With reshuffles, road to 2020 seems entertaining

After persistent media reports that several ministers were on the ropes, two of those mentioned were sacked by President John Magufuli. As his fourth year in charge rolls on, he has long put to rest accusations thrown at him in the early days of his presidency as he sacked one official after another that he did so with ease because those he sacked were appointed by his predecessors in office.

As he spoke during the swearing-in ceremony of those he had appointed to replace the sacked ministers and those he had reshuffled to other ministries, there were a few take-aways.

It has come to be something of a playbook, that when President Magufuli sacks high profile government officials, at another event (related or otherwise), he will explain at length the reasons behind such a decision. It is as if he complements the terse press releases for such decisions while offering insights into what drives his decisions.

This is one of the few things anyone who has followed what this president does can predict with precision. It has happened before.

In what some might have considered to be passing remarks, he thanked the ruling party, CCM for “continued guidance” to those who are in government. In the past, he has made remarks along similar lines while at CCM functions.

The reality however, might be different. On different occasions, CCM’s secretary general had scathing indictments of the performance of the sacked minister for agriculture and other senior government officials in charge of cashew nuts. Some of these officials were replaced before the minister. If the ruling party is increasingly re-asserting its control over the government, then there are several political appointees whose fate is a toss-up.

They must be nervous as to when the axe might finally fall on their proverbial necks.

Then there are those who have the President’s trust for now. Of his ministers he mentioned one, but said he is not the only one. He feared mentioning the rest might lead to what happened to him when he was praised by former President Benjamin Mkapa. He did not go into details of what transpired behind the scenes but alluded to cloak and dagger moves. Our politics being not about service, such a reality comes as a no surprise at all.

There is another institution which the President has never lost faith in it: the army. These have continued to play an increased role under his watch. Every time he wants something done quickly, he looks to the army. The list of his appointees from the army is long. While it is true that his predecessors appointed army officers to civilian roles, he has exceeded them all. In the latest (it will not be the last) cashew nut crisis involving price, he has tasked the army with securing all the cashew nuts.

Then there are those he hinted he will never appoint them to the Cabinet.

Again bundled among other matters, President Magufuli talked of CCM MPs he accuses of criticising the government every time as they want to be seen and perhaps have a chance at appointment to the Cabinet. Clearly, he is no fan.

To him, their criticisms do not come from a good place, that it is more about their political ambitions than it is about service and the desire to see genuine change happening.

Who exactly are these MPs? He offered no names, and like that question of ministers who have his trust, this too is anyone’s guess but undoubtedly some names will top anyone’s list.

Whoever they are, they can take refuge in the fact that the president has issued categorical statements in the past regarding appointments only to subtly or overtly change course. After all, in politics, nothing is permanent, not even interests. And there is the appointment of Mwita Waitara as the deputy minister. As CCM’s influence in government increases, it seems the president as the party chairman can still have his say within the party when it comes to appointments despite the political headwinds he faces. One has to look at what he hinted at when he talked of picking the current CCM’s secretary general. There is still time to 2020, and President Magufuli said he is not bothered by making it there with no one who came in 2015. He boasted he has the MPs from whom to constantly pick new ministers and their deputies.

And of course he left the door open for a possible comeback for the latest casualties… With Cabinet reshuffles and appointments of senior government officials serving many purposes in our politics, the road to 2020 is promising to be entertaining.