Below is an article published by The Citizen:

During the celebrations, on January 12, to mark the 49th anniversary of Zanzibar’s revolution, President Ali Mohamed Shein gave a speech in which he catalogued the social and economic achievements registered by the successive administrations over the last five decades.

These development gains were in the provision of quality education, healthcare, clean and safe water and electricity as well as in the improvement of rural roads.

Tourism was also mentioned as one critical area of the economy that has been growing impressively fast, especially since the formation of the Government of National Unity (GNU) after the 2010 general election. He also enumerated the challenges facing the government as it strives to improve the livelihoods of the people, and pinpointed unemployment and drug abuse among the youth as the most serious problems. Dr Shein was more sanguine when he talked about the successes recorded particularly in the short period of two years of the existence of the power-sharing arrangement between the two main rival political parties on the Isles, CCM and the main opposition Civic United Front (CUF).

He cited the sustenance of peace, unity and stability as the single most important achievement that is the pride of every Zanzibari, which he attributed to the commitment of the two parties to the imperative of power-sharing and the people’s unswerving support for the GNU.

Like most of us, the president was optimistic about the future prospects of the country as the government focuses on improving the conditions of the majority of the people.  This perspective is also shared by Zanzibar’s development partners (aid donors) and foreign investors who previously were discouraged by the divisive politics and hostilities which polarized the country and brought the economy to near total collapse.  Now, under the GNU, a new political culture is taking shape in the Isles, whereby politicians uphold the principle that the interests of the nation and its people must be above party politics and parochial interests.

What we have witnessed in these last two years of the existence of the power-sharing regime is that the leaders, by and large, are genuinely committed to serving the people; and that the unfolding scenario on the Zanzibar political horizon is that of a more united, nationalistic populace whose focus now is on nation building.  So, given this fact, and because the power-sharing arrangement was the decision of the people themselves through a plebiscite, and since the GNU is a constitutional project that has so far done the country a lot of good, the Indian Ocean archipelago is destined to remain stable and prosperous. Indeed, we are beginning to see the end of the precipitous and divisive plural politics there.

The good thing is that the party that wins the elections in the Isles must share power with the one that loses. So, there should be no question of the two parties (CCM and CUF) ruthlessly fighting for power! Apparently, President Shein and the First Vice President Seif Sharif Hamad make a good pair at the helm. Certainly both will run for the presidency in 2015 and whoever wins shall be joined by the loser to lead the government for another five years.

What encourages the GNU leadership to remain focused is the fact that most Islanders now seem to hold dear the virtues of unity, peace and tranquility, without which democracy and development would be impossible to attain. There are cynics who accuse Zanzibaris of having “jettisoned” democracy through the power-sharing deal. Such people misinterpret democracy and forget that, despite the GNU, Zanzibar’s democratic institutions are still intact and effective.

They also forget that a political system is considered “appropriate” for a particular society if it is able to create conditions for the maintenance of sustainable peace, unity, stability and security as well as provide a reasonable degree of material well-being for the citizenry and guarantee freedom, justice and people-participation in the main-stream decision-making process.

A political system will be judged to be democratic if it manages to fulfill those noble goals and I see Zanzibar’s democratic system in that context, the GNU notwithstanding.