You Cannot Claim Democracy Without Human Rights, Accountability and Good Governance
A section of human Rights activists demonstrating outside Tanzania Consulate. (Photo By Mwakwaya Raymond)
By Ayub Mwangi
Email, thecoastnewspaper@gmail.com
“Democracy is about disagreeable agreements. It is about having a mix of voices in the arena of free speech that see things differently and ultimately contribute to the development of the nation. It is about raising the bar of human rights, accountability and governance in the nation for the benefit of all”
Two months ago, I was involved in the preparation of a toolkit for use by civil society practitioners operating in the area of civic spaces in Kenya.
The toolkit sought to equip the practitioners with practical skills and approaches to the protection and promotion of civic spaces.
It was clear from the outset that the practitioners face a lot of challenges ranging from legal, policy, structural and personal threats.
While most of the external and policy challenges are meant to curtail and frustrate their operations, none of them comes closer to the threat to personal life.
This can be exemplified from what happened to Kenya’s @Boniface Mwangi and Uganda’s Agatha Atuhaire at the hands of Tanzania authorities who hell-bent to teach them a lesson, beat, tortured and later dumped them in their respective countries shaken, injured, and traumatized.
Mwangi and Atuhaire were arrested and held incommunicado when they went to Tanzania to show solidarity with opposition leader Tundu Antipas Lissu who is charged with treason.
The threat to the lives of activists is well chronicled and there are many examples of people who were tortured, jailed or maimed because of their action to challenge the authorities. Examples here range from Argentine Bishop Oscar Romero, Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People Ken Saro Wiwa, South Africa’s Steve Biko, former Czech President Vaclav Havel, Burmese freedom fighter Aung San Suu Kyi, Raila Odinga, Koigi Wamwere among many others.
The threats come from a misunderstanding that the advocates are too nosey, noisy, and have no other agenda than to embarrass the authorities most of who consider themselves a gift from God.
The threats also emanate from the feeling that the advocates challenge leaders who should not be questioned whether they deliver their mandates or not.
Still, it is not clear to the opponents who the advocates represent, and in whose interests they are working for.
Yet, civil society advocates like Boniface Mwangi, Agatha Atuhaire, among many others represent the voices of the people that do not have a voice – grassroots people who are too intimidated to speak or cannot challenge the powers that be.
These are the people that in the eyes of powerful government and corporate officials do not matter. They are considered too ignorant to count when it comes to decision making.
When civil society advocates ruffle the feathers of those sitting at the high table and threaten their “eating ways” or challenge profits, they pay a high cost that is not limited to arrests, incarceration, grievous bodily harm, and sometimes death.
An emerging trend is where the agents of the “offended” officials popularly known as “chawa” (lice) form support armies which can decide to silence the dissenting voices even without the knowledge of the people whom they purport to work for.
That notwithstanding, the existence and operations of civil societies advocates is recognized and guaranteed by international and regional protocols which members of the East African Community among them Tanzania are signatory to.
Tanzania is a signatory to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights (1981), The Guidelines on Freedom of Association and Assembly in Africa (2017), and the East African Community Treaty (1999) all of which underscore freedom of expression and association.
It is therefore disturbing to see a country that considers itself democratic cannot stomach dissenting voices such as the challenge posed by opposition leader Tundu Antipas Lissu and his CHADEMA party.
Yet democracy is about disagreeable agreements. It is about having a mix of voices in the arena of free speech that see things differently and ultimately contribute to the development of the nation. It is about raising the bar of human rights, accountability and governance in the nation for the benefit of all.
Sadly, as Danish lawyer Jacob Mchangama observes, free speech is the dread of tyrannies.
Many leaders would rather impose silence and call it tolerance. Yet, real tolerance comes from understanding; understanding comes from listening and listening presupposes speech.
The Tanzania authorities would rather keep waving the unity card when there are people who have been detained, suppressed, have disappeared without trace or were killed for challenging the government.
Tanzania ought to know that at the heart of dissent are the best interests for the nation-state and branding dissenters as agents of foreigners won’t address issues of maladministration that have been raised by the opposition.
The Author is a Communication Consultant and Adjunct Lecturer
