Tanzania: John Magufuli, the “bulldozer” president begins his second term

Tanzanian President John Pombe Magufuli re-elected to a second term addresses delegates and supporters after being sworn in at Jamhuri Stadium in Dodoma on November 5, 2020. Reuters

Text by: Tirthankar Chanda Follow

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Reelected with 84% of the vote on October 28, the outgoing President of Tanzania John Magufuli was sworn in on Thursday November 5, in the presence of national and international dignitaries and regional heads of state including Presidents Museveni of Uganda, Azali Assoumani from Comoros and Emmerson Mnangagwa from Zimbabwe.

Many fear that the scale of this victory, coupled with that of the ruling party, which won 262 of the 264 seats in Parliament, will spell the end of the multiparty democracy and stability that have made the strength of this strategic country, located at the hinge of southern and eastern Africa.

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It is against a backdrop of suspicion of fraud and vehement challenge to the results of the presidential and legislative elections last month, that the inauguration ceremony of

, the president

, was held in the Tanzanian capital on Thursday, November 5.

elected.

At the head of the country since 2015, the man was elected for a second term with 84% of the vote on a nationalist platform backed by promises of economic development and continuation of his government's fight against corruption, which has long been plagued the aisles of power in Dodoma.

The other big winner of these elections is the CCM (Chama Cha Mapinduzi, the Revolution Party), from which President Magufuli comes.

In power without interruption since the country's independence in 1961, this party that was said to be losing momentum has won almost all of the 264 seats in the Tanzanian Parliament.

The CCM was also largely victorious in the Zanzibar archipelago attached to

and considered until now as a stronghold of the opposition.

Denouncing " 

 ", the opposition parties rejected the verdict.

But as Tanzanian law forbids them to challenge the results of the presidential election in court, opponents called on the population to demonstrate in the streets.

They also filed a dossier with the

which Tanzania is a part, asking the organization to publicly disavow these elections, to send a delegation and to suspend the country from the organization of English-speaking countries.

The US State Department said for its part " 

 ".

Voters wait to vote in zanzibar on October 28, 2020. AP Photo

For many observers, the crushing victories won by the Tanzanian power are in line with the first term of John Magufuli, characterized by a clear decline in fundamental freedoms and an increase in attacks against the opposition.

The Tanzanian exception

John Magufuli is the fifth president to lead Tanzania since this former British colony gained independence in 1961. The country has long been a haven of stability in a troubled East African region.

The aura of its founding president, Julius Nyerere, whose name remains linked to his African-style socialist convictions (" 

  ") and his commitment to the liberation of southern Africa from the colonial yoke, enabled him to play a major political role in this part of the continent.

In the 1990s, the Tanzanian government successfully negotiated the multiparty turn and in 1995 organized its first plural elections.

We are talking about the Tanzanian exception, a singularity based on national unity, stable institutions and secularism.

For a long time, the CCM has embodied these values.

A former single party, it played the game of multiparty politics, while perpetuating its hegemony on the political spectrum.

Continuously at the helm since 1961, the CCM holds the record for longevity in power on the continent.

Under his aegis, Tanzania, where about 120 ethnic groups live, has hardly known any deadly divisions, unlike its close neighbors (Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya, DRC).

On this soil marked by a strong sense of national identity, democratic standards flourished, with the emergence of a vibrant opposition whose electoral score has steadily increased since the first multiparty elections in 1995. The parties of the opposition had a third of the seats in the outgoing Parliament.

Meeting between Mao Tse-tung and the President of Tanzania Julius Nyerere during his visit to Beijing in 1968. Keystone-France \ Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images

The turning point of 2015

The year 2015 was a turning point in Tanzanian political life with the entry on the scene of John Magufuli who established himself as the real strongman of the regime.

Born into a modest peasant family, a chemist by training, the man, 61, has spent most of his political career within the CCM.

Almost unknown to the general public, he was for a long time Minister of Public Works, before winning to everyone's surprise the primaries of his party for the supreme magistracy, facing more than thirty suitors.

Elected president on a relentless anti-corruption program, Magufuli landed at the State House Palace in October 2015, proudly wearing his nickname " 

  ", the " 

 " in Kiswahili.

This nickname referred to the extensive road building program he had initiated at the Department of Public Works.

Faithful to his direct and authoritarian style, President Magufuli made, the day after taking office, a surprise morning descent into the still empty offices of the Ministry of Finance.

Before leaving the premises, he called out to the officials present, asking them to pass the message on to their latecomer colleagues that the era of general laxity in the public service was well and truly over.

In the days that followed, several thousand ghost employees registered in the registers of the various government administrations were unceremoniously disembarked.

Among the first measures taken by the Magufuli administration, we must also cite the ban on senior officials traveling in first class, the abolition of sitting allowances for deputies, the cancellation of the independence commemoration festivities in favor of a campaign to clean up public spaces in which the president personally participated, broom in hand.

It must be recognized that these initiatives intended to fight corruption and reduce state spending have proved particularly popular with Tanzanians, tired of the embezzlement that had punctuated the tenure of previous heads of state.

The population also appreciated that their president forced foreign companies, operating in particular in the mining sector, to renegotiate their contracts in order to increase the share going to the country.

John Magufuli has moreover made of this “ 

 ” a campaign slogan during the poll which has just ended, affirming that he was the number one adversary of the multinationals qualified as “ 

 ”.

The president also likes to boast of having extended free education, improved rural electrification and launched major infrastructure works including the construction of a major hydroelectric dam supposed to double the country's electricity production.

Another object of pride for John Magufuli is the entry of Tanzania into the category of middle-income countries, five years ahead of schedule in the government's national development plan.

His economic achievements explain, according to Fergus Kell, a specialist in Tanzania and researcher at the

London

Chatham House, the popularity of the head of state.

" 

 " says the researcher. .

Freeman Mbowe (here in March 2020) is one of the opposition figures arrested on Monday, November 2 in Tanzania.

REUTERS / Emmanuel Herman

However, as the opposition parties have constantly reiterated throughout the last few years, the popular support which the regime has enjoyed thanks to its media measures, does not hide the very clear decline in public freedoms and human rights. that the country experienced under Magufuli's first term.

As early as 2016, political rallies were banned, live broadcasts of the proceedings of Parliament suspended, draconian laws against the media adopted, journalists, activists and members of the opposition arrested, prosecuted in courts, sometimes simply for having questioned the analyzes and statistics of the government.

“ 

,” says Fergus Kell, “

 "

For many observers, the recent election period, which was punctuated by incidents and violent disturbances preventing opposition parties from campaigning freely, as well as the authorities' refusal to accredit foreign media to cover the election, reflects the governance style of President Magufuli.

The overwhelming majority enjoyed by the president's party in the renewed Chamber of Deputies marks, according to British Africanist Nic Cheeseman, the end of the multiparty system and the

return

"a 

 " .

It is a real regression for the Tanzania of Julius Nyerere, which has long been the most stable and progressive country in the region.

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