Call for ‘free and fair’ elections in Tanzania as campaigning continues

Ten countries, including Ireland, have jointly called for free and fair elections in Tanzania next month, as concerns about growing authoritarianism in the country increase.

“We underline our support to the democratic process . . . We hope that both men and women, the young and the elderly, will have equal opportunities to participate,” the 10 said in a statement.

Other Tanzania-based missions that were party to the statement include those of Germany, Canada, Sweden, the Netherlands and Switzerland.

Campaigning in the presidential and parliamentary elections began in the east African country on August 28th, exactly two months before the scheduled poll.

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Tanzania, which has a population of roughly 60 million people, has been governed by President John Magufuli since 2015. The 60-year-old head of the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi party, nicknamed "the Bulldozer", came to power after promising to improve the economy and fight corruption.

In recent campaigning he has said his mission is to turn Tanzania into "another Europe" through development. However, Mr Magufuli has repeatedly come under fire internationally for clamping down on opposition, civil society and the media.

He introduced laws restricting freedom to peaceful assembly and freedom of association, and much-criticised changes to media law mean local media organisations are required to get government approval before using material from international news organisations.

Government minders

Foreign journalists must be accompanied by a government minder while they report.

"We are now getting to a situation where it seems almost illegal to do journalism in a critical and independent way," Muthoki Mumo, the sub-Saharan Africa representative for the Committee to Protect Journalists, told Al Jazeera last month. "These are parts of a trend that we've seen in recent months, in recent years, which seems to have been ratcheting up as we draw closer to October."

In February, investigative reporter Erick Kabendera was freed after spending seven months in prison, accused of tax evasion, money laundering and leading organised crime.

Human-rights organisations said his high-profile imprisonment was another sign that the country was punishing dissent. "Tanzania must publicly commit to ensuring that everyone can freely exercise all their human rights and stop the politically motivated persecution of dissidents and journalists," Amnesty International said in a statement.

Next month will see Mr Magufuli up against opposition politician Tundu Lissu, who fled the country after surviving an assassination attempt in 2017. Mr Lissu returned to Tanzania in July, and has since been chosen as the presidential candidate for main opposition party Chadema.

Neighbouring countries and the international community have also been alarmed by concerns over a cover-up regarding the number of Covid-19 cases inside Tanzania. Mr Magufuli declared the country coronavirus-free in June, and stopped releasing any official data on new cases more than a month before that.

“I believe, and I’m certain that many Tanzanians believe, that the corona disease has been eliminated by God,” he said.

Tanzania kept markets and churches open, even as reports emerged that secret burials were taking place at night.