major policies. All are donor-dependent; all are driven by the neo-liberal policies of liberalisation, privatisation and the enrichment of the minority; the so-called “Washington consensus”; and none has a credible vision of constructing a national, democratic economy and polity in the interest of the large majority. So, when Tanzanians went to the polls in a third multi-party election last weekend, what was there to choose from? For the purposes of discussion we may cluster the choices into three types: the common sense, the pragmatic and the rational. Theoretically, there is also the fourth, the principled choice, based on principles and policies of a party. But this, as I said, was not available. The fourth choice did not exist.

The common sense choice dictates to err on the side of caution. This is best expressed in the old adage, ‘better the devil you know, than the devil you don’t know’. Common sense, however, is not always good sense. If you continue to strengthen the devil you know, there is a likelihood that he may be further emboldened to become even more devilish. These overwhelming electoral victories or what are called “ushindi wa kishindo”, or with an even more ominous connotation, “ushindi wa tsunami”, have their consequences. Few parties, and still fewer individuals, who have got into the political seat with 70-80 per cent vote, can resist the arrogance of power. Self-control in the exercise of power is a rare phenomenon.

The second type of choice is a pragmatic one. Here the voter is moved neither by instinct nor by principles and much less by reason. The motive force is either immediate self-interest - bribes and favours - or a racial, regional, religious or gender prejudice and bias. In our current political scenario, as a matter of fact, the pragmatic choice reigns supreme. We have already seen it in the internal nomination processes of the parties and should prepare ourselves to see more of it during the elections. Supposedly, there are watch dogs like the electoral commissions who are supposed to check such practices. But who watches the watch dogs?

Then there is the third set of choices, which we call a rational choice. In absence of the availability of a principled choice, the most rational choice would be for a political configuration which assures some stability, security, basic freedoms and checks on gross abuse and misuse of power. In our situation, theoretically, it means a union parliament which would have a strong presence of the opposition, over, say, 40 per cent of the seats. As for the presidency, ideally, the winning candidate should end up with slightly over 50 per cent of the votes. In other words, “ushindi wa kishindo: should disappear from our political scene.

Since we are a two-government union, the rational choice would be that different political parties are elected to run the two governments. The constant threat and fear whipped up by some ruling circles and their spokespersons that any party other than CCM forming the Zanzibar government would spell disaster for the union is a political scarecrow. No politician, even with a modicum of political sense, would advocate, and much less attempt, complete independence for Zanzibar. The union question is, in my view, not about secession; it is really about greater autonomy. And as I have always maintained, the union question should be contextualized, discussed and debated within the larger question of the grassroots democratisation of our politics. No people can have democracy for themselves if they are denying democracy to others.

The rational choice is not necessarily a principled choice. One only hopes, that the scenario painted here would create necessary conditions and open up space for the people to discuss and determine the vision and organise themselves to realise that vision. In other words, the rational choice would create an enabling environment for a principled choice.

But the rational choice pre-supposes certain pre-conditions. One is that the elections should be free and fair; free of corruption, rigging and other malpractices. On the part of the ruling party, it means “ushindi wa kishindo” should remain an aspiration. It should not become a coded message for “ushindi wa kishindo” by any means, fair or foul!

On the part of the opposition parties, it means not only to place on offer more democratic political governance, but also, a serious, critical and persuasive analysis of the promises and performance of the incumbent government over the last ten years. It is a telling comment on the opposition parties that so far they have not even been able to tell us what has happened to our society over the last ten years and yet, we feel it in our bones that this country has undergone fundamental changes, not only in its political and economic direction but in its social character. A good political leader is one who can explain systematically what people feel confusedly.

One cannot obviously expect such an analysis from the ruling party. Self-criticism is not, and has never been, a credo of bourgeois parties. They would only provide a score-board with ticks on achievements. It is the opposition which has the duty to raise, at least, question marks. If they fail to do so, then this time around, people would be justified in raising a big question mark against the very system of multi-party politics in Africa.

