Tanzanians most ‘democratically happy in EA’

Dar residents mingle during a peak shopping hour on the bustling Congo Street. An analyst argues that most ordinary Tanzanians are too busy hustling for a living, leaving a lot of room for the elite and politicians to determine political direction.  photo | file 

By Sylivester Ernest,The Citizen Reporter

In Summary

• Study says about 75 per cent of Tanzanians are satisfied with the way democracy is conducted

Dar es Salaam. Tanzanians are the most satisfied citizens in East African on the basis of their perception of how democracy works in their country, a new report is showing.

The report depicts the people of this country as being much more attached to democratic practices than they would do with other forms of political regimes.  According to Afrobarometer’s report entitled “Demand for Democracy is Rising in Africa, But Most Political Leaders Fail to Deliver,” Tanzanians are highly regarded as democracy adherents at 84 per cent.

They are ahead of Uganda (79), Burundi (74) and Kenya (73). Rwanda was not studied.

However, in Africa as a whole, the report puts Zambians (90), Senegalese (87) and Mauritians (85).

Afrobarometer is a cross-national survey managed by a network of African social scientists who measure public opinion on key political, social and economic issues of the day.

The reports says about 75 per cent of Tanzanians are satisfied with the way democracy is conducted. They are followed closely by Ghanaians at 74 per cent. The findings came almost two decades after Tanzanians told the Nyalali Commission that they preferred the one-party system.

“Since Tanzanians are below average in the rejection of one-party rule, they may well use a much less exacting democratic standard than Ghanaians,” the report says.

At the other end of the scale, citizens exhibit extremely low levels of satisfaction with democracy in places like Togo by 21 per cent, where a family dynasty dominates political life by suppressing opposition.

However, the overall the poll, conducted in 34 African countries, points to the gap in many countries between popular demand for democracy and the supply of democracy which is delivered by ruling elites.

It says that while ordinary Africans clamour for high-quality elections and leadership accountability, too many political leaders continue to manipulate the polls, challenge term limits, and even seize power by coup. In the most common pattern across the continent, popular demand for democracy exceeds the supply.

In those countries which democracy has taken root, the reports says, there is an institutionalised form of electoral democracy. The preference on democratic principles in Africa stands at 74 per cent.

In a survey conducted between 2011 and 2013, researchers at Afrobarometer found that most Africans prefer democratic government by 71 per cent while 11 per cent say that sometimes a non-democratic political regime is preferable. Some 18 per cent admit they either don’t know or don’t care, according to the research.