Political: Kujenga

This page is a section of Kujenga.

Flag of Kujenga

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.  

The POC continues to dominate Kunjengan politics, functioning as the gatekeeper between society and the state. As the enforcer of state rules, POC uses its control over state structures and resources to grant favors—tax breaks, business licenses, contracts, and other forms of patronage—to powerful private economic and influential societal actors. The POC has maintained support among the economic and political elites, even after the legalization of opposition political parties twenty-seven years ago. The POC’s historical placement as an independence movement at Kujenga’s beginning and five decades of relative stability enables the party to cultivate popular support by nurturing its image as the guardian of national unity and portraying opposition parties as antithetical to that unity.

The Kujengan ruling party has curried the favor of and protected the military and other security forces. This favor ensures the POC is backed by Kujenga’s security forces when protests and other threats have erupted. A veneer of democracy and judicial complicity, along with assurance of military protection, allows the POC to maintain its hold on power.  

Centers of Political Power

Ariana

Political power resides almost exclusively with the ruling POC party. The POC allows opposition parties, but only so long as they do not threaten it in meaningful ways. The POC’s influence is pervasive throughout both the national and local governments. This ensures it has almost universal support at all levels of government.

Military Authority

The Kujengan constitution designates the Prime Minister as the commander-in-chief of the Kujengan military. The Prime Minister also appoints the Minister of Defense and National Service and the other members of the Kujengan National Defense Council. The military is constitutionally subordinated to the civilian leadership, and it respects this relationship. Over many years, the POC party built a relationship with the military that ensures this subordination. Since independence, Kujenga has not faced the threat of a military coup. The military is generally respected, but has been used to support counter-terrorism operations and to suppress protests against specific groups. Within these groups, there is suspicion and distrust of the military and other security forces.

Family Authority

Families in Kujenga are culturally and economically important. Family bonds are particularly strong in rural areas, where the agricultural economy makes immediate and extended family members important to survival and well-being. In rural areas, extended families live together: elderly members of the family have a place of authority and respect within the home and the community. Elderly members of the family are also a means of transferring values and cultural order to future generations.

The closeness of rural families has eroded to some degree in urban areas. Urban families do not always have the advantage of physical proximity with extended family members. Smaller available housing units and families separated from one another reduces the influence of older family members.

Families are members of clans and tribes, which adds extended means of support and organizational structure. Tribal affiliation can be either patriarchal or matriarchal. Tribal membership is shaped through traditions, rites, and social standing within the larger tribal population. The standing of a particular family within a tribe is determined by wealth, size, historical events, and other cultural variables.

Attitudes Toward the US

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 remains committed to strengthening democracy in Kujenga. In addition, the US  supports women’s and children’s health initiatives, HIV/AIDS treatment, nutrition and food security, economic growth, energy infrastructure, sustainable development, and security.

Several exchange programs welcome citizens from Kujenga to the United States, including the Fulbright Program, Hubert Humphrey Fellowship, and the Young African Leaders Initiative. Short term exchanges, small grants, and other public outreach programs support the development of artists, journalists, writers, civil servants, young leaders, musicians, and students.

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.

Attitude Toward US Trade

Kujenga's exports to the United States are dominated by crude oil, agricultural commodities, minerals, and textiles. Imports from the United States include wheat, agricultural/transport equipment, chemicals, used clothes, and machinery. Kujenga is eligible for preferential trade benefits. The United States has a regional Trade and Investment Framework Agreement to which Kujegna belongs.

Type of Government

Kujenga’s executive is led by a Prime Minister with a unicameral legislature and a semi-independent judiciary. While ostensibly a democracy with regular elections, the government is, in reality, led by a one-party oligarchy of political elites. It is classified as a closed anocracy, meaning Kujenga permits limited opposition group activities. There is, however, governmental mechanisms to redress grievances are incomplete. The POC able to maintain its authority and realize its policy agendas, while still allowing some political dynamics within controlled parameters. The POC permits democratic institutions that allow for nominal amounts of competition. Kujenga is neither wholly democratic nor wholly autocratic; it is closer to autocracy than a participatory democracy.

Legislative Authority

Kujenga National Council Seats

The Kujenga parliamentis known as the National Council (NC). The NC is a unicameral legislative body, with the ruling party having a consistent and significant majority. The NC began as a small advisory council to the occupying western colonial power, but had little power or authority beyond providing feedback to the colonial government. Under the first Kujengan constitution established fifty-three years ago, its membership expanded and it took on national legislative responsibilities. Since that time, the POC has always received legislative validation and approval of its policies and agendas. Kujenga consists of 30 regions from which there are 357 representative seats—244 members directly elected in single-seat constituencies by a simple majority vote, 102 women directly elected by proportional representation vote, 10 appointed by the Prime Minister, and 1 seat reserved for the attorney general. Members serve 5-year terms with no term limits.

