The CCM ideology and publicity secretary, Mr Humphrey Polepole.
Dodoma. The CCM ideology and publicity secretary, Mr Humphrey Polepole on Tuesday, February 09, 2021 trashed calls for President John Magufuli’s third term bid which are advanced by some of the ruling party’s legislators.
Mr Polepole, who doubles as a nominated Member of Parliament (MP), told the House that Dr Magufuli was not harboring any intention to remain in power beyond his constitutional two five-year terms.
He however said he was not in a position to prevent MPs from airing out their views in the House.
Mr Polepole was compelled to speak after being asked to do so by Mr Khatibu Said Haji (Konde - ACT-Wazalendo), who wanted to know the ruling party’s official position on the matter.
This followed utterances by some legislators who have been calling on President Magufuli to consider a third term in office.
According to Mr Haji, by staying quite, Mr Polepole was ‘creating space’ for MPs to keep on talking about the subject which was contrary to the Constitution which the President swore to protect during his inauguration ceremony.
But in response, Mr Polepole said: “The President will not stand for a third term in office. This is already known to everyone within our party and the President is the chief spokesman for our party. However, we cannot block MPs from airing their views in Parliament”.
During the ongoing parliamentary sessions, some ruling party MPs, including Deo Sanga (Makambako) and Joseph Msukuma (Geita Rural) have strongly advocated for President Magufuli to seek a third term in office.
-Daring President-
Mr Msukuma said on Monday, February 8 that Dr Magufuli has exhibited to Tanzanians that he is someone who can dare to do what others cannot do.
“From what the President has done, we need to find a way of giving him more time. I don’t find anything wrong in doing that because there are countries that have done a similar thing. Are we trying to say that Tanzania knows democracy better than China which has an economy that runs into trillions [of dollars]?” enquired Mr Msukuma.
-Willy-nilly-
On Wednesday last week, Mr Sanga reiterated his call for President Magufuli to seek another term when his current one ends in 2025.
“Magufuli needs more time whether he likes it or not. If a country like China has done it, why not us?” he said.
-Repeatedly-
This is not the first time that CCM stalwarts have been calling on President Magufuli to seek a third term after his second and final tenure ends.
Apart from Mr Sanga and Mr Msukuma, a number of other CCM stalwarts have repeatedly spoken openly about the topic during the 11th Parliament which was dissolved in June last year (2020).
They include former Nkasi MP Ali Keissy of CCM, who once asked Parliament to pass a resolution that would make Dr Magufuli president for life.
National Assembly Speaker Job Ndugai told Mr Keissy that the matter could be debated, and would be handled by the next parliament. Other staunch proponents of a third term for Dr Magufuli include former CCM lawmakers Deo Sanga and Juma Nkamia.
-No extension even by single day-
However, Dr Magufuli is on record as having said that he would respect the Constitution and would not extend his time in office “even by a single day”.
Speaking in August last year shortly after President John Magufuli had picked nomination forms to vie for his second five-year term, the CCM secretary-general Bashiru Ally, said President John Magufuli will respect the constitutional presidential term limits.
“You have worked closely with the people, and you will be voted into office by the same people. You are not the kind of a person with a tendency to cling on to power, and therefore this is your last term,” he said.
“You are neither the life chairman of CCM nor Tanzania’s president for life. You are, to all intents and purposes, walking in the footsteps of Tanzania’s founding president, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere. Party-hoppers and people pretending to be sultans should be left to be what they are,” Dr Ally added.
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