Tanzania: The Use of Social Media in 2010 Tanzania General Election

Tanzania will go to the polls on October 30, 2010 and the general election campaign is well underway. As the campaigns heat up, presidential candidates and other candidates fighting for parliamentary seats are using new media tools to communicate with potential voters. Along with campaign rallies, which target the majority of the population, a small number of politicians have started to use social media tools such as blogs, online videos, Facebook and twitter to create deeper engagement with voters.

It is hard to accurately comment on the impact of the ongoing online campaigns because of lack of up-to-date statistics on usage of social media tools in Tanzania. The number of Tanzanians using the Internet is still small in comparison to the total population. In a country of 41 million people there are only 676,000 Internet users representing 1.6% of the total population. Among those with access to the internet there are only 141,580 Facebook users, with 74% of them aged between 18-34 years.

Whether created by fans or formal campaign officials, there are a few websites, blogs, facebook pages and twitter accounts running campaigns for presidential candidates and those fighting for parliamentary seats from the ruling CCM party. The official website of the current president and the ruling CCM party candidate, Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, has a link to a facebook page with more than 4,500 followers. There is also another facebook page dedicated to Mr Kikwete with more than 13,500 fans.

Kikwete’s running mate who is also the candidate for the Vice President's post, Dr. Gharib Bilal, has more than one campaign websites. One site is linked to Mr Kikwete’s website and Dr. Bilal’s twitter account, while the other website has a link to a facebook page dedicated to his campaign.

One of the opposition parties presidential candidates Dr. Wilbrod Slaa from CHADEMA party has a facebook page linked from his official website with about 910 fans. Likewise there are more than two facebook pages dedicated to Dr. Slaa’s campaign with about 9000 people who ‘like’ Dr. Slaa. He also has a twitter account with very few tweets.

Similar to Tanzania Mainland, election manifestos, pictures and videos of the campaign rallies are on display on the websites of the Zanzibar’s CCM presidential candidate Dr Ali Mohamed Shein as well as on his main opposition contender Maalim Seif Sharif Hamad from the Civic United Front (CUF).

Announced mostly through twitter and blogs, online campaign videos with clips from election rallies have so far received a little more than 12,000 views in total at the time of writing this post. Some of the videos appear to have been uploaded directly from the rallies, like this one from CHADEMA’s Kigoma North candidate, Hon. Zitto Kabwe

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Chombo cha Ushahidi

Vijana FM inatumia Crowdmap, chombo kilichotengenezwa na Ushahidi, kukusanya taarifa, mawazo na uzoefu wakati wa Uchaguzi Mkuu Tanzania. Ni matarajio yetu kwamba chombo hiki kitawapa jukwaa watu kutoa taarifa, maoni, kuanzisha mijadala na kueneza ujuzi wa mchakato wa uchaguzi na matukio mbalimbali.

Taarifa zinaweza kuwasilishwa kwa njia tatu:

1. Kwa kutuma barua pepe: TZelect (at) gmail (dot) com

2. Kwa Twitter hashtags #TZelect au #uchaguzitz (Shukrani Jamii Forums)

3. Kwa kujaza fomu kwenye tovuti

11 NORWEGIAN MPS IN TANZANIA TO LEARN ABOUT DECENT WORK

A group of 11 Norwegian parliamentarians is visiting Tanzania 22-26 September. Their aim is to learn about Tanzanian strategies to promote decent work in the country, and the mission is part of Norway's efforts to promote workers' rights on a global level.

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) is responsible for coordinating the MP programme, which includes a visit to project sites in both Moshi and Zanzibar. The programme in Dar es Salaam involves a meeting with Minister for Labour Hon. Prof. Juma Athumani Kapuya as well as representatives from The Association of Tanzania Employers (ATE) and Trade Union Congress of Tanzania (TUCTA).

In 2008 Norway as one of the first countries in the world adopted a strategy for promoting Decent Work including safeguarding workers' rights on a global level. The partnership with ILO is key to implementing this strategy.

- I am very pleased to welcome the MPs to Tanzania. Their visit is a signal of the important and longstanding partnership between our two countries. The focus of the mission is also crucial, as decent work is central to people's lives, says Ambassador designate Ingunn Klepsvik.

The group of 11 parliamentarians has members from 5 different Norwegian political parties. They are all members of The Standing Committee on Labour and Social Affairs in the Norwegian Parliament. 6 of the parliamentarians represent the coalition government in Norway, while 5 come from the opposition parties. The visit to Tanzania is part of a mission to Ethiopia, Tanzania and South Africa.

Zanzibar's island idyll under threat....

Travel down the east coast of Zanzibar on board an Arab dhow, and the spice island seems not to have changed for centuries. A row of white surf, open sand and coconut palms marks the shoreline.

For miles, there is no intrusion from anything man-made, save for the triangular white sails of other dhows, so graceful and slender that they seem entirely as nature intended.

From time to time, the thatched, conical roofs of a handful of relatively small hotels appear among the palm trees. But the Indian Ocean's turquoise waters still lap a largely undeveloped coast.

This may not be true for much longer. Prodded by the central authorities in Tanzania, Zanzibar's semi-autonomous government is promoting the development of big hotels along the eastern shore.

The idea is to change the focus of the island's tourism. At present, Zanzibar benefits from a high-value, low-volume model where most visitors come to the spice island after a safari in Tanzania's national parks. They stay for an average of five nights in a few, comparatively small hotels, often directly overlooking the sea.

But Amani Abeid Karume, the president of Zanzibar, wants to change this. The idea is to make Zanzibar a mass destination in its own right – independent of "bush and beach" visitors who go on safari first. This means lower prices, more hotel beds, more tourists and, perhaps inevitably, an end to the undeveloped beauty of the east coast.

"Sadly, the government of Zanzibar has this idea that they have to be like Kenya and Mauritius and they need big investors to build big hotels," says one local operator. "Zanzibar might end up being a cheap destination for mass tourism."

If so, small retreats, like Ras Nungwi Beach Hotel on the island's northern peninsula, will become rare exceptions. Set on a perfect tropical beach, where the afternoon tide brings turquoise water lapping against honeycombed rocks and white sand, Ras Nungwi has only 32 rooms.

Most are found in thatched rondavels, often directly overlooking the ocean. Ras Nungwi was built before a new regulation came into force, specifying that all hotel rooms must be at least 250ft from the high-tide mark.

If you stay in the Ocean Suite, you will have a small beach to yourself, complete with your own two-storey house with more than 2,000 sq ft of living space.

Elsewhere in Zanzibar, seaweed and cloudy waters can make the beach disappointing. At Ras Nungwi, however, the sand could scarcely be finer nor the water clearer.
"There is a big turnaround of oceanic currents here, which gives us our clear water," explains Chris Goodwin, the general manager.

If Zanzibar eventually succumbs to the mass tourism model, small and intimate havens such as Ras Nungwi will become rarer.


Telegraph