Why democracy is about the People

What you need to know:

We have seen time and again that a vaccine for tyranny is yet to be discovered and in those countries where we have had the misfortune of electing tyrants into office even the very institutions of democracy no matter how presumably strong they were could hardly stand against them.

As we look into 30 years of our experimentation with democracy in Tanzania, the role of the People is one question that I am having quite some reflection on. I was intrigued to read President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s article on Tanzania’s democratic trajectory. The piece however left me wondering what the role of The People in it all has been. I am increasingly convinced that when we set off in 1992 to establish our country into a multiparty democracy we barely took in what the role of the people would be. Considerable investments have been made towards establishing institutions based on borrowed experience from elsewhere where democracy has seemed to work. As such, we have a parliament (building) to show for it, a judiciary with its many registries across the country, national Electoral management bodies, civil society organizations including NGOs, a commission for good governance and human rights, a national audit office, an ethics commission, a whole center for democracy, a procurement and other forms of regulators and the list is just too long. Tanzania is not short of institutions and office buildings to house the quite many of them. But our history clearly suggests we could desperately do with strong people, with our own heroes who have stood up against all odds to fight for the rule of law and the right of the people as the sovereign of our republic.

Why democracy is about the People

What you need to know:

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