President Samia Suluhu Hassan greets former Mbeya urban MP Joseph Mbilinyi during a tour of the region when she was still the Vice President. In the two years she has been in office President Hassan has shaped politics in a very significant way. PHOTO | FILE
Summary
·
As the country prepares for elections in 2024
and 2025 the opposition is taking full advantage of the newfound political
space that gives them room to manoeuvre
Dar es Salaam. The swearing-in of Samia Suluhu Hassan as President on March 19, 2021, undoubtedly left the people, especially political pundits, wondering if the...
new leadership would have a different modus operandi.The
debate focused mainly on opposition demands for a new constitution, an
independent electoral body, and restrictions on public political activity,
including the ban on rallies.
However,
two years later, the political sphere has witnessed unexpected positive
changes.
When
she assumed the presidency, President Hassan promised to bring about national
reconciliation. Months later, she created a task force to coordinate citizens’
opinions on multi-party democracy, which submitted its report on October 21,
2022, with various recommendations.
Read: What next after Samia’s
democracy task force?
The
government-backed taskforce on political reform, among other things, suggested
that public meetings be allowed, a new constitution be formulated, and that a
special committee be established to start the process of collecting and
analysing the opinions of stakeholders regarding the new Mother Law.
As
part of efforts to usher in a new political era in Tanzania, the Head of State
launched her 4Rs philosophy: Reconciliation, Resiliency, Reforms, and
Rebuilding. This is an initiative that led her to scrap a seven-year ban on
political rallies imposed by her predecessor, John Magufuli, as suggested by
the task force.
Read: President Samia lifts ban on
political rallies
Read: Will Samia finish off what
Mwinyi and Kikwete started?
Opposition
parties have been complaining for years about the lack of a level political
playing field, especially during elections. In fact, according to stakeholders,
the political goal posts were completely changed during the Magufuli era, when
the civic and political space was closed down.
However,
since the new government under President Hassan took over, the political
distress left by Magufuli seems to have formed the basis of the reform debate.
President
Hassan says work has already begun on improving the electoral law, while her
government is also ready to start formally working on proposed constitutional
changes.
The
Head of State’s decisions paved the way for what is shaping up as a busy and
intriguing year of politics.
A gift towards upcoming polls
As
the country prepares for civic polls in late 2024, followed by the General
Election in 2025, opposition parties are now taking full advantage of the
newfound political space that gives them more room to manoeuvre.
Read: Chadema’s vision ahead of 2025
and beyond
The
President’s decision to turn around Tanzania’s politics has indeed offered the
opposition a chance to challenge the ruling CCM’s traditional dominance before
the actual voting gets underway in the coming two elections.
“It
has been two years since the start of a new era. Now the opposition parties
have a chance to meet and involve their supporters before the election time,”
says Dr Amos Mpole, a political science expert in Dar es Salaam.
Dr
Mpole told The Citizen in an interview yesterday that just by removing the
controversial ban on rallies, President Hassan as CCM chairperson, boosted her
own popularity ratings within the country by a large margin. This could prove
to be a huge boost as she eyes her first electoral bid for the top job that she
inherited after Magufuli’s death in March 2021.
“The
ruling party has also gained in terms of improved image. The two years have
been filled with the strengthening of democracy, which is also an opportunity
for CCM to gain more support,” he explained.
On
the same note, the National Chairman of the Civic United Front (CUF), Prof
Ibrahim Lipumba was quoted in May 2022, quoted as saying that President Hassan
had a significant chance of winning the 2025 General Election because of her
role in pushing for good governance, democracy, and people-centred development.
Opposition applauds the move
After
an all-parties meeting in Dar es Salaam where President Samia announced the ban
reversal towards the end of last year, the opposition Chadema Party chairman
Freeman Mbowe described the president’s move as “positive.”
Read: Samia chairs first meeting
between CCM, Chadema leaders
“She
also mentioned getting the constitutional reform process underway soon... For
us, the most important thing she (the president) said is that the law review
will be done in a fully participatory manner,” noted Mr Mbowe.
