Bashiru calls on ‘fit’ CCM members to vie for seats

Bukoba. Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM) secretary general, Dr Bashiru Ally, has concluded his tour of Kagera Region where he has called upon party members with requisite qualifications to step forward and vie for various leadership positions in local government polls.

Responding to a question asked on January 2 by a journalist about the party’s preparations for the local government polls, Dr Ally reiterated that qualified members of the party should start coming forward and contest in the polls. He castigated the use of cash to obtain contestants.

Dr Ally also clarified that the party’s system of selecting contestants had changed and that choosing candidates would not involve many people. He said they would use screening that would be supervised properly.

“Those who follow-up on politics within the party will know that the system of appointing a candidate has changed and opinion polls will not involve many people.

“This is not to say many people have been blocked from exercising their rights. It is just that in the past there was politics of using money,” said Dr Ally. He clarified that through teams that had been formed, screening to obtain qualified members of the party had already started. He blamed the procedure used in the past, saying it involved aspirants buying membership cards from people joining the party and engaging in other financial impropriety.

The CCM secretary general said he wanted conflicts within the party to continue being solved through its sittings. He said the simmering conflicts between members of the party and their leaders in Bukoba District had already been solved.

Dr Ally said his tour of the region that started at the end of December, last year, focused on economic issues, leadership and party activities.