CCM says Ukawa has panicked as alliance alleges results fraud

Ukawa co-chairman Freeman Mbowe addresses the media in Dar es Salaam yesterday. Right is co-chairman James Mbatia. PHOTO | CORRESPONDENT

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Ukawa co-chairman Freeman Mbowe says the Chadema Central Committee and Ukawa leaders will hold emergency meetings today to discuss the “fate” of the elections

Dar es Salaam. The opposition alliance Ukawa yesterday accused CCM of tampering with election results currently being released by the National Electoral Commission (NEC).

But CCM Campaign Committee spokesman January Makamba said Ukawa had panicked after realising that they were headed for defeat.

“They are clutching at straws…it’s nothing but the kicks of a dying horse,” he told The Citizen last night.

Mr Makamba said while it was true that CCM was also tallying presidential election results, it was doing so to give accurate projections of its performance.

“This is very different from what Ukawa wants to do, which is to release cooked-up figures which they want the public to believe are accurate results,” he said.

Ukawa announced it will convene an emergency meeting that will bring together the Chadema Central Committee members Chadema and leaders of the parties forming the coalition today to determine their stance with regard to the whole election process.

The parties expressed their discontent over how NEC has been handling the election results, saying they were informed that there were deliberate plans to sabotage the Opposition.

“We have our way of tallying the results through our agents spread all over the country. We have been saddened by what NEC chairman is announcing,” said Ukawa co-chair Mr Freeman Mbowe.

Mr Mbowe said the rulling party was working day and night to ensure the Opposition was being torn apart by State security agents.

He said Ukawa would not allow anyone to divide them and that they would also ensure that no one played around with their results.

At a press conference yesterday, Mr Mbowe said the arrest of their volunteers and invasion of their tallying centres had paralysed their operations especially the compiling of votes for the presidential results.

He said it was surprising that State organs were harassing their people without any solid reasons.

Ukawa is now say it no longer has confidence in what NEC is releasing to the nation as results, saying this was the consequence of what they had been asking for a long time including when they met President Jakaya Kikwete on the need for the establishment of a free and independent electoral body.

A total of 191 volunteers were arrested when police raided three election tallying centres in various parts of the city on Sunday night.

Among them eight appeared before Kisutu Resident Magistrate’s Court yesterday where they were charged with cybercrime. According to Mr Mbowe, the accused were denied bail and were sent to Segerea and Keko remand prisons.