CCM presidential candidate John Pombe Magufuli

CCM presidential candidate John Pombe Magufuli and his running mate, Samia Suluhu Hassan thank delegates after their nomination. He will face former prime minister Edward Lowasa in the October elections. FILE PHOTO | NATION MEDIA GROUP

In Summary

  • The party’s top brass is known to include former presidents like Ben Mkapa, who preceded current President Jakaya Kikwete in power, and who has been accused of having used undue influence to ensure CCM nominated current Minister for Infrastructure John Pombe Magufuli as its presidential candidate.
  • Whereas in the past such nominations were guaranteed to ensure the party’s anointed romped into the presidency, things have been changing fast since last month’s CCM nomination process.

Already tainted somehow by the controversy surrounding its nomination of a presidential candidate last month, Tanzania’s ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party is beginning to feel the heat for its perceived lack of transparency and internal democracy.

Having been in power since the country’s independence in 1962, the party has also been seen by many as having become over-complacent because of its unbeaten record since its founding in 1977 after a rebranding of Tanu, the original independence party.

Further, the party’s own bigwigs have been perceived as always making major decisions behind the scenes, deciding who rises to power and who is to be politically sidelined.

The party’s top brass is known to include former presidents like Ben Mkapa, who preceded current President Jakaya Kikwete in power, and who has been accused of having used undue influence to ensure CCM nominated current Minister for Infrastructure John Pombe Magufuli as its presidential candidate.

Whereas in the past such nominations were guaranteed to ensure the party’s anointed romped into the presidency, things have been changing fast since last month’s CCM nomination process.

Predictably, there have been allegations of favouritism, nepotism and oppression.

There were also allegations of manipulation and deviance from due process, with a view, it has been claimed, to sidelining certain candidates.

It was therefore just a matter of time before defections to the opposition by aggrieved politicians began.

The most dramatic one was that of former prime minister Edward Lowassa, who was allegedly specifically targeted for sidelining from the party’s topmost ranks.

Soon after his defection, Mr Lowassa announced he would run for the presidency in the October general election on the Chadema party ticket.

That announcement was seen as setting the stage for a two-horse race for the presidency come October.

The new scenario would see Lowassa, who has now become the highest-ranking party member to join the opposition in 20 years, facing Magufuli.

Ironically, Lowassa in the past held high positions in the ruling CCM, including being a member of its national executive council (NEC) since 1990 and a party executive at district, regional and head office levels from 1977 to 1989. He also chaired President Jakaya Kikwete’s campaigns in 2005.

Given his robust political credentials, a gleeful Chadema has already confirmed that Mr Lowassa will now become its presidential candidate and subsequently the opposition coalition’s joint candidate.

To that end, Lowassa was nominated by the political parties forming the Coalition of Wananchi Constitution (Ukawa) just eight days after defecting to Chadema on July 27.

The coalition comprises Chadema, the Civic United Front (CUF), NCCR-Mageuzi and NLD.

Now political analysts are reportedly of the view that the high-profile defection may usher in truly competitive two-party politics for the first time ever in Tanzania.

As for Chadema, it has in recent times been exuding confidence that more CCM leaders and followers will cross over to the opposition following Mr Lowassa’s move.

Hamstrung in the past by lack of financial and human resources, the opposition will be hoping that Mr Lowassa, who is a wealthy politician with key private sector connections, will bring funding and extra support to the opposition.

Clearly, the CCM can no longer take his challenge to its candidate, Mr Magufuli, for granted, nor is the party expected to continue assuming that its candidate has, as in the past, a sure ticket to State House.

Not surprisingly, Lowassa’s defection to the opposition soon after the CCM nominations was followed by that of yet another high-ranking government functionary, Deputy Minister for Labour and Employment, Makongoro Mahanga.

The latter decamped from the ruling party in a huff, joining Chadema like Lowassa. The deputy minister quit the party several hours after he was defeated in his bid for re-election for a third term as MP for Segerea area.

Pointedly, Dr Mahanga became the first minister in the current government to jump ship and join Mr Lowassa. He was however not the first cabinet member to do so, as a precedent had been set in the early 90s.

That was when Augustine Lyatonga Mrema, the then highly visible minister for labour and employment and prominent CCM member, also resigned in a similar manner, leaving the CCM ranks in disarray.

Indicatively, Dr Mahanga told journalists that he was quitting CCM over a “witch-hunt” by a senior politician and government official he did not name.