Tanzania and Kenya in the last few years have shown clear differences that, if they have not broken good neighbourly relations that are never idyllic but never over the top, certainly do not change them.
In the last few days the Tanzanian electoral round has confirmed with an overwhelming majority of votes President John Pombe Magufuli as the leader of the country for another five years. Eighty-four per cent of the preferences, even though only one out of two citizens showed up for the vote.
Tanzania increasingly voted for absolute presidentialism, from "old" Africa, which resembles that of historical and debated leaders such as Mugabe in Zimbabwe, Bashir in Sudan, Kagame in present-day Rwanda as well as Nyerere in Tanzania itself.
The leader of Independence seems to be Magufuli's political reference point, who at an international level has imposed himself, a bit to Erdogan (but without national-religious craze) for having slammed the doors in the face of the WHO, refusing international aid to fight the pandemic and declaring Tanzania "Covid-19 Free".
Nothing could be more different from a Kenya that through the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) campaign has brought together majority and opposition leaders to achieve a perfect democracy that eliminates tribalism and caste interests and combats corruption together. But also a Kenya that has garnered international grants and donations to tackle the virus, between lockdowns and an interminable curfew that has been in place for eight months now and every day continues to send data and variations, worrying and trying to worry its people.
As often happens in Africa, the Tanzanian elections were not without controversy: for the first time in 20 years, for example, the government party has conquered the autonomous island of Zanzibar and will have a Governor who does not represent the autonomists, but the opposition denounces the preventive arrest of 31 of its candidates and intimidation of the police.
For his part, the most credible opponent of the CCM, Magufuli's party, the former exile in England Tundu Lissu, had already started to denounce tampering and fraud before the turnout and even before the final results were available, he declared the elections a fraud, but under a constitutional rule, contested at international level, he could not appeal for the presidential elections, but only for those of Parliament.
Magufuli, on the other hand, is celebrating and seems to have the people on his side, to whom he has promised great works (some of which are already underway, thanks to the collaboration of the Chinese) and not to align himself with the African countries that have been economically colonised. The President's challenge will remain that of facing the great poverty, the lack of adequate health facilities in the country and the backwardness of a nation where witchcraft is still considered more than research and prayer (Magufuli dixit) is the best way to drive out the Coronavirus.