© Issa Shivji. Shivji is Professor of Law at the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

* Please send comments to

"We, the undersigned CSOs, have followed closely recent actions by the Ministry of Education and Culture (MOEC) to curtail activities of HakiElimu. We fail to see the justification and legal basis for MOEC actions. We view these actions as a threat to CSOs in Tanzania to enjoy their rights and fulfill their responsibilities. We call upon the Ministry to reconsider its decision, lift the interdiction on HakiElimu, and reaffirm the fundamental freedoms and roles of CSOs. Tanzania has made considerable progress in promoting good governance in recent years. The Government has taken deliberate steps to open up space for stakeholders to effectively participate in national policy processes. The measures taken against HakiElimu threaten to undermine the considerable progress that has been made."

Zanzibar's President Amani Karume has been sworn in after being re-elected. Mr Karume rejected opposition claims of fraud in Sunday's election in the semi-autonomous Tanzanian islands. The poll was marred by violence by police and members of both parties, but international observers described the vote as generally free and fair. Civic United Front opposition candidate Seif Hamad rejected the results and promised protests. Police cordoned off the CUF headquarters on Wednesday.

DPK Consulting seeks anticorruption experts for anticipated Millennium Challenge Account (MCA)-funded projects in Malawi and Tanzania. These projects will focus on issues of government integrity, accountability, and transparency.

The Zanzibar Electoral Commission announced on Wednesday that verification of the voters' registers had been completed ahead of Sunday's general election. "The verification of the voter's register was completed on 22 October in the Tanzanian capital of Dar es Salaam," Masauni Yussuf Masauni, chairman of the commission, told reporters. Zanzibar merged with the mainland state of Tanganyika to form Tanzania in 1964, shortly after independence from the United Kingdom. It elects its own president who is head of government for matters internal to the island. Zanzibar also has its own House of Representatives to make laws especially for it.

The Tanzanian government has fired Prof. Abdul Sherriff, who is probably the world's living authority on Zanzibar, and is certainly one of the most accomplished intellectuals East Africa has ever produced. Please follow the link to read a report on the situation and take action to protest.

At the end of this month, Tanzania will be holding elections. The Electoral Institute of Southern Africa (EISA) is sending two observer missions to the country - one to the islands of Zanzibar, and one to the mainland. Visit the EISA Tanzania country profile on our web site for more information. The political overview has been recently updated and features an archive of data from past elections, as well as links to relevant EISA publications (Election Updates, etc) and press releases regarding the EISA observer mission.

A pioneering group of nearly 300 refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has gone home from Tanzania in the first convoy organised by the UN refugee agency. This is expected to chart the way for thousands of Congolese going back to their war-battered country.The refugees went through training in landmine and HIV/AIDS awareness, at Baraka centre before setting out for their villages, where they were to receive a repatriation package, including mattresses, kitchen sets and farming and building tools, UNHCR said.

The government of Tanzania has banned a local NGO from undertaking studies and publishing any articles regarding schools claiming it had been disparaging the country's education system and teaching profession, officials have stated. The Ministry of Education and Culture issued a circular on Tuesday prohibiting the NGO, Hakielimu, from "undertaking studies and publishing any articles regarding Tanzanian schools". The circular said the decision was taken because Hakielimu had repeatedly disparaged the image of the education system and the teaching profession through the media. The ministry also accused the NGO of repeatedly failing to comply with directives given by it. In response, Hakielimu said it had done nothing wrong as it worked within the laws of the land.

At least 17 opposition Civic United Front supporters have been injured, five sustaining bullet wounds, in clashes with police on Zanzibar. Witnesses said police used tear gas and stun grenades to disperse hundreds of people prevented from attending a CUF rally on Sunday. CUF spokesman Salim Bimani called on Zanzibar's police chief to resign. Tensions have risen as Tanzania's semi-autonomous archipelago of Zanzibar prepares for elections on 30 October.

The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) - Tanzania chapter is concerned about the suspension of local NGO HakiElimu for allegedly "disparaging the image of our education system and the teaching profession of our country through his media promotion of self created caricatures masquerading as teachers and pupils and has repeatedly failed to conform with directives given to him by the Ministry of Education and Culture both in writing and verbally".