Former Prime Minister Edward Lowassa displays a folder containing
Chadema presidential nomination forms after picking them up at the
opposition party’s headquarters in Dar es Salaam. PHOTO | EDWIN
MJEWAHUZI
By Jenerali Ulimwengu
In Summary
- More surprises may emerge as Tanzania hurtles towards an unpredictable election slated for October, and major towns in Tanzania are abuzz with speculation and conjecture, mainly about what Lowassa’s bold action means for the country’s political future.
- It is becoming clear that in the upcoming campaign, if Lowassa is finally given the all-clear to represent Chadema, and by extension Ukawa (Umoja wa Katiba ya Wananchi), we are bound to witness a ruthless trading of barbs and much passing of the buck.
- The stage is set for a gargantuan duel, with Magufuli banking on CCM’s traditional broad base and Lowassa counting on the Ukawa platform and the rising youthful support for Chadema.
It has been a year of flip-flops so far, and we may yet experience more volte-faces before Christmas.
The front-running aspirant for the ruling party’s nomination for
president was, despite apparent heavy support from the party faithful,
axed by the structures.
Unhappy with the decision against him, and claiming the rules
had been flouted, Edward Lowassa decided to leave Chama cha Mapinduzi
and join the main opposition Chadema.
Chadema, who had for a long time vilified Lowassa as a corrupt
CCM apparatchik, swallowed their words, invited him into their fold and
allowed him to vie as a presidential aspirant.
Rumours started swirling that a number of Chadema leaders,
uncomfortable with the strange-bedfellows situation that was emerging,
had decided to quit. These included the party’s secretary-general and
last election’s impressive presidential candidate, Wilbroad Slaa.
More surprises may emerge as Tanzania hurtles towards an
unpredictable election slated for October, and major towns in Tanzania
are abuzz with speculation and conjecture, mainly about what Lowassa’s
bold action means for the country’s political future.
The Chadema leadership has been quick to explain its abrupt
change of heart. They say their accusations of corruption targeted CCM,
whose institutions, including the government, are “so corrupt that if
you got the saintliest angel from heaven and put him in CCM for a week
you would go back to find he has become a thief,’ said Chadema chairman
Freeman Mbowe.
A Chadema central committee member and renowned academic Mwesiga
Baregu stressed the institutional nature of the sins attributed to
Lowassa.
“CCM wanted to paint Lowassa in such a bad light that one would
think that if he were got rid of, everything in that party would be
clean. But he has been out of the leadership for eight years and during
those eight years the corruption scandals have become more and more
egregious.”
Lowassa himself has been giving his version of the so-called
Richmond scandal, over which he resigned as prime minister eight years
ago. He has been repeating that everything he did was sanctioned by “my
boss” (President Jakaya Kikwete) and that even when he wanted the
negotiations terminated it was “my boss” who told him to continue.
It is becoming clear that in the upcoming campaign, if Lowassa
is finally given the all-clear to represent Chadema, and by extension
Ukawa (Umoja wa Katiba ya Wananchi), we are bound to witness a ruthless
trading of barbs and much passing of the buck.
A couple of weeks ago, CCM chose the current Minister of
Infrastructure John Pombe Magufuli, with a reputation for crunching
numbers and statistics and sometimes erratic statements, but who is seen
by many as a doer, a man of action. Lowassa too is seen as a man of
action and his supporters credit him with many of the positive results
posted by President Kikwete’s administration.
Lowassa had been amassing public support in a way that was seen
by some as overkill. Hundreds of thousands signed his endorsement when
only a couple of hundreds were needed. Bodaboda riders, students, youth
groups and others thronged his home to “ask” him to run.
In the end, President Kikwete decided to ignore all those public
manifestations and engineered Lowassa’s excision from the list of
aspirants. It seemed then that the end of Lowassa the politician had
arrived. But the man himself had other ideas, and other ideas had the
man they needed.
The opposition has been waging an uphill struggle against the
ruling party, CCM, which has been creaking and wheezing under the weight
of a long-drawn incumbency.
It has been hard for the newer parties to break the stranglehold
of CCM, which can call on the resources of the state, including the
security forces, to do its bidding, including massaging election results
in some cases.
Five years ago, the opposition showed signs of relative
improvement when Dr Slaa scored some 18 per cent of the vote, and
overall the opposition got slightly over 22 per cent. CCM continued to
dominate parliament and, under its writ, there was little the opposition
could effect in terms of governance.
The mounting frustration born out of that experience of
helplessness, coupled with the popular perception that it was virtually
“impossible” to dislodge CCM, led the leadership of the opposition to a
see a rare opportunity for resolute action. They seized it. The
opportunity came in the form of a politician with boundless ambition and
dogged determination to go to State House.
The stage is set for a gargantuan duel, with Magufuli banking on
CCM’s traditional broad base and Lowassa counting on the Ukawa platform
and the rising youthful support for Chadema.
Ukawa was formed during the tortured attempts to write a new
constitution, which President Kikwete started and then sabotaged. Ukawa
has insisted to Lowassa, as price for its support, that he endorse and
enact the Warioba Draft if he is elected. He has reportedly promised to
do so.
It is expected that many CCM cadres will jump ship and join
Lowassa in the opposition. Some former CCM MPs have already done so,
along with a number of councillors.
Is it possible for the opposition, with Lowassa as its flag
bearer, to defeat CCM? It is possible, even if it’s not all that
probable. CCM has a strong physical presence in the country, down to the
remotest village.
The opposition is mostly found in towns. CCM has name
recognition, but non-delivery on its many promises, the scourge of
corruption, deepening poverty and the impatience of an increasingly
youthful population could prove to be its undoing.
As a young professional in Dar es Salaam put it, “This is a real
opportunity to change and change meaningfully,” she told me. “I am
excited at the prospect of a government headed by Edward Lowassa, with
Ibrahim Lipumba [CUF chair] as prime minister. Very exciting, a new
beginning.”
I had no comment.
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