International and limited domestic pressure led to the legalization of multi-party participation twenty-seven years ago. This resulted in some erosion of POC strength. However, there has never been a serious threat to the POC’s hold on government. A strong executive branch and a ruling political party whose influence permeates the country ensures POC majorities whenever needed.

The Kujenga constitution gives the National Council oversight of the executive branch. In practice, this oversight is weak. The system concentrates power in the hands of the executive and has virtually no constraints imposed on it by the National Council. While the constitution provides for the authority to remove the Prime Minister in certain situations, the tight grip of the POC on the legislature guarantees the Prime Minister’s agenda will receive approval. The members of the executive cabinet, appointed by the Prime Minister from members of the parliament (MPs), retain their National Council seats while serving in the cabinet. The constitution grants the Prime Minister extensive powers to dissolve the National Council, which further weakens the oversight function of the legislative branch. There are no limits on the number of times the Council can be dissolved. Dissolution, however, requires a call for new elections, to include the Prime Minister.

The National Council performs the following constitutional functions:

• representation of the country
• making of laws
• oversight of judicial and Executive Branches of government

The National Council is led by a Speaker and a Deputy Speaker, both of whom are elected by the MPs. The current Speaker is Vinza Odemba and his deputy is Kami Semzaba. The speaker controls the legislative agenda and oversees committee assignments. An MP can submit a complaint regarding any decision made by the speaker, which must then be submitted to the general body for consideration.

The National Council establishes standing committees to implement laws and orders, as provided in the constitution. The standing committees are permanent, and temporary ad hoc committees may also be formed to deal with specific issues.

The following are the current standing committees:

1. Public Investment
2. Local Authorities Accountability
3. Community Services Development
4. Foreign Affairs and Security
5. Public Works and Transportation
6. Budget, Finance, and Planning
7. Energy and Natural Resources
8. Ethics
9. Agriculture
10. Livestock and Fisheries
11. Tourism
12. Culture, Artists, and Sports
13. Government Oversight
14. Communication
15. Military Affairs
16. Regional Affairs
17. Gender Equality
18. Health and Education
19. Rules
20. Water and Irrigation
21. Gender, Children, and Seniors
22. Internal Migration and Settlement
23. Trade and Industry

Political Party Representation in the National Council

Political Party	Seats	Pct
People of Change (POC)	200	56.0
United Front (UF)	57	16.0
Democracy and Progress Party (DPP)	24	6.7
Revolutionary Front of Kujenga (RFK)	19	8.6
Labor Party of Kujenga (LPK)	12	3.4
National Reform Party (NRP)	36	10.1
Alliance for Transparent Government (ATG)	9	2.5

Executive Authority

Kujenga Executive Ministries

The executive is the most powerful political institution in Kujenga. The Executive Branch is led by a Prime Minister and deputy Prime Minister, elected on the same ticket by a simple majority of the National Council. The Prime Minister is both the head of government and the head of state, as well as the commander-in-chief of the military. The Prime Minister appoints a wide range of key officials who are accountable to him, providing opportunities for political patronage. He appoints the Chief Justice, other judges, and key civil servants, from the national to the district level. The Prime Minister also appoints the top commanding officers in the armed forces. Furthermore, the Prime Minister has the power to appoint and dismiss his cabinet ministers with no consultation or approval from the NC.

The constitution provides a structural mechanism for restraining the Prime Minister’s authority over financial matters through the Office of Government Audit (OGA). The primary purpose of the OGA is to oversee the management of public funds at the national and local levels, ostensibly to create transparency and a bulwark against corruption. The OGA is constitutionally mandated to submit audit and other accounting reports to the NC through the Ministry of Finance and Planning (MFP).

In practical terms, however, the OGA is limited in both its ability and capacity to perform its constitutional functions. The OGA is led by the Auditor General (AG) who is appointed by the Prime Minister, calling into question its independence. The Executive Branch sets the organization’s budget and makes human resource decisions, allowing it to keep OGA salaries at such a low level that qualified candidates are unwilling to work there. This Lack of resources and independence calls into question much of the work of Kujengathe, and contributes directly to corruption.

