East Africa is continent’s most democratic place

By TREVOR ANALO The EastAfrican
Posted  Friday, May 2  2014 

IN SUMMARY

·    More East Africans are generally satisfied with their countries’ democratic credentials even as they demand for a freer and open society.

·         Preference for a more democratic government is highest in Tanzania (84 per cent), then Uganda (79 per cent) Burundi (74 per cent) and Kenya (74 per cent).    

East Africa has been ranked as the most democratic region on the continent, hinting at lower pressure in the near future for further regime change as it is the case in North Africa, the worst performer.

According to the latest Afrobarometer 34 survey, more East Africans are generally satisfied with their countries’ democratic credentials even as they demand for a freer and open society. Preference for a more democratic government is highest in Tanzania (84 per cent), then Uganda (79 per cent) Burundi (74 per cent) and Kenya (74 per cent).  

But even as East Africans express their popular support for democracy, the realities on the ground paint a very grim picture. The 2014 Freedom in the World report by Freedom House, a US-based watchdog, notes a downward trend in civil and political liberties across the region.

The international reputation of Tanzania as the heart of good governance in East Africa is becoming harder to maintain. And while its citizens are the most satisfied with the way their democracy works (75 per cent), there have been some worrying signs in the country’s politics. 

According to Freedom House, there has been a notable jump in extrajudicial violence by the police, including vigilante violence against women, albinos and members of the LGBT community.  

The Committee to Protect Journalists has accused Dar es Salaam of relying on an “arsenal of anti-media” laws that give the government wide discretionary powers to curb media freedom. 

In Burundi, several rights groups have also reported that impunity for human rights abuses by State agents and the youth wing of the ruling party remains a concern.

Last year, the Mo Ibrahim Index of African Governance ranked Burundi the least open and free society in East Africa.

Journalists and civil society groups have been branded agent provocateurs by the government, while a new media law assented to by the president last June is severely limiting press freedom. The law forces journalists to reveal their sources or face heavy penalties.

In the recent past, both Uganda and Kenya have also experienced reversals in democratic gains. Fewer than half of Kenyans and 52 per cent of Ugandans do not think they live in democracies, according to the Afrobarometer.

Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni, who is Africa’s fifth longest ruler, is widely expected to seek a fifth term in office in the 2016 election. Just before the 2006 presidential polls, Uganda’s parliament amended the Constitution to hand President Museveni a third term in office.

Early this year, President Museveni signed into law a controversial anti-gay law which sentences first time offenders to 14 years in prison, forbids the promotion of homosexuality and requires people to denounce it.

Uganda continues to use its repressive media law that gives the government powers to shut down a media house for national security reasons. The law also bans the publication of material authorities consider endangers the country’s diplomatic relations with its neighbours. 

In Kenya, presidential election results continue to be disputed, even though international observers like the European Union thought last March’s polls were more credible than in 2007.   

The report reveals that people tend to be satisfied with the performance of their democracies if they experience successful leadership turnovers in open polls.

So far Kenya has had two turnovers in 2002 and 2013 since the introduction of multi-party politics in 1990. As people continue to gain trust in the country’s elections, perhaps Kenyans will become more satisfied with their democracy as their Tanzanian neighbours. 

However, President Uhuru Kenyatta’s administration is facing mounting criticism over its record on civil and political rights a year into power. A report released on Wednesday by Kenya Human Rights Commission has also spotlighted the president’s human rights record.

“Throughout the year, Kenyan authorities have attempted to clamp down on dissenting voices, either through the adoption of restrictive legislation… or through the violent police crackdown on demonstrators,” KHRC director Atsango Chesoni told reporters in Nairobi. 

The ongoing police operation to flush out suspected terrorists has also come under the spotlight of local and international press.

On single party rule, the report finds rejection of the system highest in countries which have had to endure the dominance of a single party for decades.

In Uganda, where the ruling National Resistance Movement has been in power since 1986, the opposition is struggling to gain a foothold in the country’s politics. Its most prominent leader Dr Ki Kizza Besigye has been the subject of frequent arrests and assaults by the Ugandan police. 

In Tanzania, even though more than two-thirds citizens reject a single party system, the Independence party Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) is expected to continue with its half a century-long dominance.

While opposition party Chadema has been gaining ground over the past few years, its performance in the January municipal by-elections in 29 wards, where it won only five seats while CCM scooped 22, has some observers worried that it might not put on a good show in the 2015 polls.

Rwanda was not surveyed in this fifth edition of Afrobarometer, but according to Freedom House, increased commentary on social media unhindered by President Paul Kagame has opened up more space for public debate.

However, Rwandan dissidents living abroad have accused President Paul Kagame’s regime of “hunting down” his exiled critics.

They fingered President Kagame for ordering the January “assassination” of Patrick Karegeya, the country’s former spy, in South Africa. But the president has denied claims his government had a hand in the murder.