EDITORIAL: TZ is not a monarchy, so give all a chance in polls

It isn’t surprising that, as the 2015 General Election tempo builds up, rough play is emerging. It is like some among us are bent on proving—as it oft said—that politics is a dirty game. Electioneering is a component of politics in which crooked conduct comes to the fore as individuals vie for political posts that are up for grabs from the grassroots to the national level.

As opposed to the distant past when office seekers were driven mainly by patriotism, today ego-boosting, financial and material gains are the key motivation. We are faced with aspirants who are ready to use all manner of dirty schemes like mudslinging fellow aspirants in efforts to lock them out of the electoral process. 

Last week, some alleged Chadema supporters roughed up Mr Kansa Mbarouk as he collected nomination forms for the post of national chairman at the party’s head office in Dar es Salaam. The message they are relaying is that, it is sinful to challenge the incumbent, Mr Freeman Mbowe.  However, that contradicts the chair’s firm pronouncement that, whoever wishes to challenge him should feel free to do so, and that no hurdles should be placed at such person’s path. We welcome Mr Mbowe’s sentiments because they reflect his party’s two planks: democracy and development.

As an apparent gauging of the political temperature, they represent laudable maturity on Mr Mbowe’s part, because in the past, top posts were perceived as the preserve of incumbents, whereby potential challengers were branded traitors.

Fair play should be the spirit in all parties to facilitate free competition, a process in which victory is not a must and defeat taken stoically. Tendencies like an MP declaring a particular constituency   personal territory and branding any challenger a trespasser, has no room in the democratic dispensation. We should never allow monarchical attitudes to disrupt our democracy.