Judicial Authority

Kujenga’s legal system is a combination of common law, Sharia law, and customary law. Local courts are presided over by appointed magistrates who have limited jurisdiction. Decisions at this level may be appealed to district courts that are headed by either resident or district magistrates. Appeals can also be made to the High Court, which consists of a Chief Justice and 17 judges appointed by the prime minister. The High Court has both civil and criminal jurisdiction over all persons and all matters. Appeals from the High Court can be made to a five-member Court of Appeal. Judges are appointed to the Court of Appeal and the High Court by the Prime Minister on the advice of the Chief Justice, and to courts at lower levels by the Chief Justice.

Although declared independent by the constitution, the judiciary is subject to Executive Branch influence and is criticized as inefficient and corrupt. Fairness is particularly unlikely in political cases.

Court of Appeal

The Court of Appeal of Kujenga is the highest court in the judicial hierarchy. It consists of the Chief Justice and other justices of appeal. The Court of Appeal is the court of final appeal.

High Courts

The High Court of Kujenga has unlimited original jurisdiction to entertain all types of cases. The High Court exercises original jurisdiction on constitutional matters and has powers to entertain election petitions. The High Court’s main and sub-registries adjudicate both civil and criminal matters. The High Court has 12 sub-registries in different zones of the country. It also has two specialized divisions—the Commercial Division and the Land Division. All appeals from subordinate courts go to the High Courts.

Subordinate Courts

These courts include the Resident Magistrate Courts and the District Courts. These courts were established under the Magistrate and District Courts Act. The District Courts, unlike the Resident Magistrates Courts, are found throughout all the districts in Kujenga. They receive appeals from the Primary Courts, several of which will be found in one district. The Resident Magistrates Courts are located in major towns, municipalities and cities, which serve as the regional headquarters.

Primary Courts

Primary Courts are the lowest courts in the judicial hierarchy. They are established under the Magistrate and District Courts Act. These courts adjudicate both criminal and civil cases. Civil cases dealing with property and family law matters that apply customary law Islamic law must be initiated at primary court level, where the magistrates sit with lay assessors instead of jurors.

Tribunals

Kujenga uses a system of tribunals for special cases. These include the District Land and Housing Tribunal, Tax Tribunal and the Tax Appeals Tribunal, Labor Reconciliation Board, the Kujenga Industrial Court, and Military Tribunals for the Armed forces. If a person is dissatisfied with any decision made by any of the tribunals, they may appeal to the High Court for judicial review.

Government Effectiveness and Legitimacy

Internationally, most countries recognize the Islamic Republic of Ariana even though the country established a nuclear program in violation of international non-proliferation treaties. In recent  years, “reformists” helped achieve a degree of regional stability by successfully tempering the government’s previous militant message to pursue long-standing national interests. One popular reformist attempted to strengthen Ariana’s relationships with Japan and Western European nations that oppose the Ariana-Libya Sanctions Act, a US law that essentially provides significant penalties to companies and governments which make significant investments in Ariana’s energy sector. These US sanctions successfully impact Ariana’s petroleum-based economy as they prevent large-scale improvements and technological advancements.

Domestic Political Issues

Elections

Arianian elections increasingly are popularity contests between candidates vetted and approved by religious authorities. Rising discontent with these sham elections has resulted in wide-scale demonstrations, but their effect to date on the stability of the Arianian regime has been negligible. The Revolution remains generally popular in more rural areas, and elections there are seen as reflective of the popular will, compared with discontent caused by elections in urban areas. Parliamentary elections occur every four years, with Presidential elections every six years. There are no term limits for any elected office.

Rule of Law

Rule of law is based on the Arianian government’s significant power and utter ruthlessness in squashing threats to its rule or what it deems as anti-social behavior. The government uses law enforcement forces, military personnel, and private citizens to monitor the actions of all Arianians. Courts are generally functionaries of the executive, rather than independent.

Corruption

Corruption is becoming a serious problem, with most Arianians turning to corrupt practices, especially in urban areas, to get access to government services. The regime sanctions also create an atmosphere of corruption, as military officers import hard-to-obtain items and resell them at inflated prices. The military uses its power to either muscle its way into most lucrative business deals, take over directly, or inject itself as a silent partner.

International Relationships

Regional Actors

Ariana desires not only to export the Council of Guardians Revolution to its neighbors, but to place itself in a position of regional dominance as well. Ariana remains friendly to any neighboring countries—other than Atropia—that are willing to negotiate or trade in the Caucasus region. Ariana and Donovia enjoy positive, though unofficial, political and economic relations despite the fact that Donovia is Ariana’s main competitor for the role of regional strongman. The country has a mutually beneficial political and economic relationship with Limaria, in which Ariana uses its smaller neighbor as a way to import and export goods internationally and Limaria gains access to much- needed hydrocarbon resources.

