Analysts: Here’s why Opposition is troubled

Mr Zitto Kabwe (right) and Dr Kitila Mkumbo address a news conference in Dar es Salaam last week after the Chadema top brass stripped them of leadership positions within the party.

Dar es Salaam. Tanzania’s opposition politics is weak, analysts have asserted, claiming that two decades after the re-introduction of multiparty democracy, no political outfit has emerged as a credible, strong alternative to the ruling CCM.

Power struggles have bedevilled the country’s major opposition parties since the maiden multiparty General Election of 1995, they say. The current crisis in the main opposition party, Chadema which has led to demotion of Zitto Kabwe, the fiery MP for Kigoma North, is no exception. It follows the common scrip already played in other parties, namely NCCR-Mageuzi, CUF and TLP.

Mr Kabwe has been removed from the posts of deputy secretary general, deputy leader of the Official Opposition in Parliament and shadow minister for Finance following accusation of sabotaging the party. He is awaiting the final verdict that could see him being stripped of his Chadema membership.

The decision to kick out Mr Kabwe and two others, namely Dr Kitila Mkumbo and the then Chadema Arusha regional chairman, Mr Samsom Mgamba came less than a year to Chadema’s intra-party election. The party is expected to hold elections later this month ahead of its general election slated for June 23 to 30 next year.

Analysts say lack of internal democracy and weak foundations could be the opposition’s undoing. 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 UDP; it has been led by one person since its inception,” he notes.

The CUF has had, since 1991, only three chairs to date – James Mapalala, Musobi Mageni (the late) and the incumbent Prof Ibrahim Lipumba. Chadema has been chaired by founders Mr Edwin Mtei, Mr Bob Makani (the late) and the incumbent Freeman Mbowe while TLP has known only two national chairs. CCM too has had only three chairs since multi-partysm emerged. “This shows that most of our politicians are power hungry,” sums up Mr Mallya.

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

Mr Kabwe supports school of thought too. “Intra-party democracy has been a huge challenge in Tanzania and this is a consequence of result of over three decades of single-party mentality as per the CCM clarion call of “Zidumu Fikra za Mwenyekiti’ (Kiswahili for “Long live chairman’s thoughts),” he told The Citizen in an interview over the weekend.

He mentions the Chadema decision to scrap term limits for party leadership as vindication of his argument.

According to him, the initial Chadema Constitution set term limits and the decision to remove that was done by party founders in a 2006 amendment.

“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.