Tomorrow, February 5th, 2021; we will be celebrating the 44th birth date of the ruling party, Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM). It is therefore right, proper and befitting, that I should start by congratulating the CCM national Chairman, President John Pombe Magufuli, CCM leaders at all levels of the party structure, and all fellow members of CCM. And very special congratulations for having been the country’s ruling party right from the time it was founded in 1977; after inheriting that position and status from its predecessor ruling parties: TANU on Mainland Tanzania, and ASP in Zanzibar.
I should, perhaps, also remind them of the substantive changes in the manner of celebrating these CCM anniversaries, which were introduced by the party’s national Chairman, President John Pombe Magufuli at the time of celebrating the 40th anniversary in 2017; when he changed both the manner, and style, of celebrating these annual events. Whereas in the past, we used to see all the national CCM and Government leaders being assembled at a designated celebration venue to attend such celebrations in grand and pompous style, and at a great cost; Chairman Magufuli wisely decided to have no such expensive celebrations concentrated at one designated venue; and instead, he directed that celebrations should be held closer to the people, in their respective localities, namely the party Districts and their Branches countrywide.
Reflections on CCM’s performance.
It is a generally accepted practice, that on an occasion such as this one of celebrating the Organization’s anniversary, for its members to reflect on the organization’s performance in the previous year; and to make appropriate plans for the coming year. In the case of Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM); what quickly comes to mind when making reflections on its performance during the year that is coming to an end, is to rejoice in its unprecedented huge victory in the 2020 general election. That, is indeed proper and most appropriate.
I should, perhaps, also remind them of the substantive changes in the manner of celebrating these CCM anniversaries, which were introduced by the party’s national Chairman, President John Pombe Magufuli at the time of celebrating the 40th anniversary in 2017; when he changed both the manner, and style, of celebrating these annual events. Whereas in the past, we used to see all the national CCM and Government leaders being assembled at a designated celebration venue to attend such celebrations in grand and pompous style, and at a great cost; Chairman Magufuli wisely decided to have no such expensive celebrations concentrated at one designated venue; and instead, he directed that celebrations should be held closer to the people, in their respective localities, namely the party Districts and their Branches countrywide.
Reflections on CCM’s performance.
It is a generally accepted practice, that on an occasion such as this one of celebrating the Organization’s anniversary, for its members to reflect on the organization’s performance in the previous year; and to make appropriate plans for the coming year. In the case of Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM); what quickly comes to mind when making reflections on its performance during the year that is coming to an end, is to rejoice in its unprecedented huge victory in the 2020 general election. That, is indeed proper and most appropriate.
But, lest we take such results for granted, I would strongly suggest, that it is vitally necessary to also reflect on the true factors, which facilitated the achievement of that unprecedented victory. And in that connection, I’d venture to assert that the principal facilitating factor in this case was, basically, the dedicated efforts and superb performance of our iconic leader, the CCM Chairman and President of the United Republic of Tanzania, ndugu John Pombe Joseph Magufuli; whose acclaimed dedicated efforts were wholeheartedly and effectively supported and complemented, by the millions of his supporters well-wishers, who dutifully turned up at their respective polling stations to cast their invaluable votes.
This assertion is based on my personal experience of the elections which were taking place during prolonged era of the “One-party” political dispensation of yester years; when practically no efforts needed to be taken by the party itself to enable it to become the ruling party
by winning the right to form the government of the day; since that right was granted, and guaranteed, by the country’s Constitution itself.
It is only after the return to multi-party politics on 1st July, 1992; that this constitutional privilege was removed; and thus CCM became obliged to compete against other political parties, in order to win the peoples’ mandate for becoming the ruling party, by winning the relevant general election. Thus, even as the CCM comrades celebrate 44 years of continuously being the ruling party, they must not lose sight of their crucial obligation, which is to continue doing all that is necessary in order to enable their party to win future general elections, and thus remain in power as the ruling party. This obligation must not be ignored.
Why this reminder is necessary.
This reminder is necessary because of the sharp decline in the Presidential election results that was recorded in the 2010 general election when CCM recorded a sudden sharp decline from its usually high electoral performance level; and, in particular, to reflect on the reasons for such decline; which therefore must be avoided in order to save the party from falling into such pitfalls again.
by winning the right to form the government of the day; since that right was granted, and guaranteed, by the country’s Constitution itself.
It is only after the return to multi-party politics on 1st July, 1992; that this constitutional privilege was removed; and thus CCM became obliged to compete against other political parties, in order to win the peoples’ mandate for becoming the ruling party, by winning the relevant general election. Thus, even as the CCM comrades celebrate 44 years of continuously being the ruling party, they must not lose sight of their crucial obligation, which is to continue doing all that is necessary in order to enable their party to win future general elections, and thus remain in power as the ruling party. This obligation must not be ignored.
Why this reminder is necessary.
