CUF accuses Union, Z'bar governments of next year election sabotage

CUF accuses Union, Z'bar governments of sabotage
By Mpoki Bukuku, Pemba

Atop Civic United Front (CUF)
leader has accused Union and Zanzibar government
agents of eroding the party's support base in Pemba by refusing to
issue residence IDs to CUF supporters.

Speaking at a rally in Wete on Saturday, CUF secretary general Seif
Shariff Hamad said community leaders, commonly known as
Shehas, had been refusing to issue residence cards to some known party
members as a way of making them
ineligible to vote.

�It is disappointing that even a regional commissioner pretends to
have directed Shehas to register our people but they are still being turned
away unregistered. This is amazing, but let's wait and see, he
complained.

Mr Hamad claimed that the Union and Zanzibar governments enjoy
very little support in Pemba hence their decision to employ the tactic of
weakening his party.

�They have created a terrible situation here, people are being
denied their right; it's like denying them their citizenship right, he said.

He also claimed that IDs had been issued to ineligible Zanzibaris like
those with permanent residences in Tanzania Mainland so they could
vote for the ruling party.

The opposition party supremo said his followers were on the edge
and about to say �enough is enough They have abused our rights for a
long time and we have been quiet, time has come now for us to demand
for our rights,� he said.

Speaking at the same rally, a special seats MP claimed that there
were several youths in Mainland who had been issued with identity cards
waiting to be ferried to Pemba to
vote.

�We should be vigilant all the time and expose unfamiliar faces. We
should be on alert during the Uhuru Torch race as it is during this time
that we receive many guests," she said.

Speaking at the same rally, the Leader of Official Opposition in the
Parliament, Mr Hamad Rashid Mohammed (Wawi-CUF), called on
President Jakaya Kikwete to resign for failing to deliver.

He said the way the government had handled the Richmond saga was
a testimony that it had failed to
deliver.

"Instead of addressing it, President Kikwete has created
another crisis in Zanzibar, this is going to backfire,"he added.