Social media, where the battle has shifted a gear

Dar es Salaam. Tanzanian youth have always played a significant role in national politics but never before have they been at the centre of it all as now when the battle has been shifted to their own turf – the social media.

From Twitter, Facebook and Whatsapp to Viber and Instagram, the Internet is entirely in the hands of the country’s younger generation.

And with the real world political universe thinning after the ban on public rallies by President John Magufuli’s administration, social media has turned out to be the best alternative political forum for the Opposition. The conveners are the youth.

Apparently, the battle for space on social media has just begun.

CCM on Monday reacted to the barrage of attacks and criticism levelled against its government and currently trending on social media platforms saying it will not take it lying down.

The ruling party’s spokesperson, Mr Christopher Ole-Sendeka, told Political Platform that they were keenly following the trend, and would respond accordingly.

“We are fully aware of what’s going on. We will not be caught napping. There will be a response from our youth wing,” Mr Ole-Sendeka said, “The same platforms will be used by skillful youths in UVCCM.”

He noted that the country’s oldest party had a youth wing with “enough skills” to defend the government’s policies and decisions that have become the subject of debate mainly on Twitter, Facebook and Whatsapp.

“UVCCM has a wealth of skilled young minds capable of making strong and reasonable arguments online, without dividing the nation; because if you carefully follow some of the arguments on social media right now they are meant to create hatred and divisions. CCM won’t allow that.”

However, in an interview with Political Platform this week, the main opposition Chadema argued that social media platforms were not being used as mindless drones in the war for political space in Tanzania, but they had become a legitimate and “most effective” alternative.

Mr John Mrema, director of protocol, publicity, communications and foreign affairs in Chadema, said “the door is wide open” for all political parties to use social media.

“It’s not just for the opposition. Social media provide the opportunity for anyone interested in politics to debate without fear of too many restrictions,” he said.

He noted that the government should be credited for the apparent surge in numbers of people posting political comments on trending issues in Tanzania.

“They have restricted parties and people from conducting political activities but they cannot suppress our voices. Now, everyone with a genuine argument can still be heard on social media.”

According to Mr Mrema, most social media users in Tanzania are of voting age, which inevitably makes the platform a game-changer ahead of the 2020 general election.

In banning political rallies, President Magufuli said Tanzanians needed to focus on development instead of politicking. That has stopped people from discussing politics on social media.

It now seems that Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp have provided the opposition and its sympathisers not happy with the fifth phase government with the ammunition to keep the fight going.

In recent weeks, debate has been raging on what many users say are signs of a deteriorating economy. Naturally, the ban on political rallies, planned opposition protests, the situation in Zanzibar and most recently, the police’s lifting of restrictions on internal party meetings are still trending topics.

Also trending is the latest ruling by the International Center for Settlement of International Disputes (ICSID) in the Tegeta escrow account scandal in which State-run power utility Tanesco was ordered to pay $148 million (about Sh320 billion) to Standard Chartered Bank-Hong Kong (SCB-HK).

The government is also currently at the receiving end of a social media onslaught over the critical shortage of drugs which has been attributed to poor funding of the Medical Stores Department (MSD).

From social and economic to political issues, debates are raging, and the opposition says it is happy about the response from members of the public.

“We are obviously excited. People are involved, and it’s a pleasure to have this platform where issues can be discussed without fear,” said Mr Mrema.

But the police have warned against abuse of social media.

In an interview with Political Platform, the Police Commissioner for Operations and Training, Mr Nsato Mssanzya, said social media users were exercising their constitutional rights.

“Citizens who are simply making the best use of social media to exercise their constitutional rights will not have problems with the law, but those committing crime (via social media) will be prosecuted,” he said.

The senior police also assured social media users of protection as long as they were not caught out of bounds.

Some users have already “crossed” that line, falling into the trap of the widely condemned cybercrime law introduced last year.

Last week, a lecturer was charged with insulting President Magufuli in a WhatsApp message, a senior police official said on Friday, bringing the number of people charged under a tough new cybercrimes law to 10.

Police said the lecturer was charged with offenses under the cybercrimes law. The lecturer denies the charges.

In June, the Arusha Resident Magistrate’s Court convicted 40-year-old Issac Abakuki of insulting President Magufuli on his Facebook page, and sentenced to three years in jail or pay a fine of Sh7 million.

Prof Gaudance Mpangala, a political analyst at the Ruaha Catholic University (Rucu), said pressure will keep on mounting on the government via social media as long as restrictions on political activities remain in place.

“The forums will be used to increase pressure on the government because Tanzanians don’t take lightly to unjustifiable restrictions in politics,” said Prof Mpangala.

He accused the government of not being sincere in giving the reason for banning political activity.

“Opposition parties have in existence since 1992. Since then, the government has been implementing its election manifestos without a problem. There is no justification that its failure to meet development targets was largely caused by opposition party rallies.”

But for Albert Msando, a renowned lawyer, with the advent of the social media, the government’s ban on political rallies may in the future be of little consequence.

For him, it all boils down to numbers.

“We are talking about 4,000 to 5,000 people attending a rally at a given open space or 10,000 to 20,000 in a stadium, but that cannot compare to the tens of thousands of social media users debating on an issue at a go” he said, “If anything, the restrictions have sparked a surge in social media users.”

The lawyer says he has a total of 117,000 followers on his various social media accounts. “Each time I post anything political, an average of 40,000 followers view the post. There is also a guarantee that all of the active 117,000 users follow the post.” Yet as much as the opposition may be benefiting from social media, it is still a long way to go before Twitter, Facebook, Whatsapp or Instagram become a real game changer in Tanzanian politics.

The country is still grappling with a low Internet penetration rate, according to a 2016 World Bank estimate.

“The poor almost exclusively use only mobile phones not connected to the internet. And even if they had access to the internet, they lack the skills to use it productively, with many still unable to read in the first place. Positive impacts from using digital technologies are most likely to be captured by those already better off,” the report entitled ‘The World Development Report 2016: Digital Dividends’, says.