The Relationship between Participatory Democracy and Digital Transformation in Tanzania

Democracy is something that is discussed differently from various public discourses. It should definitely be known that there is a reason for these different school of thoughts whether one looks from the left, centre or right of the political continuum. Additionally, through participatory democracy, ordinary citizens are engaged and empowered to have a voice on policy and/or decision – making process, which in turn nurtures democracy both at national and local levels. However, studies carried out in Tanzania on democratic process have not paid attention on the relationship between participatory democracy and digital transformation. Therefore, this paper focuses on addressing this relationship by looking first at how public/citizen participation and civic engagement has been increased through participatory democracy and secondly, how digital transformation succeeded in initiating public opinion on pertinent issues including politics and policies? The focal point of this paper is on the potentialities of the digital transformation in creating space for the very disadvantaged population to participate significantly in the political and public sphere.