The CC met on Monday under the party’s
National Chairman, retired President Jakaya Kikwete, and among other
issues deliberated on the government’s implementation of the promises
outlined in party’s 2015-2020 manifestos.
Secretary General Abdurahman Kinana said
that the CCM-CC unanimously welcomed the performance by Dr Magufuli,
Vice-President Samia Suluhu Hassan and Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa.
“Our party promises full support to Dr
Magufuli’s government and calls on all members to give him full support
by working tirelessly with efficiency and patriotism in building our
nation,’’ he pointed out.
He said the speed in which the new
government was working has restored the people’s confidence in CCM,
adding that it has raised new hope among many people who were previously
not happy with the ruling party.
Addressing a news conference at the CCM
Sub-Head Office in Dar es Salaam, Mr Kinana said the CC members gave an
overwhelming support to the initiatives taken by the government in
ensuring that the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) and Tanzania Ports
Authority (TPA) were collecting enough revenue as required by the law.
“The efforts by the government have
started yielding positive results and the CC wants all the people in
those areas to collaborate with the government to achieve the intended
objective,’’ he appealed.
The CCM-CC met as Dr Magufuli and Mr
Majaliwa have intensified their effort in cracking the whip against tax
evaders at the Dar es Salaam Port. Already, several senior TRA
officials, including the Commissioner General, Mr Rished Bade, have been
suspended pending investigations.
In yet another crackdown, on Monday Dr
Magufuli relieved Dr Shaaban Mwinjaka of his duties as Permanent
Secretary in the Ministry of Transport and dissolved the Board of
Directors of the Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA).
The Head of State also revoked the
appointment of the board’s chair, Professor Joseph Msambichaka, and the
authority’s Director General, Mr Awadhi Massawe.
The crackdowns follow recent visits to
the port on November 27 and December 3 by Mr Majaliwa, which revealed
that over 349 containers ‘vanished’ from inland container depots (ICDs)
without paying requisite duties to the government, while more than 2,400
containers had been cleared from the Dar es Salaam port without paying
necessary duties since March 2014.
Last week, Dr Magufuli issued a seven-
day ultimatum to tax defaulters to come forward willingly to settle
their obligations lest they face the wrath of the law. On Monday, TRA
Acting Commissioner General Dr Philip Mpango said about 9bn/- had so far
been collected following Dr Magufuli’s order.
On Tuesday, the CCM Secretary General
said his party’s CC gave kudos to Dr Magufuli’s decision to control
unnecessary government spending in order to provide more services to
people.
“The CC supports his efforts and we urge
all his subordinates who are involved in controlling government
expenditure to help in walking the talk,’’ he added. Mr Kinana took a
swipe at opposition politicians who were claiming that Dr Magufuli was
implementing the policies of the opposition, which his party does not
believe in. “When people lose in any election, they will always try to
look on ways to reduce their pain.
It is evident that the assertions they
have been making are like painkillers to them,’’ he noted. According to
Mr Kinana, the party also received a progress report on the ongoing
Zanzibar political crisis but did not want to divulge into details on
the deliberations, insisting that it was not the right time.
The semi-autonomous Zanzibar archipelago
has up to the present been embroiled into a political crisis following
nullification of presidential election results by the Director of the
Zanzibar Electoral Commission (ZEC), Mr Jecha Salim Jecha, citing
“massive irregularities’’.
“The two parties involved in the impasse
are still holding negotiations on how to get around it -- and our party
has agreed that it is not the right time to issue any comment regarding
the same,’’ Mr Kinana told reporters.
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