98 Percent

What happens when democracy becomes performance-and dissent becomes a death sentence?In 98 Percent: An Eyewitness Account of Tanzania's Stolen Election and the Price of Speaking Out, U. S. Air Force veteran, former college professor, and business consultant Ricardo Jarvis delivers a gripping, firsthand account of living inside a modern authoritarian state as it sheds even the pretense of democracy.
Returning to Tanzania in 2025, Jarvis found himself trapped inside a nation gripped by fear following an election that produced an implausible 98 percent victory for the ruling party. What followed was not political disagreement-but violent repression: mass protests met with live ammunition, home invasions, enforced disappearances, internet blackouts, mass burials, and a coordinated effort to silence an entire population.
This book is not written from the distance of analysis-it is written from the inside. As a foreign national living in Dar es Salaam during the crackdown, Jarvis witnessed events unfold in real time: Peaceful protesters shot in the streets Entire neighborhoods placed under siege Electricity, water, and internet weaponized as tools of control Families searching for loved ones who never returned Blending eyewitness testimony, historical context, media documentation, and personal reflection, 98 Percent exposes how authoritarian systems maintain power-and what it costs ordinary people when truth itself becomes dangerous.
International coverage from BBC, CNN, Amnesty International, and the Catholic Church eventually confirmed what citizens already knew: this was not stability-it was state violence hidden behind silence. This book asks difficult questions: How does repression become normalized? What happens when voting no longer matters? And what responsibility does the world bear when atrocities unfold in plain sight? 98 Percent is more than a political account.
It is a warning, a record, and a call to conscience. For readers interested in: Human rights and political repression Eyewitness journalism and real-world testimony African politics and modern authoritarianism Democracy, elections, and state violence The personal cost of speaking truth to power This is a story that refuses to disappear.