Bunge is not the place for building political parties

After the government’s ban or rather limiting of political activities to constituency or ward levels, there is now a common notion among politicians from CCM and some academicians that after the General Election, all political activities must be conducted in the National Assembly, and not through public meetings or demonstrations.

Speaking on Azam TV during Tido Mhando’s programme -- Funguka, which translates to open up, or speak out -- last Sunday, National Assembly Speaker Job Ndugai, supported the ban.

He argued that in developed countries in Europe and America, people do not continue holding political meetings after elections, as political issues are taken to the respective senates or parliaments.

Accepted culture

In my opinion, what shouldn’t continue after such polls is not political meetings in general, but rather gatherings that echo election campaigns; something which is very obvious and no sensible politician would dare to do so.

Limiting political activity is contrary to the accepted culture in Tanzania. Ironically, JPM’s order is not only unconstitutional, but also it is contrary to the political culture Tanzania had even before independence.

Mwalimu Julius Nyerere and Tanu party leaders would not have made it politically if they had been banned by the colonial masters from engaging in politics in the country. Some of us remember that a few months after independence Mwalimu Nyerere resigned his premiership and went on to strengthening the party before Tanganyika became a republic in 1962.

Moreover after Mwalimu’s retirement from presidency in 1985, CCM asked him to retain party chairmanship so that he could move freely across the country to garner support. Mwalimu spent time moving around checking on the status of CCM and was shocked to find out that there was a wide gap between party leaders and members at the grassroots level.

He noted that the leaders were no longer reaching out to the people. That was during the era of the one party system. If such meetings could be held during the mono-political system, then the need today under multiparty system is even greater.

Meetings are the lifeline of multiparty democracy. Furthermore, doing politics is a right and not a privilege for legally existing political parties and this is well provided for in the Political Parties Act, 1992 in section 11 (1) with the following clear wording: “Every party which has been provisionally or fully registered shall be entitled to hold and address public meetings in any area in the United Republic after giving notification to the police officer in-charge of the area concerned for purposes of publicising itself and soliciting for membership.’’

Multiparty democracy is still young in Tanzania, thus political mobilisation and soliciting of membership by the opposition must continue before, during and after elections. Although we have over 20 registered political parties, the most active ones are CCM, Chadema, Civic United Front (CUF), NCCR-Mageuzi and ACT-Wazalendo.

The rest, though listed with the Registrar of Political Parties, do not deserve to be called political outfits as even in last year’s elections, they did not win even a single councillor’s seat across the country.

These are parties that have turned into good partisans of the ruling party, opposing Chadema and Ukawa for whatever they do politically, while supporting the government of the day.

Secondly, the leaders of these small political parties appear to only serve their own interests. It’s awkward that they agree with the ban of political public meetings while they have neither networks nor members all over the country. How will they grow politically?

‘Non-issue political parties’

During any general election, these non-issue political parties, normally send their names of presidential candidates to the National Electoral Commission (NEC) and thus make a presidential candidacy list a long one, but one that is meaningless. Thus, a number of political parties in Tanzania do not reflect the maturity of democracy in the country; hence we cannot compare our multiparty democracy with that of Europe or the US as our Speaker Ndugai did last week.

With about 116 MPs from the opposition compared to more than 260 from CCM alone in the House, a lot must be done to strengthen the opposition for the democratic future of this nation. The country cannot achieve real development without first establishing strong foundations of democracy. Recruitment of members cannot be done in the House

The grand objective of providing political parties with right of publicising themselves and recruiting members is to enable them grow politically and compete during any election.

It is through this right that opposition parties like Chadema and CUF used effectively and that is why they have substantial membership across the country.

No way can political parties achieve this objective without going to people vide public meetings and any lawful means they may devise. Thus, banning or limiting such right is simply killing political opposition and that amounts to a breach of constitution of this land as enshrined in Article 3.

Recruit new members

Will political parties manage to publicise themselves and recruit new members through making politics only in the House without meeting people through public gatherings? No, it won’t work. After all, the functions of National Assembly according to Article 63 of the constitution do not include soliciting of party membership.

Hence, this basic function of a political party cannot be done in the House. After all, even parliamentary proceedings are already limited for the same reason that MPs from the opposition camp had been abusing House proceedings for wanting to be seen by their electorate outside there. Former CCM chairman retired President Jakaya Kikwete urged his successor to strengthen the ruling party through public meetings. Thus, CCM under Magufuli wants to control opposition for their better political future, but using illegitimate political tactics.

The President’s order to limit political activity cannot be taken for granted that it is CCM’s craftiness to halt the growth of multiparty democracy in the country by limiting free movement of opposition parties, while CCM itself won’t be affected as it is already well net worked across the country. Chadema moved across the country after each General Election to seek members without interrupting the government’s running of affairs. It did so through public meeting.

Let President Magufuli continue with his mission as the Head of State, but he shouldn’t halt the opposition’s growth.

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