A Secretive Company Needed to Convince Washington That Congo’s Election Would be “Free and Fair.” It Found A Friendly Ear Among Trump Allies (Buzzfeed – December 30)

“The confluence of lobbying work and security experts is really concerning but not surprising,” said Jeffrey Smith, executive director of Vanguard Africa, a nonprofit that supports democracy movements on the continent. “For so long US foreign policy has been based around this notion of stability and security, oftentimes at the expense of human rights and democracy. But when you deny a free and fair vote, you’re planting the seeds of instability in the long term. It’s reinforcing this notion that leaders who steal elections are somehow good or somehow provide stability and security.”

In Cameroon, Journalists Can’t Breathe as Obnoxious Laws Stifle Press Freedom (News Watch Cameroon – December 23)

Jeffrey Smith, Founding Director of Vanguard Africa, a Washington DC-based pro-democracy advocacy group, says truth, facts and objectivity are a dictator’s worst enemy while a free media and an informed citizenry represent their kryptonite.

“This is why leaders like Paul Biya, who have failed their citizens for generations, need to silence or quite literally kill journalists. It’s because they expose him for the supreme failure that he is,” Smith said.

International Democracy Advocates are Loathed and Loved (Globe and Mail - December 16)

“For African opposition leaders, another key lobbyist is Jeffrey Smith, a U.S.-based democracy advocate who gained fame with his social-media campaigning to help Gambians topple their long-ruling dictator, Yahya Jammeh, in 2017.

Today, through his firm, Vanguard Africa, he provides support to opposition leaders in Uganda, Cameroon and Tanzania, among others, by building their relationships with North American and European politicians and media.”

Authoritarianism Wins Big in Tanzania Amid Bloodshed and Vote Rigging (The Indypendent – November 30)

“The violence perpetrated against those in Tanzania who are not card-carrying members of the ruling party is unsurprising. The warning signs have long been there,” said Jeffrey Smith, founding director of Vanguard Africa a Washington, based pro-democracy advocacy group, whose board is composed of a bipartisan team of high-powered public relations professionals and political consultants.

“Magufuli and the Chama Cha Mapinduzi [Party] are running roughshod and bulldozing any semblance of democracy,” Smith added.

Tanzanian Presidential Candidate Tundu Lissu Arrested (Al Jazeera – November 2)

Jeffrey Smith of Vanguard Africa, a pro-democracy nonprofit organisation based in Washington, told AFP that Lissu -- who has partnered with them -- told him on the phone earlier he had been seeking diplomatic protection for several hours without luck.

Tanzania’s President Magufuli Re-elected Amid Serious Doubts about Vote Credibility (The Telegraph – October 31)

“Tanzania’s election is the most brazenly rigged I've ever seen,” said Jeffrey Smith, the founding director nonprofit group Vanguard Africa. “The regime isn't even trying to make it look credible. Any facade of democracy is gone. This is full-scale dictatorship.”

Tanzania’s opposition finds that forming a united front is not so easy (Mail and Guardian – September 30)

Jeffrey Smith, the founding director of Vanguard Africa, which has advised activists and opposition campaigns in Cameroon, the Gambia, Malawi, Uganda, Tanzania and Zimbabwe, said: “This is going to sound mundane, but quite honestly the biggest challenge that I have seen and have worked to try and assuage over the years has been the petty, often personal political differences that inhibit various individuals and opposition parties who essentially agree on 99% of the issues.”

Cameroon’s Paul Biya faces protests as Anglophone crisis goes on (Quartz Africa – September 29)

Street protests seem to be the most viable option people have at their disposal for political change in Cameroon as there are no indications for reforms or the long-serving president quitting power, according to Jeffrey Smith, executive director of Vanguard Africa, a pro-democracy advocacy group. “Biya is a prime example of a leader who has stayed in power long beyond his political expiration date,” Smith says.