It was a year of turbulence within CUF

Dar es Salaam. The year 2016 has been a turbulent one for opposition parties in the country, for months now they have failed to conduct public rallies thanks to a ban ordered by President John Pombe Magufuli, however for CUF it is definitely going to be the year that they will hate to remember about.

To mark a bitter end of the year, last week supporters of two rival groups within the party engaged in a bloody fight which left three seriously injured at the premises of High Court, where a case which is going to define the future of the party is raging. The high court battle was the third one between the rival groups.

The war is fought over one issue, the resignation of the party’s long serving national chairman, Prof Ibrahim Lipumba.

It all started in late August of last year, about two months short of General Election, when Prof Lipumba pulled a shocking move. The economics don resigned from the leadership position stating that his conscious couldn’t allow him to support and campaign for Edward Lowassa, a former premier who had defected from CCM and handed over presidency ticket by opposition coalition Ukawa of which CUF is a member.

He promised to continue serving the party as an ordinary and faithful member. That sounded by then to be a simple smooth transfer of power, stating in his resignation letter that his continued stay at the helm of CUF would be more of a liabiality than anything else.

Little did political gurus and spectators know that would be the beginning of a major fallout within opposition politics in the country, second only to the late 1990s NCCR-Mageuzi wrangle which teared the then opposition powerhouse in pieces.

The CUF itself had faced one big wrangle before during its formative years in 1994 where mistrust between the then national chair James Mapalala and Vice Chairperson Seif Sharif Hamad and secretary general Shaaban Mloo led to the sacking of Mapalala. However, the 1994 wrangles come no close to this year’s war.

The Comeback and National Congress

In yet another political surprise, Prof Lipumba in June this wrote to the CUF secretary General Seif Shariff Hamad that he was nullifying his resignation letter and was set to assume the mantle of CUF’s national chair.

The official response to the June letter was the calling of the party’s extraordinary national congress in August to vote for decide on Prof Lipumba’s successor.

Although he is not a delegate, Prof Lipumba dramatically forced his way in to the meeting. That did not help to stop the majority of delegates to vote in confirmation of his resignation. As expected, his supporters were angry. Chaos ensued, marking the first battle between the two camps. The meeting ended prematurely.

A fortnight later, the CUF Supreme Governing Body resolved to temporarily suspend Prof Lipumba from the partly, alongside 10 other members, including Members of Parliament Magdlena Sakaya (Kaliua Constituency, Tabora) and Maftaha Nachuma (Mtwara Urban).

Prof Lipumba dismissed his expulsion from the party and the general handling of his case. He submitted his case at the office of the registrar of political parties Judge Francis Mutungi requesting for his intervention.

At the time when the majority believed Prof Lipumba has lost the tittle battle, the registrar delivered his verdict.

Judge Mutungi cited the CUF constitution to confirm the professor that he was still chairman of the party after he withdrew his resignation. – the same piece of legislation that the Council had used to suspend him following the chaos that marred a meeting held in August to finally approve his resignation.

Judge Mutungi noted that Lipumba submitted his resignation letter to the CUF secretary general, Mr Seif Shariff Hamad, on August 5, last year, stating that his resignation was effective from that date.

The elective national congress, did not meet to officially approve Prof Lipumba’s resignation until he resurfaced in June, and for that the registrar concluded that the national congress and all other meetings that followed to discuss the case were null and void because Prof Lipumba had already removed his resignation letter.

The Aftermath

The victim of round one turned out a victor in round two, and armed with the registrar’s verdict Prof Lipumba and his supporters stormed the party’s Buguruni head offices beating down anyone who tried to support them, marking the second battle.

The other camp did not bow down, they defied the registrar’s decision and the party’s supreme governing council unanimously voted to permanently sack Prof Lipumba out of the party. But he dismissed this decision also.

The party’s council of trustees then lodged a case at the High Court against the registrar’s verdict saying he doesn’t have powers over internal party decisions. The case is still ongoing.

Outside the court room, Prof Lipumba continues to serve as the party chair thanks to the registrar’s decision, he has travelled extensively within the mainland holding internal party meetings with his supporters.

On the other hand Mr Hamad has been stopped by police to hold internal meetings in Tanga, Iringa and Mtwara. According to Mr Hamad and his supporters within CUF and Ukawa prof Lipumba is being used.