Don: Polls show CCM can lose power despite unfair system

The just ended local government elections have placed the ruling party CCM at the top against opposition political parties.

As usual, the ruling party has once again recorded good performance in various areas. According to the official results released last week by the Prime Minister’s Office-Regional Administration and Local Government (PMO-RALG), CCM managed to win a total of 7290 villages against the opposition who collectively won 2200 villages.

On streets, CCM won 2116 against the opposition who collectively got 1008 seats.

In 2009, the ruling CCM recorded a landslide victory by winning 9800 villages and 2242 streets against the opposition who won 834 villages and 258 streets.

The PMO-RALG local government polls’ director Khalist Luanda said that the general results show that CCM has recorded good performance compared to opposition parties.

However, apart from winning several seats with such flying colours, it is obvious that the situation is not the same in the political arena between the opposition and CCM.

It is quite clear that the opposition have made a significance improvement in this 2014 local government elections.

In 2009 Chadema won only 413 villages and streets compared to 1248 this year, CUF had 540 villages and streets, this year it has increased seats to 946.

Generally, the opposition political parties that form the Coalition of Defenders of the People’s Constitution (Ukawa) had a total 992 seats, but this year, they have recorded an increase in seats to 3211 seats.

Even the seven months old political party Alliance for Change and Transparency (ACT-Tanzania) has managed to win 11 streets, 11 villages and it won 1 street unopposed.

Political analysts and politicians who spoke to Political Platform said the results mean a lot to both CCM and the opposition as the country heads to the General Election next year.

They said local government elections give a road map on what might happen in future.

The University of Dar es Salaam senior lecturer, Dr Benson Bana argues that CCM should get prepared to become an opposition political party in the coming 10 years.

“When political pluralism was established in 1992, only the ignorant thought CCM would remain in power forever, but those who knew the trend of political system and changes, understood that one day CCM will become an opposition party,” he said.

He said there is the possibility for another party to climb to power between 2020 and 2025.

The don said the just ended civic polls have shown how wananchi understand issues.

“It’s obvious that there are changes among wananchi, they no longer deal with political parties, they deal with and vote for personalities,” he said.

According to Dr Bana most people are complaining of CCM leaders’ selfishness.

“This is a very bad sign, many people especially in the village are complaining of CCM’s selfishness, they think most CCM leaders are egotists,” he said.

Dr Bana who is currently in Kagera Region said wananchi in rural areas are claiming to had voted for the opposition in order to punish CCM for being selfish, failure to deal with corruption related issues and failure to resolve the conflict between the Bukoba Municipal council Mayor, Mr Anatory Aman and Bukoba urban MP, Mr Hamis Kagasheki, which resulted in failure in implementation of various development projects.

He said the situation on the ground is that the public is now knowledgeable on political related matters and that they listen to proper and implementable political parties’ policies and manifestos.

However, the don challenged the opposition saying they were not well organized to pose a serious challenge against CCM. He said some opposition parties such as Chadema tend to relax after recording good performance in a certain area.“So far the opposition are silent on the list of possible candidates in the coming General Election, in order to defeat CCM, they should be transparent in the process for selecting candidates, they should research and know who is acceptable in a certain area” he said.

Commenting on how CCM can escape the collapse, the political analyst said CCM members should follow the party’s secretary general, Mr Abdulrahman Kinana and Ideology and Publicity Secretary, Mr Nape Nnauye’s footsteps.

“These two leaders are doing a good job, they are mingling with wananchi, other CCM members should learn to stay close and work with wananchi at grassroots,” said Dr Bana

Earlier, Mr Nnauye admitted before reporters that his party did not do well in some areas because of the mistakes that have been committed over the years.

He said the names of popular aspirants were not approved to contest for different posts in their areas. This discouraged wananchi and they decided to vote for opposition.“We have been trying our best to avoid this mistake and we will continue to address it so that it could not affect the party in the coming elections,” he said.

Mr Nnauye said the party was also doing evaluation to see how the Tegeta escrow account scam has affected its performance in the last civic polls.

The ACT-Tanzania secretary general, Mr Samson Mwigamba said politically CCM could not accept that it is veering off the road but in reality the party is losing a lot. He said if this trend continues, the ruling party might join other political parties to form an opposition bloc in parliament next year.

According to Mr Mwigamba, the opposition parties have so far managed to change the public minds and that the more they win their trust the more the ruling party sinks down. Chadema election and organization director, Mr Benson Kigaila said a fair analysis on how CCM is going down should consider the opposition complaints before and after civic elections.

