Zitto seeks to meet with Kagame, Ramaphosa

Dar es Salaam. ACT-Wazalendo leader Zitto Kabwe said yesterday that he has reached out to presidents Paul Kagame of Rwanda and Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa after the Registrar of Political Parties threatened to deregister the opposition party.

Mr Kabwe said he has sought audience with Mr Kagame as the chairman of the East African Community (EAC)and Mr Ramaphosa as the chairman of the Southern African Development Community (Sadc).

He said he wants to prevail upon the two to intervene as regional leaders in an attempt to have Mr Francis Mutungi withdraw his threat.

“We think Mr Mutungi is treading on dangerous ground because his intention is a direct threat to the country’s national security,” Mr Kabwe said earlier at a press conference in Dar es Salaam.

“We will meet them once given an opportunity,” said Mr Kabwe in an interview with The Citizen.

Told of the unwritten law within bodies such as EAC and Sadc not to interfere in the internal affairs of member countries, Mr Kabwe said Tanzania is a signatory to various regional and international protocols on political rights which can be used as mechanisms for the sought intervention.

“We ask them to observe what is going on in Tanzania and intervene by talking to the government,” said Kabwe who expressed dismay at what he viewed as a plot to revoke the party’s permanent registration.

Asked if his case was not an exaggeration, Mr Kabwe said he cannot stop anyone from thinking so. “But the matter is so grave that our brothers and sisters in the region ought to know,” he said.

Reached for comment over the mediation appeal, the deputy registrar of political parties, Mr Sisty Nyahoza, maintained that his office was only waiting for the formal response by ACT-Wazalendo to show cause why it should not be deregistered. “That was our intention of writing to them and nothing else,” he told The Citizen.

Meanwhile, other parties gave mixed views on the matter, with an official within the ruling party CCM dismissing Mr Kabwe’s claims on national security. But the main opposition party Chadema backed ACT-Wazalendo and urged restraint on the part of the registrar.

Colonel Ngemela Lubinga, who is CCM’s secretary for political and international affairs, disagreed with Mr Kabwe, arguing that the registrar’s notice does not warrant regional intervention.

“The registrar has fulfilled his obligation of making sure that political parties function in line with the laws that govern their activities,” he said yesterday. “Zitto was supposed to do as he has been required instead of rushing to call for external intervention.”

“Even those he seeks an audience with will advise him on the same thing: follow the established procedures in solving the issue,” said Col. Lubinga.

Chadema secretary-general Vincent Mashinji said: “That the registrar’s move poses a threat to our national security is undebatable,” Mr Mashinji told The Citizen. “So, the invitation of our regional bodies to intervene is an alarm over a bad situation.”

Mr John Shibuda, who chairs the Political Parties Council, said the organisation had not received any formal complaint from ACT-Wazalendo.

“I don’t hold any grudge against Mr Kabwe’s line of action if he thinks that his issue will be best served at a regional level,” said Mr Shibuda.

At the press briefing, Mr Kabwe said his party had not broken any law as claimed by Mr Mutungi and noted they will be offering their defence as directed. He maintained that Mr Mutungi’s allegations are baseless and based on a personal vendetta.

He said that the 2013/2014 financial records were submitted to the office of the Controller and Auditor General (CAG) as the law requires. He also said they were dismayed that the registrar wanted to punish them for the mistake of people he did not know himself.

“Our party has a list of its members [and its leaders] are responsible with our members [only]. The registrar had to assure himself first that those who he accused of banning CUF flags were true members of ACT-Wazalendo,” he said.

Mr Kabwe said that they were extremely angered by the accusation by the registrar that ACT-Wazalendo used religious sentiments to sell its agenda.

Mr Kabwe said that ACT-Wazalendo is a party of people with different religions and those who don’t have any.