YAOUNDÉ, Cameroon – The leadership of the Catholic Church in Tanzania is in mourning following the killing of hundreds of people after thousands took to the streets to protest the re-election of President Samia Suluhu Hassan.

Protestors were expressing anger at a political system dominated by one party since the country attained independence in the 1960s.

The protests started in the city of Dar es Salaam on 29 October 29 and spread across the country over the following days.

Suluhu was declared winner of last month’s election with 98 percent of the vote – a result the opposition has denounced as a “mockery of democracy.”

In a November 12 statement, Catholic Bishops in East Africa, under the umbrella name AMECEA, lamented that “precious lives” had been lost, and said they stand with the people of Tanzania in their time of need.

“When one member suffers, we all suffer together,” the statement addressed to the Bishops Conference of Tanzania stated, and noted that the Church remains in solidarity with the people of Tanzania in an “extraordinarily difficult and painful moment.”

“These events, which triggered days of violent protests and have resulted in the loss of precious lives, numerous injuries, and widespread suffering, have deeply grieved us all,” says the message signed by AMECEA President Bishop Charles Sampa Kasonde of Solwezi in Zambia.

The bishop called on his Tanzanian peers to “continue to be prophetic voices for truth, justice, and reconciliation in your country.”

“Continue to be ministers of comfort to the suffering, advocates for the voiceless. Continue to be beacons of hope in the darkness,” Kasonde said.

An African conundrum

Suluhu’s victory in Tanzania adds to the string of elections in Africa that have ended with incumbents winning, with the wins heavily criticized. In Cameroon, 92-year ailing leader Paul Biya was once again declared winner of the October 12 Presidential election with 53.7 percent of the vote. The vote was widely denounced as fraudulent and met with protests.

In Côte d’Ivoire, President Alassane Ouattara secured a comfortable fourth term with nearly 90 percent of the vote. Yet, the country’s Constitution requires presidents to serve for a maximum of two terms.

Jesuit Father Charles Chilufya, who works for the Jesuit Conference of Africa and Madagascar (JCAM) as director of the Justice and Ecology Office (JEO), has weighed into the conversation, telling Crux that these trends do not mean that Africa is rejecting democracy.

“The deeper issue is that many political systems across the continent do not genuinely reflect the aspirations, histories, or social realities of African societies,” the priest said.

“Africans are not opposed to democracy as an ideal — indeed, there is consistent and widespread support for multiparty politics, accountable leadership, civil liberties, and “peaceful transitions” of power. The real concern is whether the democracy on offer truly embodies human dignity, participation, and the common good,” he added.

“What people—especially young Africans—are rejecting is a hollow, procedural democracy: elections that occur regularly but do not translate into the people’s will or meaningful improvements in their lives,” Chilufya told Crux.

He said democracy is valuable not merely as a political model but because “it safeguards human dignity, rooted in the Imago Dei in every person.”

“Authentic democracy must enable citizens to shape their shared destiny freely. When elections are manipulated, freedoms curtailed, and outcomes predetermined, it is not democracy that is rejected, but its distorted imitation,” the Jesuit said.

The priest identified several interrelated problems that have caused the crisis of democracy on the continent.

These start with democratic deficits and electoral manipulation whereby elections are routinely marred by intimidation, flawed institutions, and the weakening of term limits. As a result, citizens lose trust, recognizing that elections alone do not guarantee real change.

Secondly, the over centralization of power in the hands of the small elite means that basic democratic norms like checks and balances are weakened or co-opted.

Added to this is the socio-economic frustration that has engulfed the continent’s youths.

“People judge democracy by its impact on their daily lives. Persistent unemployment, inequality, and fragile public services — made worse in some contexts by external pressures from former colonial structures, the IMF, and the World Bank — contribute to growing disillusionment,” Chilufya said.

He explained further that there is growing distrust in the very institutions that are required to guarantee the transparency of the vote.

“When courts, parliaments, and electoral commissions appear politically captured, citizens disengage—rejecting not democracy as a value but institutions they see as compromised,” said the Jesuit priest.

He also took issue with democracies that aren’t structurally aligned with African cultures.

“Many African democracies rest on Western-designed structures that do not align with traditional political cultures or communal expectations of leadership. This breeds systems that feel imposed rather than rooted,” Chilufya explained.

And finally, Africa’s young people are deeply disillusioned with the system, seeing elections as ineffective, and their reaction to these failures manifesting in different ways: Apathy, protests or support for alternative actors, including in some cases the military.

Chilufya claimed the frustration across the continent is not with democracy itself, but with its shallow, procedural implementation that neglects human dignity and the aspirations of the people.

The need, according to the priest, is a transformative governance model deeply rooted in African humanism, specifically the ethos of Botho/Ubuntu (“I am because we are”), and reinforced by Catholic Social Teaching.

It’s a model calls for servant leadership, genuinely participatory democracy, decentralized power, and ethical institutions, all working for  the common good rather than the preservation of elite power, offering a vision that is both authentically African and morally sound.

To realize this vision, Chilufya said the Church must navigate a delicate balance, collaborating with governments without sacrificing its prophetic voice.

According to the priest, the Church’s role is not to seek political power but to lead with moral authority, acting as the conscience of society.

This can be achieved by investing in serious civic formation to shape ethical leaders and citizens, serving as a neutral bridge-builder to mediate conflict, and “accompanying” institutions by supporting just policies while speaking uncomfortable truths to power when necessary.

Ultimately, je said the Church’s effectiveness hinges on its own credibility; it must embody the transparency, accountability, and justice it preaches, thus standing as a powerful moral advocate for a governance that truly serves the African people.