Villagers reject new leader who lost in CCM primaries
What you need to know:
Residents of Ng’ombe Village in Mwanza Region are refusing to work with their new leader had lost during CCM’s opinion polls
Misungwi. The chairman of Ng’ombe Village in Mwanza Region Zakayo Magongo - who was declared the winner in last month’s civic elections that was boycotted by major opposition parties – is finding the going tough.
Residents of his area cannot give him the cooperation to govern smoothly.
It is one of several emerging cases where local leaders who were announced to have won unopposed fail to win the trust of the populace.
Mr Magongo is receiving resistance from residents as well as members of the local government in his village.
They were opposing his appointment to represent the party in the civic election on the grounds that he did not emerge the winner during the opinion polls.
Ngo’mbe villager Robert Mathias, who is also the CCM cadre, said it was Mr Peter James who emerged the winner during the opinion polls.
According to him, Mr James harvested 382 votes against Mr Magongo’s 176 votes.
“I fail to understand why the party brought us the name of a person who was not of our choice to represent us in the civic election,” he lamented.
A member of Ngo’mbe village council, Ms Pili Silas, threated to resign from her position if Mr Magongo would not be stripped of his position.
Another village council member Emanuel Mhangwa opposed Mr Magongo, calling on CCM top leaders to intervene.
Mr Magongo who had been leading the village for the past 15 years, admitted that some of his fellow leaders and wananchi were opposing his victory.
“It is true I did not garner enough votes during the opinion polls. But the party’s meetings decided to appoint me to represent my party,” noted Mr Magongo.
“I won unopposed and have already sworn in. As a matter of fact, I am a legitimate leader and will service the post until the next election.
“Some are against me while others are in favour of me. So I cannot let down those who side with me. I will hold the post for all five years of my tenure.”
Asked on why he should not step down, he said he had a number of plans and strategies on the card to serve the poeple.
The plans include construction of new Nyangaka primary school, six classes for Ng’ombe primary school, and houses for the staff of the village dispensary.
