The unfolding events in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania lately have made me think the time has come. It has been a month since Kenya’s Gen Z started to protest against a ‘controversial finance bill’. To my side, this was one of the serious anti-government protests in east Africa that involved young people, turned violent, and resulted in a number of fatalities. One renowned thing about this protest is that there is no specific politics involved, meaning that no political party calls for it, just young people who are the victims of the whole system.
Back in my country, Tanzania, I can say that we young people barely take our frustrations to the street, maybe because of our strict laws, which make people afraid of being harmed by state forces. However, this goes beyond threats from the state; the nature of Tanzania itself, I can say, is also a contributing factor to this sense of utopianism. My history professor back in college once told us that Tanzanians are the kind of people who won’t use violence to pressure authorities, he referred to our independence and how we got it from Britain, ‘Peacefully’.
That may be the case, but I wonder for how long? Social media plays a great role in showing protests against inappropriate government acts like insufficient reports on a wave of disappearances of people, misuse of public funds, opaqueness, and lack of accountability among public officials. Is the form of protest that allows citizens to present their anger behind the keyboard, and to my side, this is way better than nothing at all.
One thing about using social media activism is that it's kind of not violent, no one gets hurt, except this might not be the case here in Tanzania. You can still face state force, as there are extreme laws like the cybercrime act of 2015 that apparently hinder freedom of expression. One argument I saw on the X platform is that people in Tanzania have little or no civic education. This might be true or not, but referring to the recent Kariakoo protests that spread across the nation proves it wrong. We know we are the centre of state power, but we choose not to react, perhaps ‘selfishness’ will best fit here.
This brings me to the point of my writing; time has changed; people do not depend solely on state media and other media outlets for news. Anyone can share what is wrong and who is responsible by clicking their phone’s camera or keyboard. Young people can now question what adults do, which was taboo 2 decades ago; a lot of information is out there; no politician can now make up stories and get away with it unchallenged; jobs are unavailable and informal jobs are mounting day by day. With all these new circumstances, the government should consider changing too. Laws and their enforcement should be reversed; needless to say, most of them do not fit modern and dynamic Tanzania.
I understand that I’m not the first to write about the critical need to change our ruling system, and I certainly am not the last one either. Neglecting change will only create mistrust among citizens and rulers. Development is inevitable; however, it should not come at the expense of others, especially people from poor backgrounds. Development that harms no soul; development for all.