Confession: I enjoy the ruling party when it is in contest mode. There is nothing like an oncoming election to bring out the creativity in CCM cadres. For the most part it is formulaic and quite crass: the buying of artists’ souls, the conspicuous consumption, the overblown spectacle of it all. But once in a while, they do something really quite clever, and I am reminded that in spite of itself the party continues to attract thinkers.
The last time I was impressed by a slick move was watching a CCM cadre in the city recruit women by offering a subsidy on all-in-one gas cookers. Superb. If you’re going to buy a woman’s attention of an afternoon, if not her vote outright, the least you can do is offer a practical and affordable solution to a real-life problem. And y’all know how I feel about gas cookers.
The first time that CCM impressed me by having a great idea was when I saw the billboards at Selander Bridge in 2005 with little on them but the face of the presidential candidate.
Up until then, our politics were firmly in the real of modesty and competence. Candidates were peddled to us on the strength of their alleged decency, how good they would be for the country. We voters were not prepared to be asked to vote for someone because we liked them... until we were.
And just like that, we went from a Cult of Character polity to a Cult of Personality polity. It was our version of the Nixon vs JFK televised debate, a watershed event. Except in our case, it was billboards and not television.
Tanzania was poor for a long time, and I know it is required of me to lament the “lost opportunity” for development because of this but hear me out. Our nation-building project was carried out through state-dominated media and because we were poor there was no room for razzle-dazzle.
Our leadership class had to show up in person they had to recruit us through rallies and speeches and interaction. In such circumstances, charisma is nice, but it isn’t enough. You must have substance as well. That’s the catch.
As the poll year proceeds, it is easy to detect the machine of state’s hand in our media space. Influencers and entertainers have been bought to preach to our young voters.
The presidential omnipresence has been dialled up to North Korea levels, providing plenty of fodder for comedians. Every trick in the book- and some not in the book- is being employed to manage this poll in favour of the ruling party... except for the one that we need to make this competition real.
The optics are gorgeous, and the entertainment and overspending are on point. But bread and roses can only get you so far, Comrades. I am hoping that CCM will do something daring to save this election year from dreadful predictability and intellectual boredom for the votership. Something as wild as breaking conventions in 2005 by putting up billboards. I hope this is the year when we finally see CCM dare to attend presidential candidate debates.
It is time to close the loop between our character-focused past, our oral traditions, and the meritocratic conventions of representative electoral democracy.
Elsie Eyakuze is an independent consultant and blogger for The Mikocheni Report.
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