MASAUNI LEARNED FROM CCM TOP BRASS TO FORGE IN ORDER TO WIN POLITICAL POWER?

HAMAD MASAUNI YUSSUF
Academics and politicians have questioned vetting procedures in Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM), saying the recent resignation of its two top youth wing leaders showed it has lost its ethics and direction.

CCM national chairman President Jakaya Kikwete chairs the party’s Central Committee meeting at State House in Dar es Salaam yesterday.

They said the resignation early this week of the CCM youth wing (UVCCM) chairman, Mr Hamad Masauni Yusuf, who has been proved by authorities to lie about his age, reflected laxity in the ruling party’s vetting and security system.

But the ruling party has defended itself, saying its procedures were foolproof and that was why Mr Masauni was detected.

Dr Azaveli Lwaitama, a senior lecturer with the University of Dar es Salaam, said what CCM was doing now was like scoring an own goal in a soccer match.

“Long ago this party ceased to be a party in power. This is a party where morality is not important,” he said, accusing the party of lacking integrity and capacity to do the right things.

“How come the lie about Mr Masauni’s age came to be known after quarrels within the party? Had there been no quarrels, the guy would have remained in power up to the end of his tenure,” observed Dr Lwaitama.

He wondered that the party which had been in power since 1977 had failed to observe the personal integrity of its members when vetting them. “CCM has its chairman who is the President of the country, and the vetting system is done through the party’s Central Committee. We are not questioning about the boy (Mr Masauni), but the security system that allowed him to vie for the post while he was over age,” he explained.

Dr Lwaitama claimed that CCM has lost its direction and touch with the people. Instead, he added, people were using the party as a bridge towards getting a parliamentary seat or acquiring handsome government tenders.

The chairman of the opposition party, Chama Cha Maendeleo na Demokrasia (Chadema), Mr Freeman Mbowe, said the history of CCM showed that Mr Masauni was not the first victim of forgery.

“Forgery is part and parcel of CCM leaders,” charged the Chadema leader. He claimed that a good number of Members of Parliament and ministers in the CCM government have been implicated in various forgery scandals, including submission of fake academic credentials.

Mr Mbowe suggested that CCM should also take stern measures against its leaders in both the party and the government who are not truthful.

A nominated legislator on the opposition Civic United Front (CUF) ticket, Mr Ismail Jussa Ladhu, said the resignation of the chairman of the party’s youth wing reflected that “the party is really disintegrating.

“It is also a reflection that CCM has lost its long time reputation as an exemplary party. It has now lost its direction and vision.”

Speaking on being contacted from the clove Island of Zanzibar, Mr Jussa queried:

“How come the party with its watertight security system failed to establish the age of Mr Masauni before he was elected into the high post?”

The CUF legislator reminded people that Mr Masauni’s vetting was done through the party’s supreme organs, including its Central Committee and National Executive Committee.

Mr Hamad Rashid, the leader of the official opposition in Parliament, said the incident has proved that CCM was not serious when it came to picking its leaders, a problem that he said was also reflected in the government.

He said what Mr Masauni did was a criminal offence, and demanded that legal action should be taken against him in addition to his resignation.

Reacting to these observations, the CCM publicity secretary, Capt (rtd) John Chiligati, said everyone was free to make his/her interpretation on the issue, but that was not correct.

“Every human being has weaknesses and we have taken necessary measures, including sacking him (Mr Masauni) from the post and the CCM national executive committee,” said Capt. Chiligati.

Asked whether the party was intending to take legal action against Mr Masauni since forgery was a criminal offence, Capt. Chiligati quipped: “The measures we have taken against him are punitive enough.”

Allegations about forgery of certificates among civil servants and CCM cadres have been common in recent times.

A number of cabinet ministers have been named in the list of people accused of forging their academic certificates, especially doctorate degrees.

A few years ago a Temeke MP on the CCM ticket, Mr Ali Ramadhani Kihiyo, was disqualified by a law court after it was established that he had forged his academic certificates.

The verdict was reached following a case filed by the then prominent lawyer, Dr Masumbuko Lamwai, who was representing the opposition NCCR-Mageuzi.

In the current parliament, police also established that Buchosa MP Samwel Chitalilo has lied about his academic qualifications.

However, the issue was not referred to court and Mr Chitalilo continues to serve as an MP

An arm to Blackmail Kikwete

An arm to Blackmail Kikwete

The new party CCJ could become a gathering point for MPs disillusioned with President Jakaya Kikwete but who do not want to join the opposition.

The party Chama cha Jamii (CCJ), created a few months ago by political newcomers Richard Kiyabo as chairman and Renatus Muhabhi as general secretary, would seem to have become merely a refuge for outgoing MPs who have not obtained the investiture of the Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM, government party) for the general election in October 2010. But since the CCM MP Fred Mpendazoe begin_of_the_skype_highlighting end_of_the_skype_highlighting, left the government party (and his seat in Parliament) to join the new movement at the end of March, another possibility has been developing: the CCJ could become a war machine for partisans of the anti-corruption fight wanting to apply pressure on President Jakaya Kikwete.

To be sure, Mpendazoe shares the opinion of several other CCM MPs who want the former Prime Minister Edward Lowassa and the MP Rostam Aziz to be brought to trial for corruption and Edward Hosea, the general director of the Prevention & Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB) be sacked from his post (ION 1272). The former Speaker of the Assembly, Pius Msekwa and a few MPs (Harrison Mwakyembe, Anna Malecela, James Lembeli, Lucas Selelii etc.) are precisely on this wavelength. Since then, certain of them could be following Mpendazoe’s example.

Furthermore, the CCJ is also seen well by certain political veterans still following the lines of the late President Julius Nyerere, such as Joseph Butiku, the chairman of the Mwalimu Nyerere Foundation and the former Prime Minister Joseph Warioba. Such a banner could even field Salim Ahmed Salim, the former general secretary of the OAU, as a candidate in the presidential election.