He said there were many irregularities during registration and approving opposition candidates in various areas of the country.

“ It is obvious that opposition party members were supposed to win more seats than they won in the just ended elections, CCM used Districts Executive Directors (DEDs) to drop names of opposition candidates for no strong reasons,” he said.

He added that even in those areas where CCM declared victory unopposed, the opposition candidates were axed to pave the way for the ruling party candidates.

According to Mr Kigaila, the just ended civic polls have shown clearly that CCM is applying the kicks of a dying horse and that next year’s general election will determine the situation.

aged to win 11 streets, 11 villages and it won 1 street unopposed.

Political analysts and politicians who spoke to Political Platform said the results mean a lot to both CCM and opposition as the country heads to general elections next year.

They said local government elections give a road map on what might happen in future.

The University of Dar es Salaam senior lecturer, Dr Benson Bana argues that CCM should get prepared to become an opposition political party in the coming 10 years.

“When political pluralism was established in 1992, only ignorant thought CCM would remain in power forever, but for those who knew the trend of political system and changes, understood that one day CCM will become an opposition party,” he said.

He said there is a possibility for another party to climb to power between 2020 and 2025.

The don said the just ended civic polls have shown how wananchi understand issues.

“It’s obvious that there are changes among wananchi, they no longer deal with political parties, they deal and vote for personalities,” he said.

According to Dr Bana most of ordinary wananchi are complaining of CCM leaders’ selfishness.

“This is a very bad sign, many people especially in the village are complaining of CCM’s selfishness, they think most of CCM leaders are egotists,” he said.

Dr Bana who is currently in Kagera region said wananchi in rural areas are claiming to had voted for opposition in order to punish CCM for being selfish, failure to deal with corruption related issues and failure to resolve the conflict between the Bukoba Municipal council Mayor, Mr Anatory Aman and Bukoba urban MP, Mr Hamis Kagasheki, which resulted to failure of implementation of various development projects.

He said the situation on the ground is that the public is now knowledgeable on political related matters and that they listen to proper and implementable political parties’ policies and manifestos.

However, the don challenged the opposition saying they were not well organized to pose a serious challenge against CCM. He said some opposition parties such as Chadema tend to relax after recording good performance in a certain area.

“So far the opposition are silent on the list of possible candidates in the coming general elections, in order to defeat CDCM, they should be transparent in the process for selecting candidates, they should research and know who is acceptable in a certain area” he said.

Commenting on how CCM can escape the collapse, the political analyst said CCM members should follow the party’s secretary general, Mr Abdulrahman Kinana and Ideology and Publicity Secretary, Mr Nape Nnauye footsteps.

“These two leaders are doing a good job, they are mingling with wananchi, other CCM members should learn to stay closely and work with wananchi at grassroots,” said Dr Bana.

Earlier, Mr Nnauye admitted before reporters that his party did not do well in some areas because of the mistakes that have been committed over years.

He said the names of popular aspirants were not approved to contest for different posts in their areas. This discouraged wananchi and decided to vote for oppositions.

“We have been trying our best to avoid this mistake and we will continue to address it so that it could not affect the party in the coming elections,” he said.

Mr Nnauye said the party was also doing evaluation to see how the Tegeta Escrow Account scam has affected its performance in the last civic polls.

The ACT-Tanzania secretary general, Mr Samson Mwigamba said politically CCM could not accept that it is veering out of the road but in reality the party is losing a lot.

He said if this trend continues, the ruling might join other political parties to form an opposition bloc in parliament next year.

According to Mr Mwigamba, the oppositions have so far managed to change the public minds and that the more they win their trust the more the ruling party sinks down.

Chadema election and organization director, Mr Benson Kigaila a fair analysis on how CCM is going down should consider the opposition complaints before and after civic elections.

He said there were many irregularities during registration and approving opposition candidates in various areas of the country.

“ It is obvious that opposition were supposed to win more seats than they won in the just ended election, CCM used Districts Executive Directors (DEDs) to drop names of opposition candidates for no strong reasons,” he said.

He added that even in those areas where CCM declared victory unopposed, the opposition candidates were axed to pave the way for the ruling party candidates.

According to Mr Kigaila, the just ended civic polls have shown clearly that CCM is applying the kicks of a dying horse and that next year’s general elections will determine the situation.