Abstract Rwanda’s political development since the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, often referred to as the 1994 Rwandan Genocide, frequently faces accusations of its President, Paul Kagame and his Rwandan Patriotic Front ( RPF ) conducting authoritarian mechanisms to remain in power. During the 2024 Presidential election, President Kagame received over 99 per cent. Most Global North-based human rights organisations describe these elections as fraudulent and problematic. However, there is significant Rwandan public support for President Kagame. This research examines Rwanda’s political system, specifically President Kagame and the RPF campaign, and why Rwandans keep voting for the status quo. It argues that historical instability, a sense of pragmatism and the lack of viable political actors keep the current political establishment in power. It relies on political ethnography from the author’s observations during the 2024 Presidential and Parliamentary elections. Interview data collected during the election are analysed using both discourse and behavioral analysis to uncover the underlying reasons for Rwanda’s continued support for President Kagame. Fundamentally, the article argues that President Kagame’s continual leadership is best understood through the Rwandans’ desire for political stability despite Global North criticisms of the government’s human rights.
Abstract This article sets out to assess the politics of institutional design in Tanzania during the transition period to a multi-party system in the early 1990s up to the holding of the ‘founding elections’ in October 1995. Two questions are critical at this juncture; Why were certain institutions preferred by the ruling elites and others rejected? What were the logic and interests behind the preferred institutions? The point of departure in this article stems from the rational choice assumption that political actors seek to structure institutions to suit their own benefits. Using qualitative approach, the article demonstrates that the Tanzania’s transition during the third wave was largely a top-down show, with the ruling elites carefully designed institutions of their choice for their own political survival. The elite-controlled transition to multiparty politics in Tanzania accompanied with lack of negotiation process has subsequently jeopardized the development and adoption of a robust competitive political landscape.
Abstract This article offers a comparative analysis of enforcing judicial decrees against government entities in Tanzania and South Africa using doctrinal and comparative methodology. Executing a decree against the government is a controversial matter. In both jurisdictions, the government enjoys protection against the execution of decrees under the principle of sovereign immunity; in Tanzania, this principle limits the ordinary mode of decree enforcement. South Africa’s State Liability Act permits enforcement through various means, including contempt, attachment, and actions against government personnel. The results claim that South Africa’s approach is more compliant. Tanzania, nevertheless, would benefit from refining its legal framework to allow more compelling mechanisms for the enforcement of decrees against the government. The study recommends amendments to the law from both jurisdictions and promoting judicial activism to ensure that government entities comply with court orders, thereby achieving a more balanced approach between state immunity and the rights of judgement creditors.
Abstract This article explores the experience of naturalized refugees from Rwanda and Burundi in Tanzania, which is marked by notable differences in their lived experiences as citizens of Tanzania. In 1980, the Government of Tanzania granted citizenship to some 36,000 Rwandese refugees who had been in Tanzania since the early 1960s. Then, in 2008, the Government of Tanzania granted citizenship to more than 160,000 Burundian refugees who had been in Tanzania since 1972. Both groups were settled in the northwestern regions of Tanzania. Yet, the experience of these two groups as citizens of Tanzania has been marked with differences, with the former Rwandese refugees seen to have been more successfully integrated into Tanzanian society compared to Burundian refugees. What explains this variation in their experience of being members of the national community? Taking from fieldwork conducted in Tanzania and extensive archival research in Tanzania and Geneva, Switzerland, this article attempts to explain the variations of the experience of two groups in Tanzania. In an attempt to explain such variation, this article situates itself in the interdisciplinary field of refugee and forced migration studies, specifically the literature that considers local integration into a host country as a durable solution for refugees.
