CUF’s ‘tooth for tooth’ principle was to protect its ‘victory’

Former Civic United Front (Cuf) secretary general Seif Shariff Hamad

What you need to know:

After losing the 1995 polls in Zanzibar, Cuf secretary general Seif Shariff Hamad announced in 2000 that the party would apply the ‘tooth for tooth’ principle to protect its ‘victory.’

Dar es Salaam. It was on Thursday March 2, 2000 when the secretary general of the opposition Civic United Front (Cuf), Seif Shariff Hamad warned for the second time that his party would participate in the October 2000 polls in the manner and style of ‘jicho kwa jicho, jino kwa jino’ if the govern-ment would fail to implement a reconciliation agreement with the ruling CCM party reached in June 1999.The main objective of the accord was to create a level play-ing field and a conducive atmosphere for 2000 elections‘A tooth for a tooth’ [a la the Biblical ‘Exodus 21:24’] is a phrase used to refer to the idea that people should be punished according to the way in which they offend.

 On Wednesday June 9, 1999, CCM chairman Benjamin Mka-pa and his secretary general, Philip Mangula, and CUF chair-man Prof Ibrahim Lipumba and his Maalim Seif, signed a recon-ciliation agreement that aimed at ending hostility between the two parties and opening a new chapter of unity and harmony. However, things were not as expected as the reconciliation just seemed to have cool down the hostility for a short period of between June 1999 and the October 2000 General Election. Seif threatened that his party would apply the ‘jino kwa jino’ principle to ensure to ensure a free and fair election.

On Thursdays on March 2, 2000, speaking to reporters at the Bwawani Hotel in Unguja, Mr Hamad said the only way of avoiding chaos during the 2000 polls was for the government to accept proposals given in February that year by an Inter Party Committee (IPC).

 

 “We are not going to boycott the polls but we are going to participate with our style of ‘jino kwa jino’ and an eye for an eye.” According to author Ahmed Omar, on page 211 of his book titled ‘Pemba: the victim of politics’, among the proposals presented to the government by IPC included amendments of the structure of the Zanzibar Electoral Commission (ZEC).

The amendments called for the involvement of political parties in proposing names of members of ZEC, who were previously being appointed by president of the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar (SMZ). Mr Hamad told the reporters that in postponing the implementation of the proposed amendments, IPC prepared a draft that would have been tabled at the House of Representatives. The draft was to be passed into law by the House of Reps as there were worries whether the government was really deter-mined to implement the reconciliation. The Cuf leader said there were some things that had not been implemented after the reconciliation agreement was signed as they did not need to wait for a report of IPC.

 He mentioned those things as including appointments of two members from Cuf to the House of Reps and the and the formation of a probe commission into harassment claims to residents of Zanzibar. “There is not any of proposals that has already been implemented. To make the things worse, the Zanzibar government spokesman spoken openly that the signed re conciliatory agreement was a ploy and there is neither leader from the government nor CCM, who has denied this,” said Hamad.

On January 15 the same year, Mr Hamad was quoted speaking about the same issue, but his statement was castigated by then Union Prime Minister Frederick Sumaye when adjourning the Parliament in February in Dodoma Region. Later on Mr Hamad was inter-viewed by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), where he said during the 2000 polls they would not agree to be victimized and that they had no planning of boycotting the General Election. “If there was a time that Zanzibar witnessed widespread human rights abuse, then it was during the past five year (1995-2000)”, said Mr Hamad. He added that “all key institutions in Zanzibar reached the point of making decisions to please top government leaders. ”Hardly a week after Mr Hamad had declared the ‘jino kwa jino’ policy, President Dr Salmin Amour of Zanzibar, on Saturday March 11, addressed a public rally in Jadida area, Wete Town on Pemba Island.

 Dr Amour said CCM had planned to win over Cuf with more votes than those of the year 1995.On Tuesday March 28, Dr Salmin met with a special emissary from the Secretary Gen-eral of the Commonwealth, Dr Moses Anaf, at Zanzibar’s State House. Dr Anaf was told by Dr Salmin that he (Amour) was ready to implement the reconciliation Agreement, but he would do so ‘slowly but surely.’ Their talks centred on get-ting the final statement of the Government of Zanzibar about implementing the reconciliation agreement. However, Dr Salmin told Dr Anaf that his government had already implemented almost 90 percent of the accord. The president further told Dr Anaf that out of 38 points of the agreement, 30 had been accepted by his government with no objection, six had been revisited and two were rejected because they were contradictory.

Dr Amour mentioned the rejected sections of the accord as the sections called for the formation of an independent electoral body of Zanzibar and the appointment of two members from Cuf to the House of Reps. “Please, tell Anyaoku that we are still maintaining our stand that we will implement the accord, but gradually,” insisted Dr Salmin. By then, the Secretary General of the Commonwealth was Chief Emeka Anyaoku.

“I do hope that there is still time and the issues of ZEC and appointing two Cuf members to the House of Reps will be given the deserved freedom,” said Dr Anaf.Dr Anaf also asked Dr Salmin to regularly meet with opposition political leader Mr Hamad to set a good example to mem-bers and supporters of their par-ties.On Thursday May 18 Cuf stated officially before reporters to start using its ‘jino kwa jino’ policy after its leaders continued to be put under police arrest. Cuf’s Human Rights Director, Mohamed Ali Yusuf, was the one who made the statement to the reporters at the party’s head office in Ungunja Town.

 The leaders who were arrested included Juma Amir Muchi, Sifu Nassor, Ali Juma and Mohamed Seifu, who were said they had already picked forms to vie for the House of Reps membership. Yusuf said to the reporters that the arrests of their leaders were part of a deliberate plan by the Police to weaken the opposition during the October 2000 polls. Yusuf said: “Cuf will peaceful-ly participate in the forthcoming General Election, but if the police continues to arrest our leaders and other members of the party, then it will be important for the policy to be used... the time has come for us to start using the ‘jino kwa jino’ principle ... Cuf will delay to shed blood. “But if the Police continue to cause chaos, then we will have no reason of not doing that.”

 On July 11, the opposition Chadema party accepted the Cuf ‘jino kwa jino’ policy. Chadema chairman Bob Makani said the party was happy with the policy, and it would be used in all of its public meetings because, he added, it was a move towards countering vote rigging by CCM. On August 23, Cuf launched its campaign for the October 2000 General Election while vowing that its members and support-ers would have died on streets had their victory would be sto-len. That was said by the party’s deputy chairman Shaaban Mloo. “I’m telling (Robert) Mboma (Chief of Defence Forces), if the army intervenes in our victory and the police rob us, we will die with them in the streets ... and the ‘jino kwa jino’ policy will work... In Nineteen ninty five (1995) you left us and now there are signs that you really don’t like us. So, our policy is about ‘jino kwa jino’,” insisted Mloo.

 However, one day after the October 29 polls were held, the Field Force Unit (FFU), in coop-eration with ordinary police, beat people up at the area of Darajani, where they were thought to be Cuf supporters. The police injured and arrest-ed several people. CCM emerged winner of the election despite the ‘jino kwa jino’ policy.

Tomorrow, we focus on how Zanzibar’s General Election was conducted.