Author: By Basil Nyama

Tanzanian police officers detain a man accused by electoral officials of attempting to taint the voting process at a polling station in Stone Town on October 29, 2025, during Tanzania’s presidential elections. [AFP] Electoral integrity in East Africa is a critical test for democratic maturity. It demands far more than the absence of violence. It requires a moral mandate for transparency and institutional independence. A level playing field remains a regional dream. Electoral commissions hardly operate free from executive capture. The rule of law does not bind  incumbents and challengers equally. With the absence of these safeguards, the ballot box…

Residents wave Somaliland flags as they gather to celebrate Israel’s announcement recognising Somaliland’s statehood in downtown Hargeisa, on December 26, 2025. [AFP] Having worked extensively in Somalia and Somaliland, the contrasts between these two regions are strikingly clear. Walking the streets of Hargeisa, capital of Somaliland, gives an impression of stability and order. People move freely, markets bustle with commerce and public institutions function in a way rarely seen in the Horn of Africa. Since declaring independence from Somalia in 1991, Somaliland has built functioning democratic institutions, maintained security, and fostered economic activity despite being unrecognised internationally. Yet nearly three…

Residents wave Somaliland flags as they gather to celebrate Israel’s announcement recognising Somaliland’s statehood in downtown Hargeisa, on December 26, 2025. [AFP] Having worked extensively in Somalia and Somaliland, the contrasts between these two regions are strikingly clear. Walking the streets of Hargeisa, capital of Somaliland, gives an impression of stability and order. People move freely, markets bustle with commerce and public institutions function in a way rarely seen in the Horn of Africa. Since declaring independence from Somalia in 1991, Somaliland has built functioning democratic institutions, maintained security, and fostered economic activity despite being unrecognised internationally. Yet nearly three…

Catholic faithfuls during the Good Friday Way of the Cross procession in Nakuru City on April 18, 2025. [Kipsang Joseph, Standard] Across societies, the idea of womanhood is never neutral or abstract. It is socially constructed, morally guided, and culturally affirmed. In traditional African worldviews, womanhood is not an isolated biological or individual category. Rather, it is a relational identity—a role shaped by family ties, kinship, work, childbearing, raising children, moral responsibilities, and communal belonging. Dignity and agency arise within these social and moral networks, not apart from them. This relational understanding shapes African perspectives on the recent appointment of…

This video grab from the Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation (TBC) shows President Samia Suluhu Hassan taking the oath of office during her inauguration ceremony in Dar es Salaam, on November 3, 2025. [AFP] When Tanzanians went to the polls on October 29, 2025, hope flickered faintly. For many, this was the election that could either affirm President Samia Suluhu’s professed reformist image or expose the limits of her political will. For those who had long called for pre-election reforms, the widely used slogan #NoReformsNoElections—championed by CHADEMA and civic actors—symbolised their demands. Opposition party chairman Tundu Lissu defended the slogan as a call…