President Kikwete has neither the desire nor the ability to resolve Zanzibar's political impasse

CUF scoffs at Kikwete�s remarks on Zanzibar
By The Citizen Reporter

The Civic United Front (CUF) says it does not agree with President Jakaya
Kikwete's remarks that the political crisis in Zanzibar is under control.

Speaking to The Citizen yesterday,the CUF national chairman, Prof Ibrahim Lipumba, said the remarks were misguided as "there is no indication that a solution to the Zanzibar crisis can be attained in the near future." Said he: "President Kikwete has neither the desire nor the ability to resolve Zanzibar's political impasse." He was referring to President Kikwete's remarks that he had not failed to resolve the longstanding political deadlock pitting CCM and CUF in the Isles.

He made the remarks over the weekend in New York at a meeting with
the United Nations (UN) Secretary General, Mr Ban Ki-moon, in his office.
He told the UN boss that an amicable solution to the Zanzibar crisis was within reach of the two parties, CUF and Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) of which he is the national chairman.

Wondering that President Kikwete has been opting to issue such
statements when speaking outside the country, Prof Lipumba said: "I am amazed that he does not talk to people involved in the issue... he has told the UN Secretary General that this is a CUF and CCM issue, but has not contacted us since the talks collapsed more than six months ago.

However, he has the courage to talk to other people about our problem." He pointed out that the two parties had reached a defining moment on the reconciliation talks (Mwafaka), but CCM decided to derail the process. "We had agreed on all the important issues and we were only required to go and inform our parties about what we had agreed. But CCM came up with a new issue, and that is the opinion
polls," he said.

Prof Lipumba wondered that opinion polls should be introduced as a
major determinant factor while records show that many major decisions in
the country could be made through changes in the constitution.

Elaborating, he said all that was agreed upon during the talks could
have been implemented through constitutional changes without the
need for opinion polls. "President Kikwete has no ability to solve this
problem because since 2005 he has been promising to end it, but we haven't seen any tangible achievements related to his promises," he said.

Prof Lipumba also brushed aside remarks by the President that he did
not want to behave like a dictator by imposing what he thought should
be done to resolve the Zanzibar imbroglio.

He said as the Head of the State, President and chairman of the ruling
party, President Kikwete has the mandate to discuss with party and government officials and influence major changes in the country.

"Talking with colleagues and recommending to them what he thinks
shold be the best solution in Zanzibar cannot be viewed as dictatorial," he
said. Prof Lipumba said if President Kikwete has failed to influence
decisions within his party and Government, there is no indication
that he will be able to deal with the Zanzibar problem.

On the President's remarks that the Government was in control of the
situation in Zanzibar, Prof Lipumba said that was not correct.

"The recent chaotic voter registration process in Zanzibar is a clear indication that nothing is under control in Zanzibar... we have
witnessed the use of armed forces in the voter registration process," he
said.

He said all that was happening in Zanzibar with regard to voter
registration, including the beating of innocent civilians by law enforcement agents and refusal by authorities to give IDs to qualified people, served to prove that nothing was under control.

This latest exchange comes at a time when the director in the
President's Communications department, Mr Salva Rweyemamu,
has scoffed at CUF's statement that its letter to President Kikwete on
the Zanzibar political situation had gone unanswered for more than two
months Reacting to the claims made by the CUF director of Foreign Affairs, Mr Ismail Jussa, Mr Rweyemamu said CUF was aware of how such communication to the head of the state should be channelled and handled.

He told our sister paper, the Sunday Citizen, last week that CUF should stop complaining in public and blaming others as it was aware that a lasting solution to Zanzibar political problems was the talks that they have decided to boycott.

"The only solution to all the problems facing Zanzibar is the muafaka.
Despite being implored several times to resume the negotiations, CUF has refused to do so," he said.