Kujenga
| Kujenga | |
|---|---|
 Flag | |
 | |
| Capital | Dar es Salaam |
| Largest city | Dar es Salaam (4.36 million) |
| Official languages |
|
| Ethnic groups |
|
| Demonym | Kujengan |
| Government | |
| Legislature | Unicameral Legislature |
| GDP | estimate |
• Total | $36.1 billion |
| Time zone | EAT (GMT+3) |
Kujenga gained semi-independence fifty-six years ago under a post-colonial United Nations mandated trusteeship. Three years later, Kujenga gained full independence, establishing a constitution built on a single political party system.
Working under the UN mandate, the outgoing colonial power lent support to the group of elites who had made up the bureaucracy under colonial rule. These elites united under the political party People of Change (POC). They have since maintained control of the government through successive elections, except for a brief experiment with multi-party rule seven years ago that ended five years later with the subsequent election. Kujenga established diplomatic relations with the United States when it gained independence fifty-three years ago. Relations between the two countries have been strained at various times because of Kujenga’s tight-knit oligarchic political structure and its repressive tendencies. Ongoing tensions and violence between the Kujengan government and the Tanga region brought US condemnation. The Kujengan government is focused on addressing rampant corruption and government inaction, but the country has also experienced a shrinking of democratic space.
The United States has provided development assistance to Kujenga to promote democratic governance, address health and education issues, and promote broad-based economic growth, and advance regional and domestic security to sustain progress. Kujenga is willing to accept US help, but chafes at criticism. It views the US with a degree of caution.
Contents
Political
Kujenga has maintained de facto one-party rule for the entirety of its fifty-three years of independence. Building upon a group of political elites during its initial period of United Nations Trusteeship, western powers formed the beginnings of the People of Change political party. This party has maintained control of the government through a combination of a romantic and a sentimental connection to independence, patronage, and the use of government and military means to suppress opposition. Relative stability throughout its history has also contributed to the POC’s staying power.
Kujenga faces several challenges. In recent years, the POC passed legislation used to arrest and detain opposition leaders in the name of national security. The use of force against those deemed threats lessened participation in Kujenga’s democracy. Periodic protests in areas such as the Tanga region and other areas of friction within the country tend to be met with swift force by Kujengan security forces. Corruption is endemic within the government. While there is general national stability, there is always the danger that some internal or external event might move Kujenga toward instability.
Military
The Kujenga Armed Service (KAS) is the state military of Republic of Kujenga. It emerged from a somewhat turbulent past and a range of internal security challenges. Kujenga’s military relations with its neighbors are relatively stable, although border security issues despite ongoing tensions in the Tanga region increasing the risk of regional conflict. The KAS consists of the Kujengan Army, Kujengan National Air Force (KNAF), Kujengan National Navy (KNAV), and Security Corps.
Kujenga’s primary internal security concerns include Tangan separatists, violent bush militias in the central mountains, and the brutal "Army of Justice and Purity" guerrillas in the Kasama region. External threats include border incursions by presumed Amari paramilitaries and cross-border smuggling.
Economic
Kujenga, one of East Africa’s largest economies, relies heavily on oil as its main source of foreign exchange earnings and government revenues. Following a global financial crisis 9 years ago, Kujenga’s banking sector was recapitalized and regulatory reforms implemented. Since that time, gains in agriculture, telecommunications, and services drove Kujenga’s economic growth. Kujenga’s major competitors in the regional economic order are Amari and Ziwa.
Despite government efforts to grow a viable middle class by steering the economy toward diversification, a large proportion of Kujenga’s population—70 percent—still live in extreme poverty. Economic power is the domain of a small group of oligarchs who publicly pay lip service to government reforms while privately restricting social status, affluence and acquisition of wealth to an intergenerational caste of corporate and political power brokers. Within this select group, reciprocal patronage and nepotism remain the order of the day.
Inadequate electrical power generation capacity tops the list of Kujenga’s economic infrastructure issues. Hydroelectric plants currently support about 20 percent of the country’s power grid. Proposed economic reforms aimed at improving existing capacity consistently bog down in prolonged legislative squabbles. Endemic corruption pervades an inefficient property registration system, restrictive trade policies, and a top-heavy regulatory bureaucracy.
