| It’s shocking endorsement of CCM flag bearers | Send to a friend |
| Tuesday, 17 August 2010 23:15 |
 Azaveli Feza LwaitamaIt’s going to be increasingly difficult to convince most sane Tanzanians that CCM is still the party of choice in terms of having leaders drawn from among ordinary citizens representing all the social forces that define the Tanzanian polity. The nomination process of CCM’s flag bearers in the forthcoming elections is an eye-opener. The media have just presented to keen analysts of the political scene a tragic spectacle of unbelievable political chicanery and stupendous corruption engulfing the entire spectrum of the leadership of the party that used to enjoy the unquestioned public trust of most patriotic/matriotic Tanzanians. Most Tanzanians of goodwill often gave CCM the benefit of the doubt whenever incidents occurred that dented that trust, at least among some sections of the population. However, this trust began to be seriously eroded from early 2008, when revelation after revelation pointed to a cancer eating away at the liver of the ethical personality of this party, whose past leaders included the revered Father of the Nation, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere. All the same, most Tanzanians continued to hope that these revelations were symptoms of an ailment whose medicine CCM had vowed to administer on itself, however bitter it tasted. However, the preferential votes cast by members of CCM at the branch level whose presumed purpose had been to increase the level of transparency and full participation of its membership in the selection of candidates to vie for ward and parliamentary seats in the December 31 General Election has, instead, opened a can worms. What the media continue to report about these preferential votes is the unpalatable reality of the dominance of selfish tendencies and the personality cult among most members of this party that used to be the exemplar of a socialist and Pan-African nationalist movement in Africa. Allegations of corruption and abuse of office by CCM party leaders at the branch, district and regional levels are alarming. The crass lack of wise guidance from national leaders is unprecedented. One is flabbergasted by decisions at the national level that do not even attempt to sound rational let alone just. How else can one explain some of the glaring anomalies? One is at a loss to understand the criteria used in barring a contestant from carrying the party flag in a parliamentary race because one has appeared in court on corruption allegations and allowing yet another in a similar situation to go ahead. In a baffling example of mind-boggling criteria in endorsing or reversing choices of party candidates based on majorities gained in the preferential polls at the grassroots, one contestant with the highest number of votes was rejected by the top party organ on the basis of unsubstantiated allegation that he is of Somali nationality. Yet this a contestant whose personal records must have been with the most members of the party organ at least since a year earlier because he had contested the post of national chairpersonship of the youth wing and was a member of its national decision-making governing council. Even more intriguing, the top party organ then proceeded to endorse the aspirant in constituency who came third in the preferential vote, by-passing the one who was second! CCM apologists are out claiming that the branch level preferential votes system that has been recently introduced has been a success and demonstrates that internal democratic space has been expanded! Perhaps this is so! It all depends on what is meant by democracy within parties. Is it the unencumbered opportunity for individuals with lots of money or political influence, or both, to ensure that they get to warm themselves into positions of political leadership and entrench themselves therein until they die or quarrel with colleagues? One of The Citizen columnists, Makwaia wa Kuhenga, wrote a think piece this week on the post-US invaded Iraq, the “new liberated” Iraq. In that piece, Makwaia wondered whether a successful multi-party political dispensation was not actually “the reign of the filthy rich over a staggering poor majority” implemented through so-called peaceful electoral processes that left the false impression to CNN correspondents of a free and fair election? Perhaps, it time Tanzania ceased to continue to give CCM the public trust it does not any longer deserve. Dr Lwaitama, is a Senior Lecturer, Philosophy Programme University of Dar es Salaam This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites           |
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