RE: [wanabidii] Why Tanzania's opposition is weak

To say that weakness of Internal Democracy and weak foundation are the only causes of the weakness of opposition in Tz is not a fair analysis. In my opinion, the cited causes are not even the major ones. Personally I think one of the major reasons is, multi party democracy although de iure was introduced in the country in the early 1990's, de facto the system has never been accepted by the Government, by the ruling party and, though this might look contradictory, even by the Constitution itself. Nevertheless, whether we like it or not the opposition parties are there to stay as they are now the landscape of the Tanzanian Politics.  The way I see it, these parties need to be nurtured and helped to be strong as only when there is a strong opposition, the chances of moving forward to the development of all and for are better than they are when there is a monopoly of a single political party in the political rostrum. It is just a matter of time!

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Date: Thu, 5 Dec 2013 00:29:55 -0800
From: hamisznz@gmail.com
To: wanabidii@googlegroups.com
Subject: [wanabidii] Why Tanzania's opposition is weak

By FRANK KIMBOY 

Tanzania's opposition politics is weak, analysts say, asserting that two decades after the re-introduction of multiparty democracy, no political outfit has emerged as a credible, strong alternative to the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM).

Power struggles have bedevilled the country's biggest opposition parties since the maiden multiparty general election of 1995, analysts interviewed said.

The current crisis in the main opposition party, Chadema, which has led to the demotion of fiery legislator Zitto Kabwe is no exception and follows the common script prevalent in other alternative parties, namely NCCR-Mageuzi, CUF and TLP, they said.

Mr Kabwe was removed as deputy secretary general, deputy leader of the Official Opposition in Parliament and shadow minister for Finance following accusations of sabotaging the party. He awaits a final verdict that could yet see him stripped of his Chadema membership.

The turbulence that has also affected two other party officials comes less than a year to Chadema's intra-party election. The party is expected to hold polls later this month ahead of its general election slated for June 23 to 30 next year.

Tanzanian analysts say the lack of internal democracy and weak foundations could be the opposition's undoing.

Same leaders

Mr Emmanuel Mallya, a political scientist at the Open University of Tanzania, wonders why some parties have had the same chairperson since their establishment.

"Look at the [United Democratic Party] UDP; it has been led by one person since its inception," he said.

The Civic United Front (CUF) has since 1991 had only three chairs, while the Tanzania Labour Party (TLP) has known only two national chairs.

CCM has also had only three chairs since multi-partysm emerged.

"This shows that most of our politicians are power hungry," said Mr Mallya.

Tanzania ruling party supporters. FILE

The Chadema crisis is attributed to lack of democracy within the party with the Kabwe camp arguing that he is the victim of power-mongering.

"Intra-party democracy has been a huge challenge in Tanzania and this is a consequence of the result of over three decades of single-party mentality as per the CCM clarion call of "Zidumu Fikra za Mwenyekiti"(Kiswahili for "Long live the chairman's thoughts)," Mr Kabwe told The Citizen.

He held up a Chadema decision to scrap term limits for party leadership as a vindication of his argument.

"Term limits give a party the chance to grow through leadership development. Different members have different ideas on how to bring the party forward," he said via email.

Not just limits

But Chadema national chairman Freeman Mbowe told The Citizen news that internal democracy isn't just about term limits.

"Being an opposition party chair isn't an easy task and I will be more than happy to hand over the position to another person provided that the constitution is adhered to; but I will continue to serve as long as party members want me to," he said.

Weak party foundations have also been blamed. According to Bashiru Ally, a political science lecturer at the University of Dar es Salaam, the upheaval in Chadema shows that it has like most other Tanzanian opposition parties a fragile base.

"If a sense of institutionalisation was there, it would have provided for intra-party conflict resolution and management mechanism to solve any differences," said Mr Ally.

He added that due to a lack of institutional frameworks, most political parties "are being run as private companies."

The NCCR-Mageuzi secretary-general Mr Samuel Ruhuza however said political parties should view conflicts as challenges to be overcome.

"Most of us were used to a single party system where the chairman's word was final... in trying to change that, we have ended up in serious wrangling, but I can assure you it's not only the Opposition that has intra-party fights; CCM has problems too," says Mr Ruhuza.

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