One more Chadema MP decamps to CCM, as wave of defection continues
What you need to know:
Voters in Tanzania’s Simanjiro Constituency will soon be going back to the polls to elect their MP as the area legislator has ditched his party to rejoin the ruling CCM in what has become a new normal in Tanzania’s politics.
Mr James Ole Millya becomes the seventh opposition MP to decamp to the ruling CCM since President John Magufuli came to power towards the end of 2015.
His decamping to CCM comes on the day that the ruling party’s Ideology and Publicity Secretary Mr Humphrey Polepole said days were numbered for opposition parliamentarians who were planning to defect to CCM to actually decide or remain where they are.
Dar es Salaam. One more opposition Member of Parliament (MP) defected to the ruling CCM on Sunday, October 07, 2018, paving the way for another by-election.
The MP for Simanjiro, Mr James Ole Millya ditched Chadema for CCM on Sunday to become the seventh opposition legislator to decamp to the ruling party in what has become a new order in Tanzania’s politics since President John Magufuli came to power towards the end of 2015.
Mr Millya’s decamping to CCM comes on the day that the ruling party’s Ideology and Publicity Secretary Mr Humphrey Polepole said days were numbered for opposition parliamentarians who were planning to defect to CCM to actually decide or remain where they are.
Mr Polepole wrote on his twitter account on Sunday, October 7, saying that 2018 will be the last year for all parliamentary by-elections for constituencies which fall vacant because of MPs who defect from their parties to CCM.
“Those who miss this round will have to remain where they are now and we meet in 2020,” he wrote.
In his letter to the Speaker of Parliament, Mr Ole Millya said he had been a Chadema member for six years.
“I joined Chadema from CCM in the pursuit for justice….I believed Chadema offered the best platform for me to raise my voice against corruption in Tanzania,” he said noting however that he was going back to CCM after three years of carefully analyzing the political landscape.
“You will all agree with me that I have not taken part in party politics for three years now and this should show everyone that I have lost hope in my current political grouping…I no longer believe that I am still in the right platform that I can use to advance my development agenda for Simanjiro residents,” the letter reads in part.
Ole Millya says in the letter that he believes a political party is supposed to be an institution that is anchored in strong ideological beliefs and thus be able to direct its members to tell their voters the importance of working with the government in the pursuit of development.
“The truth is that I have lived contrary to my expectations…In today’s politics, an opposition MP is expected to oppose everything even when things are moving in the right direction….It is my view that despite some challenges, the CCM-led administration, under President John Magufuli, has done a wonderful job,” he said.
