Babu Owino Urges Tanzania’s Samia Suluhu to Reflect After Controversial Elections
Embakasi East MP Babu Owino has called on Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu to take a long hard look at whats going on in Tanzania right now : reports of violent protests after the election have everyone in the region on high alert.
In a statement he made public on Saturday 1st November , Owino said that imposing things like curfews and blocking the internet only makes things worse instead of calming everything down. He warned that if something isn’t done urgently, Tanzania risks sliding into authoritarian rule and noone wants that.
“We all know the stories of African countries that got too big for their boots and thought democracy would just sort itself out , only to get knocked back down again by the military or some other nasty regime” – basically dont make the same mistake we have before.
As far as Owino is concerned, what’s going on right now – the reports of deaths, the curfews and the communication blackouts – just dont add up with what he knows of Tanzania’s democratic values. He’s urging President Suluhu to show some restraint and openness instead of just going for fear and control. “This isnt the Tanzania I know” , and losing its democracy is something that cant just be undone.
Owino also wants to remind everyone that leadership isnt a birthright , you can’t just think you’re above everyone else and that its your right to be in charge. He makes the point that leadership comes from the people – not the other way round.
Now it just so happens that its exactly this kind of thing that’s been going on in Tanzania , which is why this comes at a pretty bad time. Tanzanias Electoral Commission declared that President Suluhu had won with an astonishing 97% of the vote – no surprise really given she had 31.9 million votes out of a total of 37 million registered voters. Not that it matters all that much – her closest rival only managed to get 213,000 votes.
This result has led to huge protests in some parts of the country. The opposition has been accusing the government of basically ripping the country off , by excluding several key challengers like Tundu Lissu from the ballot – not to mention the way security forces have been behaving.
Now rights groups and observers have been raising serious concerns about the integrity of the whole election and the way security forces have been carrying on – basically they’re not convinced that anything was fair.
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Babu Owino Urges Tanzania’s Samia Suluhu to Reflect After Controversial Elections