Further,
leaders of the 19 registered opposition parties that attended the meeting
saluted the Commander-in-Chief, with some pointing out that political rallies
have always been legal under Tanzania’s Constitution.
ACT-Wazalendo
leader Zitto Kabwe said the President deserved praise for showing a willingness
to “walk the talk in her reconciliation drive.”
“We
know public rallies are our constitutional right. But we also know this right
was illegally taken away by a sitting president... It has taken another sitting
president to bring us back to normalcy. We as the opposition appreciate the
gesture,” said Mr Zitto.
“It
has not been an easy process even getting to this point. But now we can look
forward to a year of real changes on the political front as we all work to put
this country back on the rails of democracy,” he added.
The return from exile
It
is through the leadership of President Hassan that some prominent politicians
who fled the country for fear of their safety have been able to return and
continue their political activities.
Those
who have come back include the vice chairperson of Chadema, Tundu Lissu, who
was also the party’s flag bearer in the 2020 General Election.
Read: Chadema’s Lissu returns from
exile to a rousing welcome
Mr
Lissu fled to Belgium after surviving an assassination attempt. Another is a
former member of parliament for Arusha Urban, Mr Godbless Lema, who has also
returned to the country from Canada, where he had taken refuge.
And
when he addressed a public rally shortly after jetting in from Canada on
Wednesday last week, Godless Lema narrated how his life was in danger during
the Magufuli regime, forcing him to run to exile.
He
said he decided to take the threats against his life seriously to avoid the
fate that befell some of his colleagues, including Mr Lissu and several others.
On
September 7, 2017, during a parliamentary session break, Tundu Lissu, while in
his car, was shot multiple times and seriously injured by unknown assailants in
the parking lot of his parliamentary residence in Area D, Dodoma.
And
Mr Lema, who lost his Arusha Urban Parliamentary Seat in the 2020 elections,
said on Wednesday that before the assassination attempt, Mr Lissu was warned.
“One
day before an assassination attempt, Tundu Lissu was informed by some people
that when he goes to Dodoma, he will be assassinated,” narrated Mr Lema.
Read: Chadema’s Lema returns home
after years in exile
Mr
Lema detailed several other Chadema leaders who were informed in advance before
they met their fate. He also detailed how he was arrested together with the
party’s national chairman, Freeman Mbowe and former Ubongo Municipal Mayor,
Boniface Jacob, on the eve of the planned demonstrations to oppose the outcomes
of the 2020 General Election.
He
poured praise on President Hassan, who waved at the opposition party’s
supporters who had arrived at the Kilimanjaro International Airport (KIA) to
welcome Lema’s homecoming.
The
President arrived at the airport on her way to Arusha where she had several
official government businesses to attend to.
“When
I was at the airport, I saw many people... I was told Mama [President Hassan]
passed here and she waved at the people who had come to welcome you….The police
have escorted us from the airport to this place….Under this new environment,
whenever you address a public rally, you become selective of your words towards
the President because she has shown enough respect for democracy,” he said.
The 4Rs philosophy
According
to Dr Juma Bundala, a political analyst, President Hassan’s Reconciliation,
Resiliency, Reforms, and Rebuilding philosophy has been a prerequisite and
necessary tool in addressing contemporary issues affecting the country’s
social, political, and economic systems.
He
noted that it was also clear in President Hassan’s editorial published by
various media outlets on July 1, 2022, in which she emphasized the 4Rs as her
top goal in improving the country’s multiparty political system.
“The
4Rs will continue to enable varied groups in our society that hold opposing
views on numerous religious, social, political, and economic problems to unite
on causes of national interest and development at large rather than the
specific interests of the organizations with whom they are aligned,” he noted.
Read: President Samia’s letter
to Tanzanians on 30 years of multi-party democracy
Further
the President has recognized the need for adjustments and reforms in the
political, social, and economic institutions, as seen by her recent decision to
examine the police force and other state apparatus as a means of rebuilding the
country.
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