TANDAHIMBA MP on the Civic United Front (CUF) ticket, Mr Katani Katani has resigned his post and defected to the ruling party, CCM.
He becomes the second lawmaker to join CCM this year after Ndanda MP on the Chadema ticket, Cecil Mwambe, did the same last week at CCM’s sub-offices along Lumumba Street in Dar es Salaam.
Mr Katani was received by CCM Secretary General Dr Bashiru Ally in Nanyamba District, Mtwara region. Dr Bashiru is in the region for a three-day working tour.
Speaking to the ‘Daily News’, Dr Bashiru said Mr Katani joined the ruling party after he was attracted and satisfied by the good job being done by CCM in a number of areas, including the war against graft, construction of health facilities in Tandahimba and across the country, implementation of water, education and communication infrastructure projects.
Dr Ally is in Mtwara where, among other things, he inspected several projects, including the construction of a special zonal hospital in Mtwara, expansion of Mtwara airport, Mtwara Port and construction of roads and health centre.
Mr Katani becomes the fourth MP on the CUF ticket to resign and join CCM since 2015 general elections.
Others who did the same in the past are Maulid Mtulia (Kinondoni-Dar es Salaam), Abdallah Mtolea (Temeke-Dar es Salaam) and Zuberi Kuchauka (LiwaleLindi).
The three subsequently retained their legislative seats on CCM tickets. So far after the 2015 general elections, a total of twelve opposition lawmakers have defected to CCM.
Apart from Mr Katani, others are Mr Mwambe (Ndanda, Mtwara) Mwita Waitara (Ukonga, Dar es Salaam) Puline Gekul (Babati Urban, Manyara), James ole Millya (Simanjiro, Manyara), Joseph Mkundi (Ukerewe, Mwanza), Ryoba Marwa (Serengeti, Mara), Julius Kalanga (Monduli, Arusha) and Dr James Molel (Siha, Kilimanjaro).
