MOROGORO, Oct. 17 -- THERES  a certain irony in the way Western critics still speak to Africa, as if time has stood still since the colonial age.

Every few months, a letter, a declaration, or a solemn statement emerges from some European chamber, purporting to “express concern” over democracy in an African country.

It is dressed in the fine language of human rights and rule of law, but beneath that velvet rhetoric lies something uncomfortably familiar — a sermon from the pulpit of paternalism.

The latest round of criticism directed at Tanzania follows this old script. The letter raises allegations about supposed abductions and calls for the release of political figures, as though the countrys own legal institutio...