James Mbatia calls for opposition unity ahead of elections

Dar es Salaam. Questions about the prospects for an opposition coalition ahead of the October General Election dominated queries from viewers who were following up an exclusive interview of NCCR-Mageuzi’s national chairperson, Mr James Mbatia, with Mwananchi Communications Limited (MCL) journalists.

Mr Mbatia paid a visit to the MCL offices yesterday a few days after holding talks with President John Magufuli at State House, a visit which, together with his other subsequent activities, have led some to accuse the Vunjo legislator (NCCR-Mageuzi) of being a sell-out, claims that he nevertheless strongly dismisses as both false and misleading.

Yesterday’s interview with Mr Mbatia, which was live-streamed on MCL’s YouTube and Facebook platforms, was a continuation of MCL’s programme to conduct an in-depth interview with all relevant stakeholders in the country’s political development as part of preparations for this year’s General Election later this year.

The citizens’ general concern about the prospect of a coalition was based on the fact that while there has been a lot of talks among the leaders of the opposition on the importance of a coalition to challenge the incumbent CCM few or no action at all has been taken to transform that into a reality.

Mr Mbatia, whose party was a member of the UKAWA coalition during the 2015 General Election, repeated the same thing that has been said by almost all leaders of the opposition that he was not against the idea of forming a coalition and that he was bothered by its procrastination.

Time is running out at supersonic speed, said Mr Mbatia. He added: “Time is not friendly at all. It is better for the political opposition of this country to immediately start to process the coalition so as to avoid last-minute collision by scrambling for constituencies” among each other, something he attributed to the opposition defeat during the 2015 elections.

In as far as NCCR-Mageuzi is concerned, Mr Mbatia said that the formation of a coalition is a matter of both necessity and urgency.

Mr Mbatia said that his party will try as much as it can to champion for the fast-tracking of the coalition.

Betrayal accusations

During the interview that lasted for almost one and a half hours, Mr Mbatia vigorously tried to fight off the accusations levelled against him that he has betrayed the cause of opposition in the country and started covertly working for the ruling CCM.

Those who make the charges, point to the President Magufuli’s congratulation to Mr Mbatia for doing what the Head of State called “civilised politics” as well as being in good terms with district and regional commissioners and the police, two institutions infamously known for their roles in  harassing the country’s opposition politicians.

Critics have pointed to the visit Mr Mbatia made to the office of Mbeya’s Regional Commissioner, Mr Albert Chalamila, a man who once suggested the deregistration of all political parties and the formation of one major party he called the Magufuli Ruling Party, a suggestion that even earned him wrath from the CCM secretary-general, Dr Bashiru Ally.

Apart from this, and in total contrast to the treatments experienced by other leaders of the opposition in the country, Mr Mbatia, while on tour of Mbeya, was able to organise internal meetings, something others found extraordinary at a time where there are numerous cases where opposition leaders have been prevented from organising one.

Addressing these and other similar criticisms, Mr Mbatia called them mere feelings and he is not bothered because anyone may have his or her own. In a high-pitched voice, Mr Mbatia added: “We went to see the regional commissioner to pay a courtesy call, and we queued for about 10 minutes because we did not have an appointment with him.”

Mr Mbatia said it was not true that the police in Mbeya harassed them, pointing out that his entourage was blocked in one of his visits where the police told him that the police had some information that NCCR-Mageuzi intended to organise rallies and insult government and community leaders while inciting the people not to obey State authorities.

“We were blocked for thirty five minutes. We had to call the lawyers to make some statements before we proceeded with our timetable,” said Mr Mbatia, who added that police even stormed in one of their internal meetings.

Bashiru remarks

Responding to Dr Ally’s comments that CCM uses the State apparatus to remain in power, Mr Mbatia, who doubles as the chairperson of Tanzania Centre for Democracy (TCD), said the statement was “a violation of the principles of political pluralism,” warning that such remarks may trigger “chaos” in the country.

They are “quite unfortunate,” Mr Mbatia continued, especially when considering that the remarks were made by a ruling political party. He said that Bashiru’s remarks run counter to President Magufuli’s commitment to ensure a free and fair election something which cast a shadow over the latter’s feasibility.

“As a stakeholder in this country’s political development, I would ask Bashiru to succinctly clarify his statement. The statements such as this one are very dangerous and if we don’t take good care of our tongues we may find ourselves in big troubles,” said Mr Mbatia, who, outside politics, has been an important voice calling for transformation in the country’s education system.

Membe issue

Asked if his party would be willing to welcome sacked CCM member and former Cabinet minister Bernard Membe and if the former Mtama MP (CCM) could represent the opposition coalition in the coming general election, Mr Mbatia said the matter was not a yes-or-no question and that it must be looked at from a bigger perspective.

“Leaders need to be prepared and not just pick them from a dumpsite. And as a country, we have a lack of a national college, which would prepare leaders regardless of one’s political inclinations. We need to prepare our own leaders,” he said.

He said that the mistakes that the opposition made by welcoming former Prime Ministers Edward Lowassa and Frederick Sumaye (who have since returned to CCM), should serve as important lessons to the opposition this year.

Chadema leaders’ cases

As for his colleagues from Chadema, who face sedition and other charges and whose judgment was read yesterday, Mr Mbatia thinks that the government should not have lodged the case against the leaders in the first place and if it did then wisdom should have guided them to withdraw it as soon as it was filed.

Mr Mbatia warned that it is exactly the issues like these, which prevented people from living together as a nation, calling them major stumbling blocks towards the realisation of the national consensus, which he thinks is so much needed to facilitate the welfare improvement of all Tanzanians.

“It is very unfortunate that issues that transpired as they did and we pray that [the leaders] will pass this threshold peacefully. It is important that we understand that there is life outside politics and that we pray that wisdom remains to be our guide,” counselledMrMbatia.