Zanzibari to vote 31 July,2010 on future unity government.

Stone Town, Zanzibar - The semi-autonomous African archipelago of Zanzibar will hold a July vote on whether to change its constitution to allow rival parties to form coalition governments, after a decade of bitter party politics.

The July 31 ballot is aimed at ending recurring bouts of political violence that have marred elections since the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party won a fiercely disputed poll in 2000. Reconciliation talks have faltered several times.

But a gradual rapprochement between the CCM and its once bitter rival, the opposition Civic United Front (CUF), late last year has led to talk from both about a cross-party government.
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The constitution of Zanzibar, an island group in the Indian Ocean off Africa's east coast that is a semi-autonomous part of Tanzania, has no provisions for a power-sharing agreement and would have to be changed to allow a cross-party government.

"The electoral commission will take a leading role in reaching out to voters for this new concept to be understood," Khatib Mwinyichande, chairman of the Zanzibar Electoral Commission, told reporters.

Polls on the palm-fringed islands off Tanzania were tainted by bloodshed and allegations of vote rigging in 2000 and 2005, and three sets of reconciliation talks between the two main political parties had previously stalled.

Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete has described the archipelago as the "Achilles' heel" of the otherwise peaceful country of 40 million people.

If the referendum is passed then the constitution would be amended in time for October's presidential and parliamentary votes in both Zanzibar and Tanzania.

The leaders of both the CCM and CUF have urged their supporters to vote 'yes' in the referendum although a right wing section of the ruling party is spearheading a 'no' campaign.

Voter registration on Zanzibar ended earlier this month.

During the process the ZEC reported clear cases of fraud with voters registering two or three times in different places. The opposition has claimed thousands of its members were unable to register.

CUF IS READY FOR NATIONAL UNITY GOVERNMENT

opposition Civic United front (CUF) has said that it is willing to form a government of national unity in Zanzibar even if CCM loses in the forthcoming October elections.

CUF Publicity Secretary in Zanzibar Salum Bimani told this paper yesterday that the agreement which was reached between President Amani Abeid Karume and the party’s Secretary General, Seif Sharif Hamad, had paved the way for free and fair polls in the Isles.

Bimani said CUF was upbeat about winning the elections because the Zanzibar Electoral Commission (ZEC) had managed to control registration of unqualified people in the permanent voter register and almost done away with double or more registration of voters.

“We are ready to form a government of national unity, come what may. Our aim is to end political problems in Zanzibar,” he said.

He underscored the need for ZEC to give more time for voter registration because there were still many would-be voters who had failed to register due to failure to be issued with resident identity cards in time.

He said CUF was likely to emerge winners in the general elections if ZEC conducted the polls in a free and transparent manner.

He said the party’s central committee would be meeting in Dar es Salaam tomorrow to strategise on the elections.


SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN

Zanzibar is ready for bipartisanship and mutual understanding.

Referendum planned for Zanzibar later this year, should be given a chance as it might prove to be a solution to perennial instability that has haunted the Indian Ocean archipelago for years, former President Benjamin Mkapa said yesterday.

He said for a long time Zanzibar has been embracing the winner takes all policy, but the system has resulted into political instability.

He said it was encouraging that Zanzibar leaders have agreed to try the other model and they should not only be supported, but also be given a chance as the agreed system might prove to be useful in stabilising the Isles.

“And the good thing is that they have agreed to put the option through the people… let us give the referendum a chance,” he said.

Retired President Mkapa made the remarks when reacting to a question during a press conference he jointly addressed with two other commissioners for Blair Commission for Africa, which has been re-launched to review progress of recommendations contained in a report that the team published five years ago.

He was asked on his comments over whether the tendency of establishing coalition governments was setting a bad precedent for Africa’s governance.

He was referring to recent development in the Zanzibar political arena where two political rivals, Chama Cha Mapinduzi and the opposition Civic United Front have agreed to transform a political system and include in the Zanzibar Constitution an option for a coalition government as an answer to political misunderstandings.

The changes were triggered by the surprise meeting between Zanzibar President, Mr Amani Abeid Karume and his long time political rival, Mr Seif Shariff Hamad at the Zanzibar State House in November last year.

The meeting was followed by public pronouncements by both leaders that they have found a lasting solution to Zanzibar’s political problems.

Later a private motion was tabled in the House of Representatives by the leader of official Opposition in the House, Mr Abubakary Khamis (CUF), seeking the changing the constitution through a referendum so that coalition government could be formed in Zanzibar.

The private motion was anonymously endorsed by the House culminating into drafting of a bill on referendum which has already been passed and signed by the President.

Preparations were now underway for the organisation of the referendum before the October General Election.

Mr Mkapa said since the winner takes all system has not worked well, there was a need to give the agreed system a chance to see if it would help solve problems.

On the trend of setting coalition governments in Africa, Mr Mkapa said all depends on prevailing situations.

Giving an example of Kenya, where he was involved in negotiations after the 2007/08 post polls violence, he said the situation necessitated the formation of such a government.

Chipping in, another commissioner who addressed the press conference, Ms Anna Tibaijuka, the UN-Habitat chief, said democratic institutions in Africa were to blame for such developments.

She said failure by democratic institutions to determine a winner after elections, ushered in all sorts of political problems.

“We have copied western democracies and in many instances we lack constitutional legitimacy on what to do especially when the institutions fail to determine and name the winner after elections,” she said.

For his party, Ethiopia Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, who also sits in the commission, said he was not comfortable for any kind of democratic recipes “every case should be judged on its own merit.”

He said coalition governments could be part of the solution in some instances, but that does not mean that it should be applied in every case.