Summary
· "Yes, I am really proud of Samia as our president. I saw her potential in leadership way back in 2001,” said Kikwete.
Arusha. Retired President Jakaya Kikwete has revealed why he is
proud of President Samia Suluhu Hassan as the country's Head of State.
He said association with her began
in early 2001 when they were appointed by the ruling party to probe killings in Pemba following
the 2000 polls.
Mr Kikwete, who was then the Foreign
Affairs minister, said he was picked by CCM's National Executive Committee
(NEC) to lead the team.
The team included, among others, Dr
Ali Mohamed Shein, then a minister of State (Union Matters), Adam Mwakanjuki
and Mama Samia.
"We were tasked to go around
the world to tell what exactly happened in Pemba,” he told the local
journalists here on Tuesday.
Read: The turning point in Jakaya
Kikwete's long political journey
Mr Kikwete, who
had attended a conference on the State of Democracy in Africa, was asked on his
take on the sixth phase government.
"Yes, I am really proud of
Samia as our president. I saw her potential in leadership way back in 2001,” he
said at Grand Melia Arusha. Mr Kikwete, the Union President from 2005 to 2015,
said Mama Samia exhibited her preferred approach in tackling such crises.
The Pemba clashes resulted in the
killings of at least 27 people, putting a dent on the administration of
President Benjamin Mkapa.
Read: Chaos erupts in Zanzibar’s 2000
post General Election
The chaos followed the contested
presidential election results in the Isles between CCM's Amani Abeid Karume and
Seif Shariff Hamad, CUF flag bearer then.
Mr Kikwete said this was his first
formal encounter with Mama Samia who would later become the sixth President of
the Union Government.
"She was not a frontliner. She
was cool but with a great potential. This enabled her to have the nitty-gritty
of the crisis,” he pointed out.
Upon election as the fourth phase
president, Kikwete appointed her the minister of State in the Vice President's
Office.
At the end of his tenure in 2015, Mr
Kikwete admitted that he influenced the late CCM presidential aspirant John
Pombe Magufuli to take Mama Samia as his running mate.
She would later become the first
female Vice President in Tanzania and later the first ever female president in
Tanzania and East Africa.
As the conference on democracy came
to an end in Arusha yesterday (Wednesday), Samia Suluhu Hassan remains the
sitting executive president in Africa.
Mr Kikwete was also asked why some
sitting presidents particularly in Africa were not in good terms with their
successors.
"A new president has his or her
own agenda. You don't follow on the predecessor,” he responded, saying this
should not necessarily lead to a tiff.
Ernest Koroma, the former President
of Sierra Leone said no two leaders will be the same "even if they are
from one political party".
He added that what was important is
that the purported different leadership strategies by such leaders should not
compromise the state institutions.
Former Mozambican president Joachim
Chissano challenged the African leaders to engage the retired leaders,
especially in conflict resolutions.
He said as long as there were
leadership changes in tandem with democratic requirements "we will
continue to have elders in Africa".
Mr. Chissano, the first
recipient of Mo Ibrahim Prize for retired executive leaders in Africa, said the
retired leaders have a responsibility to groom the young ones.
"We should groom young men and
women to take up the leadership positions because were were groomed when we
were young people", he said.
Former Ethiopian prime minister
Hailemariam Desalegn said the eminent leaders in Africa should often time be
consulted in time of crisis.
"They have a huge potential
that has not been fully taped.Our people are poor and do not have jobs. We
should always engage them,” he said.
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