This reminder is necessary because of the sharp decline in the Presidential election results that was recorded in the 2010 general election when CCM recorded a sudden sharp decline from its usually high electoral performance level; and, in particular, to reflect on the reasons for such decline; which therefore must be avoided in order to save the party from falling into such pitfalls again.
In the 2010 Presidential election, CCM’s victory declined from a high 82.25% of all the valid votes counted in the previous 2005 election, to a low 60.17% in the 2010 election. Fortunately though, CCM’s score in the Parliamentary elections remained very high, the party having obtained 186 of the 239 parliamentary seats available, amounting to a handsome 78.2%; followed by CUF which won 24 seats, CHADEMA with 23 seats, NCCR-MAGEUZI 4 seats; TLP and UDP with 1 seat each.
Reflections on this sudden decline.
This sudden decline (or drastically reduced victory) in the Presidential election results was, primarily, the result of internal failures within the party itself; which I described at that time as “self-inflicted injuries”; which had led to what may be characterized as ‘collective public anger’ against CCM. This was caused by two categories of events:-
Reflections on this sudden decline.
This sudden decline (or drastically reduced victory) in the Presidential election results was, primarily, the result of internal failures within the party itself; which I described at that time as “self-inflicted injuries”; which had led to what may be characterized as ‘collective public anger’ against CCM. This was caused by two categories of events:-
(i) Corruption-related scandals which were directly associated with certain CCM government national leaders; and
(ii) Its imprudent selection of unelectable candidates for the Parliamentary and Local Authority elections.
The two most talked about scandals were the “Richmond” scandal, and the EPA scandal. The Richmond scandal was brought to light through a heated debate in the National Assembly, which eventually resulted in the forced resignation of the then Prime Minister, Edward Lowassa; who agreed to take political responsibility for that scandal. But the said National Assembly debate also created far greater harm and damage to CCM’s cherished unity; for it produced two antagonistic groups among the CCM members of Parliament.
The said groups were respectively code-named as “the Mafisadi” group, and the Anti-mafisadi group. And for this particular purpose, the word “mafisadi” was re-designed to be the Kiswahili insult equivalent of “corrupt bastards”. This resulted in some serious in-fighting between these groups, with each actively seeking the downfall of its rival, come the next (2010) parliamentary election.
The EPA scandal.
The ‘Richmond scandal’ was followed in quick succession, by even more damaging accusations directed at a number of leading CCM named personalities. The accusations were in relation to money which was allegedly stolen from the External Payments Account (EPA) of the Bank of Tanzania. The accusations were not investigated, or publicly denied; which, naturally, generated understandable anger among many Tanzanians, and greatly contributed to the general loss of public confidence in the ruling party. Furthermore, this ‘inaction’ on the part of the CCM Government was perceived as a deliberate attempt to protect the “mafisadi” cadres within its ranks.
The imprudent selection of candidates.
CCM’s ‘self-inflicted injuries’ continued when, at the time of selecting candidates for the 2010 parliamentary and Local Authority elections; the party’s National Executive Committee carelessly selected as candidates, some of the persons who were accused of having been involved in the EPA scandal; and this was perceived to be further confirmation that the CCM leadership was deliberately protecting the accused persons within its ranks.
The EPA scandal.
The ‘Richmond scandal’ was followed in quick succession, by even more damaging accusations directed at a number of leading CCM named personalities. The accusations were in relation to money which was allegedly stolen from the External Payments Account (EPA) of the Bank of Tanzania. The accusations were not investigated, or publicly denied; which, naturally, generated understandable anger among many Tanzanians, and greatly contributed to the general loss of public confidence in the ruling party. Furthermore, this ‘inaction’ on the part of the CCM Government was perceived as a deliberate attempt to protect the “mafisadi” cadres within its ranks.
The imprudent selection of candidates.
CCM’s ‘self-inflicted injuries’ continued when, at the time of selecting candidates for the 2010 parliamentary and Local Authority elections; the party’s National Executive Committee carelessly selected as candidates, some of the persons who were accused of having been involved in the EPA scandal; and this was perceived to be further confirmation that the CCM leadership was deliberately protecting the accused persons within its ranks.
And as that alone was not enough, the CCM NEC also selected certain applicants who were generally known to have corruptly bought the largest number of preference votes (kura za maoni) in their respective constituencies; in unfair preference over popular candidates, who were thus unjustifiably denied selection, thus generating additional collective public anger against CCM in the affected areas.
The cumulative negative effect of all these political blunders was reflected not only in the loss of a number of what were previously regarded as “safe” CCM constituencies; but also in the lowest ever voter turnout on election day itself, when only 42% of the registered voters actually turned up to cast their votes. (only 8,398,394, out of 20,137,300 registered voters).
The cumulative negative effect of all these political blunders was reflected not only in the loss of a number of what were previously regarded as “safe” CCM constituencies; but also in the lowest ever voter turnout on election day itself, when only 42% of the registered voters actually turned up to cast their votes. (only 8,398,394, out of 20,137,300 registered voters).
