Kileleshwa Member of County Assembly Robert Alai claims that Tanzania’s democracy and governance are superior to Kenya’s, despite Kenya’s reputation for greater political freedoms.

Speaking on TV47’s Morning Café Show, the MCA, challenged common Kenyan perceptions about their East African neighbor.

“I can tell you for a fact that the Tanzanian level of democracy is way ahead of us,” the MCA stated. He criticized the attitude of many Kenyans who “imagine that the average Kenyan can be the president or can be the most senior corporate leader in Tanzania, just because of the fact that they speak good English.”

The MCA argued that different countries have different governance models that work for their citizens, citing examples from North Korea to Afghanistan.

“You know everybody has their own measure of how they want to be governed, and they have their own set of laws, and they have what works for them,” he said.

The MCA was particularly critical of what he termed Kenya’s ethnic-based political system, where opposition forms based on ethnic rather than policy grounds.

“The Kenyan model of democracy, where somebody suddenly become holier, because of the ethnic interest, people see that the current government, because it doesn’t align with the ethnic interest of the previous government, is suddenly an evil government,” he observed.

Despite acknowledging Tanzania’s “high handedness” in matters like internet shutdowns and opposition clampdowns, the MCA praised several aspects of Tanzanian governance.

“They plant better, they run their industries better, they manage their resources better. In fact, apart from the high handedness,” he said, emphasizing that beyond language skills, “there’s nothing” that gives Kenya an advantage.

The MCA noted that Tanzania’s governance issues are a systemic issue rather than about individual leaders, describing it as a whole independent system.

Emphasizing the principle of national sovereignty, Alai argued that Kenyans cannot impose their governance preferences on Tanzania.

“Kenyans, cannot decide that no, now we cross the border, we change the government in Tanzania, we demonstrate, we push them out because we don’t like how they’re treating their citizens. No. That’s not how things work,” he stated.

Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu was sworn in on Monday 3rd November 2025 after winning 98% of the votes.