Ruling CCM ‘saboteurs’ now a hard nut to crack

Dodoma. Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) members who allegedly sabotaged the party during the 2015 General Election are proving to be a hard nut to crack.

For a third straight day yesterday, the ruling party’s Ethics Committee failed to conclude the agenda such that the Central Committee (CC) meeting that was scheduled for yesterday morning had to be pushed back to allow the former to conclude its business.

The committee has been meeting since Wednesday debating names of members implicated in the sub-committee formed to problem the saboteurs.

“We thought that one or two days would have been enough for the Ethics Committee to conclude this issue but it appears that things are tough and for a third straight day today (yesterday) the committee has been meeting.

“As a result, the CC meeting has been postponed pending the conclusion of the Ethics Committee meeting because the former depends on a report from the latter to conduct its work,” said a CCM insider who asked not to be named because he is not authorised to speak to the media. Another CCM member, who also requested to remain synonymous, said the CC meeting will be held today because the Ethics Committee took longer than it had been anticipated to conclude its agendas.

“This means that we might have marathon meetings because immediately after the CC, the National Executive Committee (NEC) will also have to meet to enable the extra ordinary General Congress to take place tomorrow as scheduled,” he said.

The source hinted that the number of the so called saboteurs was more than the three CC members who were summoned earlier.

“I think the Committee has decided to go through all the names from all levels which were compiled following a probe by a sub-committee which was led by deputy national chairman Phillip Mangula (Mainland). Mr Mangula’s sub-committee was formed before the last General Election to check on CCM members who were acting against the party principles in their quest to seek nomination.

After the election, the sub-committee continued with its task, investigating members who were accused of working for the Opposition. In his several speeches, President John Magufuli, vowed to root out all members who were backbiting the party, especially those who sabotaged it during the last General Election campaigns.

Meanwhile, security was tight at CCM headquarters yesterday with the Ethics Committee meeting underway.

Officials from the information and publicity section of the ruling party were mum over what was going on but promised to brief journalists later in the evening.