THE defection of (MP) for Tarime, Mr Charles Mwera, to the Civic United Front (CUF) has caused confusion among supporters of CHADEMA

THE defection of the former member of parliament (MP) for Tarime, Mr Charles Mwera, to the Civic United Front (CUF) has caused confusion among supporters of Chadema.

Some Chadema members including several leaders have openly declared their support to Mr Mwera, despite his defection to CUF, while others threatened to rejoin CCM in the wake of confusion. At several campaign rallies that were addressed by the Union presidential running mate, Mr Juma Duni Haji (CUF), Chadema leaders and some cadres campaigned for Mr Mwera.

Chadema caders who campaigned for Mr Mwera included the District Party’s Women Wing (BAWACHA) Publicity Secretary, Ms Fatuma Abdallah, former councillor for Buhemba Ward, Ms Tekera Johanes and the Chacha Wangwe’s widow, Dotto Chacha Zakayo Wangwe. Ms Abdallah blamed Chadema national leader for foul play and elbowing out Mr Mwera from the parliamentary race on the party's ticket.


“We the people of Tarime should not wait for outsiders to tell us that Mr Mwera was a weak leader, because we know his abilities," she said.

Speaking at Sirari town on the Tanzania-Kenya border, another cadre, Ms Johanes threatened
to flee to the neighbouring country if Mr Mwera will not be re-elected.

“I am a member of Chadema and I will remain the party’s member as long as I live, but one thing you should know, the era of imposing leaders on the electorate are gone. We are voting for individuals, not political parties, Mr Mwera is the man,” she said.

Ms Johannes noted that the party has since the days of Mr Wange been winning because of the support it was enjoying from CUF.She reminded the fact that Mr Mwera scooped 57,000 votes in the by-election, whereas Chadema members are hardly 9,000 in the constituency.

“We are playing a losing battle by dividing our votes and by so doing we are going to give a landslide victory to CCM. “I am not ready to see a CCM cadre ruling this constituency again and if it so happens, I will flee to the neighbouring Kenya,” she said.

On his part, Mr Mwera asked people to judge him from what he did while he was the MP and Council Chairman.

“I don’t want to say what Chadema did to me, but it was a plot by national leaders," he said.

In another development, Mr Mwera had a difficult time as the people at the rallies hauled tough questions against him, some challenging his credibility. Among questions thrown to Mr Mwera, who was accompanied by the party's presidential running mate,Mr Haji included reasons behind his defection to CUf.

Some demanded explanation from Mr Mwera as to when he would stop shifting from one party to the next, if given another chance to represent the people in Parliament. He was also required to explain what will happen to pledges he made while serving as a legislator for the area under Chadema,but were never realised.

Mr Mwera said under multi-party system, shifting to any party of choice was the right of any citizen and he therefore practised his constitutional right. Furthermore, he assured voters of his commitment to deliver on all pledges he previously made.

Mr Haji asked voters to vote for CUF presidential, parliamentary and councillorship candidates in the next October general elections.

During a second campaign rally for the day held at Sirari, Mr Mwera took yet more difficult questions from the residents.

He was required to explain how he would win the hearts of the people this time in order to vote for him, after all the disappointments when he served as the district council chairman for five years but failed to deliver.He was also required to explain reasons behind his failure to co-ordinate survey project for Sirari Township currently booming with unplanned structures and without a proper bus stand.

As for misallocation of funds, the people demanded clarification from him alleging that while in office, the district council set aside 40m/- for drilling deep wells,but the money ended on construction of latrines in Buhemba area.

It was further alleged that out of 400m/- set aside for urgent development projects such as construction of a modern Nkende battoir,improvement of Rebu market in the area and construction of Nyandoto bridge to facilitate reliable transportation, 187m/- could not be accounted for and the people demanded explanation.

However, Mr Mwera asked them to forget about the past and move ahead with effective plans to ensure implementation of previously unfulfilled pledges, if given a chance to serve as a legislator for the area.