The general presumption at the time was that this low turnout of voters was caused by the perception that CCM had failed to take appropriate action against the suspected “mafisadi”, hence, as a punishment, they should be denied the vote they were seeking. This, considered together with the fact that there were constituents where even supporters of CCM were greatly disappointed when their popular candidates had been unjustifiably denied selection, is what accounted for such low voter turnout, as a result of people deciding to stay at home, in angry protest, on polling day.
This “collective anger was visible in even the next following 20015 Presidential election, after CCM had rejected the seemingly popular candidate Edward Lowassa, when the election results regisered an even further decline in the CCM candidate’s victory level to 58%; down from the 61.17% obtained in 2010.
Chairman Magufuli reverses this trend.
President John Magufuli was elected national CCM chairman on 23rd July, 2016. Six months later on 13th December, 2016; he chaired a meeting of the CCM National Executive Committee (NEC), at which he made his debut in introducing welcome changes or, in his own words, “mabadiliko yenye tija”.
That NEC meeting made some very significant ‘surgical’ changes, to the party’s organizational structure, and on its operations. These were, indeed, positive and welcome changes, which were both necessary and timely.
They were “necessary” because the previous structure (which had been designed for use under the “one-party” political system), had long outlived its applicability under the current multi-party political system. For example, whereas under the provisions of the One-party Constitution, “all political activities were to be conducted by, or under the auspices of the party”; its role was totally different under the multi-party system, in which CCM’s role was “to participate in general elections, with a view to winning the relevant election and forming the government of the day”.
And they were “timely” because they introduced very significant new enthusiasm and confidence, in the party’s ability to rebrand itself; which was greatly reinforced by Chairman Magufuli’s unprecedented performance in implementing the party’s election manifesto, during his first term in office. These are the factors which, obviously, account for the unprecedented huge victory that was easily obtained by CCM in the 2020 general election, and which actually put the opposition political parties “ in abeyance”. This, indeed, was a very fundamental party transformation.
This “collective anger was visible in even the next following 20015 Presidential election, after CCM had rejected the seemingly popular candidate Edward Lowassa, when the election results regisered an even further decline in the CCM candidate’s victory level to 58%; down from the 61.17% obtained in 2010.
Chairman Magufuli reverses this trend.
President John Magufuli was elected national CCM chairman on 23rd July, 2016. Six months later on 13th December, 2016; he chaired a meeting of the CCM National Executive Committee (NEC), at which he made his debut in introducing welcome changes or, in his own words, “mabadiliko yenye tija”.
That NEC meeting made some very significant ‘surgical’ changes, to the party’s organizational structure, and on its operations. These were, indeed, positive and welcome changes, which were both necessary and timely.
They were “necessary” because the previous structure (which had been designed for use under the “one-party” political system), had long outlived its applicability under the current multi-party political system. For example, whereas under the provisions of the One-party Constitution, “all political activities were to be conducted by, or under the auspices of the party”; its role was totally different under the multi-party system, in which CCM’s role was “to participate in general elections, with a view to winning the relevant election and forming the government of the day”.
And they were “timely” because they introduced very significant new enthusiasm and confidence, in the party’s ability to rebrand itself; which was greatly reinforced by Chairman Magufuli’s unprecedented performance in implementing the party’s election manifesto, during his first term in office. These are the factors which, obviously, account for the unprecedented huge victory that was easily obtained by CCM in the 2020 general election, and which actually put the opposition political parties “ in abeyance”. This, indeed, was a very fundamental party transformation.
Thus, as we celebrate the 44th anniversary of CCM’s birth date tomorrow; I strongly recommend that we should take some time to reflect on this fundamental transformation; and more specifically, on the vital lesson to be learnt there from which, in my humble opinion, is that the grand electoral victory that was scored by CCM at the 2020 general election was, basically, the result of the dedicated efforts and performance of our dedicated, iconic leader, CCM Chairman and united Republic President, John Pombe Magufuli; which was willingly, wholeheartedly, and effectively supported and supplemented, by the millions of his supporters (call them the kindred spirits), who dutifully turned up at their respective polling stations to cast their invaluable votes.
The need to resolve to keep up this spirit.
President Magufuli’s leadership style and performance has won the hearts of many, certainly in Tanzania, but also beyond our borders. CCM members and leaders at all levels of the party structure, should therefore unanimously resolve to keep the same spirit up during the whole of the coming year, namely that of wholeheartedly supporting our President and national party Chairman, in all his dedicated endeavours to transform our great community of Tanzanians. And may the lord God, grant us peace.
piomsekwa@gmail.com /0754767576.
President Magufuli’s leadership style and performance has won the hearts of many, certainly in Tanzania, but also beyond our borders. CCM members and leaders at all levels of the party structure, should therefore unanimously resolve to keep the same spirit up during the whole of the coming year, namely that of wholeheartedly supporting our President and national party Chairman, in all his dedicated endeavours to transform our great community of Tanzanians. And may the lord God, grant us peace.
piomsekwa@gmail.com /0754767576.
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