“PEOPLE with a broad view understand clearly that Tanzania is and will remain a democratic country; however, there are few with a poor understanding and definition of democracy as a concept in its entirety.”
The rule of law is far ahead of many countries in the continent and beyond. “Tanzanians are entitled to freedom in many aspects of life provided such rights do not contravene the constitution and laws of the land,” Dr Bana further remarked during an interview with the ‘Daily News.’
According to the Democracy Index 2017 titled ‘Free speech under attack,’ which was released early this month, Kenya and Uganda were ranked second and third in East Africa respectively, while in Sub-Sahara Africa, they are placed at position number 15th and 17th, correspondingly. T
he Index was based on five criteria, namely the electoral process, civil liberties, the functioning of the government, pluralism, participation and political culture. A senior lecturer at the Mozambique-Tanzania Centre for Foreign Relations (CFR), Dr Kitojo Wetengere, concurred with the findings of the index, noting, however, that people have different opinions on the concept of democracy based on their environment.
“There are countries such as China and South Korea which decided to sacrifice democracy for the sake of development of their people; we should ask ourselves what should come first - democracy or development?” the diplomacy expert queried.
The scholar maintained that democracy had several criteria, but these depended on the social set-up and environment of a particular country or region. “For instance, the United States cannot define democracy for us (Tanzania) because the historic, economic and social set-up is different,” Dr Kitojo stated.
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