Unreliable dispute resolution mechanisms, combined with corporate security concerns over internal and external militant threat actors, make prospective foreign investors wary of committing limited venture capital in support of oil, natural gas, and water resource exploitation. As a result, in spite of increased demand, Kujenga’s oil production has contracted slightly in each of the past 5 years. Despite these challenges, Kujenga remains well-grounded in the global economy: no economic sanctions exist that might limit the country’s participation in the international trading community. Kujenga is still recovering from a drop in world oil prices that occurred 2 years ago, but the medium-term prognosis for the country is positive, provided that national oil output remains stable, and oil prices on the world market continue to rebound.
Social
Kujenga is a relatively stable country, but it faces several social issues: a large rural population facing food scarcity and medical crises, refugee camps, and a large youth bulge. These issues, along with a government suffering from widespread corruption, form a base for potential social upheaval. Due to several factors, however, the country remains stable; one key factor is the number of tribes. With some 80 tribes in and around Kujenga, tribal politics and tensions ensure on faction does not become too powerful.
The culture and heritage of Kujenga is diverse, and tribes play a critical role across the society. Tribal dynamics date to well before the colonial era and remain very active today. Each tribe has its own language, cultures and traditions, making Kujenga very diverse.
Information
Kujenga ’s information environment is somewhat dated with limited availability of Internet, mobile phone, and television access for the general population. The government is investing in projects to expand the internet backbone and circuits but widespread public access is still in the future. While it does have a mix of public and private media available, the government controls the media programs available to the public. Kujenga’s information operations capabilities focus mostly on less technical approaches with selected niche capabilities. As a less technically oriented country with narrowly focused modernization goals, the information flow remains concentrated on widely available systems. Radio and print media continue to dominate the Kujenga information sphere with limited in-roads by modern media systems. As a country with limited technical information systems, it makes Kujenga significantly less susceptible to cyber-attacks and information system manipulation. The Kujenga government seeks to maintain its dominance of the information sector to control the flow of information to the population. To maintain that dominance, the government plans to increase use of new technology and meter its release to the population.
Infrastructure
Kujenga has a relatively low population density and limited infrastructure funding, meaning lower connection rates and more rehabilitation requirements than Amari and Ziwa. Kujenga’s priorities are road paving and natural gas development.
Key infrastructure features are the port of Dar Es Salaam and the east-west transit corridor from Dar Es Salaam to Kigoma on Lake Tanganyika, also known as DARGOMA. This corridor is approximately 70% paved, with a 1930’s era 1,000 mm gauge rail line running throughout. A northern spur runs to the Ziwan capital of Mwanza. The 1970’s-era “DarSouth” 1,035mm-gauge rail line runs from Dar Es Salaam through southern Kujenga. It has one interconnection with the DARGOMA rail line.
Zanzibar and Mafia islands have more utility connections and more permanent construction patterns than the mainland.
Despite abundant natural gas and hydroelectric resources, most Kujengans, especially in rural areas, use wood or charcoal for cooking and oil lamps for lighting. Even those living in urban neighborhoods serviced by electric or water distribution grids are not necessarily connected.
Physical Environment
Kujenga is a large country located in central eastern Africa and is roughly rectangular in shape. It borders one major body of water: the Indian Ocean and encompasses three others, Lake Victoria, Lake Malawi, Lake Tanganika. The country’s terrain varies from a significant rift valley in the central region, high mountains and arid desert lowlands, as well as coastal plains, with climates ranging from in the east, tropical to semiarid; warm desert in the west; and humid near the coast.
Time
Kujengans use the Gregorian calendar. However, within that daily routine great importance is paid to the rising and setting of the sun. Kujenga's proximity to the equator means there is little difference in the hours of daylight seen in the summer or winter. As is common in equatorial Africa, none of the regional countries observe Daylight Savings Time (DST).
Once the differing approach to time is understood, business in Kujenga should be straightforward. Attempting to impose a Western approach to time will not benefit either party. This is the case in the cities as well as the countryside.
Significant Threat Conditions within Kujenga
Selected Actors
| Group Name | Type | Country | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Army of Justice and Purity (AJP) | Guerrilla | Kujenga |  |
| Donya Syndicate | Criminal | Kujenga | The Donya Syndicate is the largest and most powerful cocaine trafficking organization in the region. Its primary operating base is in and around the Port of Dar es Salaam, although it operates processing and distribution nodes throughout Kujenga. Donya is the most stable and sophisticated of the groups to emerge from the drug turmoil of the 1990s – both within Africa and among central and South American suppliers. |
| Free Tanga Youth Movement (FTYM) | Insurgency | Kujenga |  |
Illicit Mining Operations