The large Atropian population in northern Ariana and the minority’s predilection for a schism from the central government in Tehran makes Arianians suspicious of the Atropian government and people of Atropian ethnicity. Ariana also wants to gain control of the rich oil reserves in Atropian- controlled Caspian Sea areas since its own oil reserves continue to dwindle. Arianian relations with Atropia are generally antagonistic as a result, and Ariana also remains leery of Kalaria’s regional ambitions and its close relationship with Atropia.

Ariana has not taken an official political position that would support either side over the Lower Janga dispute; the country prefers to publicly state that it is interested in managing the conflict until a compromise is found. However, unofficially it provides small clandestine units to train and equip the Limarian Liberation Front (LLF) to counter Atropian aggression and attempts to retake territory. Ariana loathes the Western-leaning secular posture taken by Atropia and may leverage conflict in the area to export its vision of theocratic governance to Atropia.

Ariana’s nuclear weapons program represents a massive destabilizing influence in regional and international dialogue. This capability is most threatening to Ariana’s neighbors and remains yet another troublesome aspect to Ariana’s foreign policy. Politically, the domestic popularity of the nuclear weapons program, along with the obvious power and prestige it brings to the Ariana government, outweighs the trade sanctions and other political and economic costs.

International Organizations

Ariana has attempted to create an anti-Western, and specifically anti-US, coalition in most international organizations of which it is a member. Additionally, Ariana has attempted to use oil exports as a weapon to coerce or bribe poor, small, or neutral nations to support its anti-US cause. Ariana is a member of most major international organizations. About 30 to 40 smaller non- governmental organizations (NGOs) and international organizations (IOs) operate within Ariana. The major IOs in terms of programs and budget are the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, and International Red Crescent. NGO programs generally are non-political in nature and focus on culture, literacy, and medical programs, especially in rural locations.

International Economic Associations

Because of Ariana’s oil wealth and its somewhat dodgy status on the global stage, the country’s participation in international economic associations is limited to one exception, namely its non-US dollar denominated oil bourse. The oil bourse is an effort to break the US dollar monopoly on oil transactions. While not truly successful, as the majority of the world’s oil transactions are dollar- denominated, the bourse demonstrates Ariana’s continuing efforts to confront the US.

Military Alliances

Ariana maintains no official military alliances, instead relying on foreign manned proxies or political support from nations it supports economically. Ariana also actively denounces other military alliances, especially Atropia’s alliances, which may introduce Western and specifically US forces into proximity with Ariana.

Influential Political Groups

Official Political Parties

There are no political parties in the Western sense in Ariana. The Arianian Clergy determine who stands for election, and the elections themselves mean little and are functional rubber-stamps of the Clergy determination of who shall occupy various seats of government. The Clergy’s stranglehold on government has created much of the popular frustration seen in recent protests against the government from the most liberal elements of Arianian society. The Arianian conservatives’ belief in a system of clerical authority remains ironclad, and they see themselves as defenders of Ayatollah Khodadad’s vision. If necessary, the conservatives would cheerfully remove the democratic institutions that occasionally challenge clerical authority. Conservatives believe they received their mandate from God, and neither popular will nor elected officials should challenge it. The conservatives display ambivalence toward popular opinion, because those who think as they do remain deeply entrenched in the institutions that ensure the conservatives’ continued rule. The leader of Ariana’s Islamic Truth Party noted, “The legitimacy of our Islamic establishment is derived from God. This legitimacy will not wash away even if people stop supporting it.”

Other Domestic Influential Groups

Arianian domestic groups split more often along ethnic and/or religious lines than ideologies. Examples include the predominantly Sunni Baluchis of southern Ariana, the New Dawn of  Freedom of Arianian Kurdistan, and the approximately three million ethnic Arabs near the southwest Arianian-Iraqi border. Exceptions include the Arianian Free-Will Movement, the Islamic Republic’s primary opposition to the concept of velayat-e faqih. Because of the Arianian Free-Will Movement’s opposition to the current regime, it cannot register as an official political party and its members cannot run for parliament seats or the presidency.

Summary

Though facing some internal discord, Ariana is firmly committed to the export of its version of Shia Islamic governance. The religious authorities and military are, despite high current levels of urban unrest, firmly in control of the country. Ariana will continue to be diplomatically hostile to both Atropia and the US for the foreseeable future.