Fundamental questions about Kikwete’s presidential bid

Former Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete recently hit the news headlines on what was an interview conducted with a media house on his 72nd birthday. The interview was quite wide-ranging though it was primarily centred on his presidential bid in 1995. In typical Tanzanian fashion though, it hardly scratched the surface.

For the Anglophile, I’d say the famous BBC’s Desert Island Discs is more thought-provoking in its style. Kikwete’s interview was also clearly on his terms and could be well depicted as him conducting the orchestra.

All the same, the one thing I picked up for certain was that as far as then President [Ali Hassan] Mwinyi was concerned, Kikwete was the chosen one. This was indeed a long running suspicion in me.

I should add that it is my contention that anywhere in the world, it is only a good thing to know what a departing leader is thinking about as far as succession goes. Having served at the top, presidents are often times at a vantage point in knowing the suitability of various men and women.

For this matter, I recall only too well how in the United Kingdom in 1997, following the massive hammering of the John Major-led Conservative Party by New Labour under Anthony Blair, former PM Margaret Thatcher openly endorsed a very young William Hague as the next Tory leader.

She outlined his qualities and no one accused her of interfering with processes unlike in Tanzania where Nyerere would commandeer the party organs so as to clear the path for Benjamin Mkapa.

The experience of serving at the top, I’m sorry to say, has been of little value in Tanzania when transitioning to a new leader. And, one only has to read the autobiographies of Mwinyi and Mkapa and see how they both incredulously omitted any mention of CCM’s internal process of nomination when they were leaving.

They rather talked about how they emerged at the top. But isn’t the departing hour of more importance as one can arrive purer than pure but leave totally discredited? On this score, how CCM even came by the [John] Magufuli is really a culmination of processes that leave a lot to be desired.

The former presidents touch as well on CCM vs the opposition parties that is simple terrain for them.

Now from Kikwete’s interview, another aspect that reveals itself was his reluctance for the highest office of the land unlike many other candidates.

This was expressed in front of Mwinyi when he summoned him purposely for that. Kikwete goes on to note that Mwinyi told him words to the effect that ‘a reluctant candidate may be the suitable person’.

By giving Kikwete the benefit of the doubt that he was indeed a reluctant candidate, it is rather curious how it was that this crucial aspect of leadership failed to rub off him later as the country’s fourth president. What an inimitable legacy it would have been!

On his watch, the situation in CCM degenerated to complete and utter frivolity.

Just to remind Tanzanians, in 2015 when CCM was to select its next presidential candidate, all Tanzanians saw for themselves just what could be described as the theatre of the absurd with nearly 40 hopefuls putting forth their names.

I do remember once reading I believe it was in the country of Haiti of such a similar figure. This is not the sort of league any self-respecting nation would wish to be associated with.

To add insult to injury, what Tanzanians were being told like a broken record by many of the contestants was that they were carrying out their democratic right. The total loss of any political sensibility it is!

And as a result of things at the top falling apart progressively, we have seen the floodgates opened at other levels such as the race to become the speaker of the National Assembly earlier this year as well as most recently for members of the East African Legislative Assembly (Eala).

The other matter concerns how Kikwete was followed by his friends to pressurise him to stand. It was all so dizzying just after his meeting with Mwinyi. Kikwete informs us of his back and forth with Lowassa.

In the end, they agreed that both of them enter the presidential contest with the understanding that whoever will emerge on top, the other will deputize.

I must say I’ve never seen any such type of political agreement in this world. There must always be a clear leader from day one who also has his or her own vision for the state.

You can’t have a vision shared between two people. Kikwete and Lowassa were truly behaving as if in a student society and not at a national level.

You also can’t make running for office a rushed affair as Kikwete revealed it was. Why their partnership subsequently run into big headwinds not long into their time in office becomes evident.

We also heard of how within no time of the CCM nomination forms being picked up, a visit was arranged to Nyerere’s Msasani home to inform him of their big decision.

The delegation was led by later to be Speaker of the National Assembly Samuel Sitta. Kikwete says that Nyerere was surprised to see a group of people unlike what he was used to from his past visits.

Also we are told that Sitta did all the talking which is a version that runs completely counter to what was shared in the official biography of Kikwete from 2011.

This biography by Julius E. Nyang’oro tells of how Kikwete in the company of his friends went to Nyerere’s home with the express intention of receiving from him his blessings as his political mentor as well as gather from Nyerere his views on the other aspirants.

What followed was Nyerere endorsing him but also telling him to look for Dr Salim Ahmed Salim so as to emphasise to him the idea of entering the race. Salim was then the secretary-general of the OAU in Addis Ababa.

They did meet at the airport in Nairobi and Salim disclosed his commitment to serve out his remaining period with the OAU. This would make Kikwete begin to feel he was in a real shot.

The issue plainly apparent here is that Nyerere did not endorse Kikwete and if anything, Kikwete’s energy would have been drained out with Salim’s name being thrown up in the air.

He would soldier on though he is conspicuously silent about how Nyerere later expressed his surprise at his team’s showbiz manner of campaigning by the use of a helicopter.

On a closing note, Kikwete mentioned how the former lady speaker of Parliament, Anna Makinda, in her moment of frustration at the final results that roped in Mkapa, stated that if there was a provision for independent candidates, that was the route to pursue.

So Kikwete has first-hand knowledge of this important matter. Now curiously I did hear Kikwete when as an EAC observer at the recent general election in Kenya, express his happiness with their independent candidates.

Why then doesn’t Mr Kikwete just do the noble thing by proposing this long overdue matter to his party leader who is showing some kind of genuine interest in political reform?