If Samia is best performer as touted, let her face other challengers

The political situation is quickly charging as the country heads towards civic polls later this year and a general election next year. We have witnessed a number of utterances and actions meant to reshape the political climate in favour of various players.

Top in the political agenda discourse are the amendments to three laws that deal with election issues.

But, as people were busy debating the amendments that have already been tabled in parliament for review and approval, in a very troubling ‘end of the year’ statement, the Prime Minister, Kassim Majaliwa, issued a statement that weighs heavily as we count days towards the general election next year.

In the statement, Premier Majaliwa declared his resolve to lobby his fellow Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) top cadres to block anyone from challenging President Samia Suluhu Hassan within the party during the next year’s general election nomination process.

Speaking in his home constituency of Ruangwa recently, Majaliwa said in a rally also attended by the CCM Deputy Chairman (Mainland), Abdulrahman Kinana, that he will lure his fellow CCM top leaders to accept the idea of printing only one form during the nomination of the CCM presidential candidate next year.

This is because, he says, Dr Samia has done such a tremendous job that she deserves a second term in office. This might be true, but that does not absolve such a statement from being absurd.

It is amazing that a party that boasts of being democratic has such a way of blocking others from contesting for an elective post within the party.

What we are seeing from Majaliwa’s statement is that he is engineering a plot to cushion Samia from facing competition within the party. If President Samia is as good as Majaliwa says, why, then, cushion her from competition within the party?

Majaliwa should remember that even if CCM decides to bar other people from challenging Dr Samia, she will have to face other candidates from other parties if she is nominated by her party.

Embracing challenges from within the party will give her more clout on how to weather opposition, so it will be easy for her when she faces challengers from other parties during the campaigns.

What Premier Majaliwa is planning to do is very troubling in a party whose democracy is one of its main virtues, and in fact, in a democratic country, for that matter.

It is unconceivable that being a good leader would be used as an excuse to bar others from contesting the position held by someone considered to be a good leader.

We are used to such antics in dictatorial states where the ‘goodness’ of a sitting leader is used as a major condition to block others from opposing him.

Yes, President Samia has accomplished a lot since she came into office three years ago. But does that mean that there is no other person within CCM who could have performed better than her?

There are dozens of such people, but they have not done so because the post was being held by another person. 

Elections present an opportunity for such people to showcase their acumen by presenting themselves to be counted. 

If they are blocked ‘prematurely’ it means blocking the possibility of knowing that there are other people who are better presidents than the sitting one.

If indeed CCM has no other quality candidate compared to Dr Samia, then I feel sorry for the ruling party, as that situation eliminates it from the list of strong political parties in the country.

But if CCM has such good people, which I believe it has, there is no better way of sharpening President Samia’s candidature than by exposing her to competition from other quality people within the party. 

This would make her ready and capable of weathering political waves if she is exposed to other candidates from other political outfits next year.

What I am saying is that being the best is not a reason for someone to be cushioned from facing challenges from others, even if they are not better than the one said to be better.