Authors: LYDIA SHEKIGHENDA and ELKANA KUHENGA
AfricaPress-Tanzania: ACADEMICIANS and some politicians have commended the entire process and procedures applied by CCM in nominating its winning team of parliamentary candidates for the forthcoming General Election, saying it has demonstrated high level of political and democratic maturity.
They said that the process was participatory from the grass-roots to the national level.
CCM announced its candidates for parliamentary seats on Thursday with new and old faces featuring in the list and several bigwigs losing to young blood.
The Party’s Publicity and Ideology Secretary, Mr Humphrey Polepole, said that the appointing authority had taken into account various factors, including trustworthiness, hard work and selflessness.
Tanzania Episcopal Conference (TEC) Secretary General Dr Charles Kitima said that political parties participating in this year’s General Election had demonstrated a high level of political and democratic maturity in nominating candidates who will fly their flags in the October Election.
“We have witnessed political parties abiding by their procedures of getting the contestants from the grassroots to the national levels, which had given opportunities for parties’ members to give their views, thus making the entire process more inclusive,” he said.
Dr Kitima noted that, political parties taking part in this year’s General Election, including CCM, Chama Cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo (Chadema), Civic United Front (CUF), ACT – Wazalendo , Tanzania Labour Party (TLP) and NCCR – Mageuzi have nominated its candidates through a participatory approach which is suitable for a country being governed by democratic principles.
“The approach used to get the candidates has strengthened democracy and prevented misunderstandings… it is upon the nominees to ensure that they deliver on people’s expectations if elected in the General Election,” Dr Kitima remarked.
He further observed that this year’s nomination has been transparent, attracting more youth to aspire for councillorship, parliamentary and representative posts.
Former Deputy Rector of the Centre for Foreign Relations and economic diplomacy expert, Prof Wetengere Kitojo, said that CCM had shown a high level of political maturity.
“I am not a member of any political party but I have been following the entire process of obtaining the candidates … the process has been transparent and participatory … the appointing authority has noticed some mistakes done at the grassroots and worked on them … this is commendable,” he said.
He noted that basing on the approach used by CCM in appointing the candidates, it is obvious that voters will choose their representatives basing on development attained and not otherwise.
“Even in diplomacy issues, it must begin within the country and not outside … if we strengthen our domestic issues, we can also promote foreign diplomacy,” Prof Kitojo said.
Prof Gaudence Mpangala, a political scientist at Ruaha Catholic University (RUCU) said that the nomination process went well because it involved people from the grassroots.
He said that people at the grassroots were familiar with the candidates, thus it was important to respect their choice, especially during this era of multiparty democracy.
Meanwhile, some CCM cadres who lost nomination are optimistic with the party’s decision in picking its flag bearers for the forthcoming election.
Former Member of Parliament for Shinyanga Stephen Masele said he had received the party’s decision of appointing Patrobas Katambi for the position with great respect, stressing that he is still on board to support his party in the upcoming elections.
“I have received my party’s decision with great respect and I thank the people of Shinyanga as well as the party leaders for giving me the opportunity to be an MP for the past ten years… party members should unite in order to win the election,” he said.
Dominic Jacob, who led in the primaries’ results in Kawe Constituency was unlucky as Bishop Josephat Gwajima was nominated to represent the party.
“I am thankful to my party and its members, including those who voted for me in the preliminary stage. Our mission is to win back Kawe and so I respect my party’s decision to appoint Bishop Gwajima to run for the seat.”
The former CCM Dar es Salaam Regional Secretary, Mohamed Ligola, asserted that he is sure that those who had been appointed will get full support from their fellow members due to the criteria used in the nomination process.
The party did not consider only votes but also other factors such as hard work and selflessness, which are also important for any person aspiring for leadership positions.
