CCM picks Stephen Wassira as new deputy chair
President Samia Suluhu Hassan shakes hand with Stephen Wassira, CCM party's new vice-chairperson for the Mainland.
What you need to know:
- Wassira is a surprise choice to fill the vacancy left by Abdulrahman Kinana who resigned abruptly in July last year.
- The 80-year old Wassira will be President Samia's principal advisor, along with Zanzibar President Hussein Mwinyi.
Tanzania’s ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party on Saturday named 80-year old Stephen Wassira as its new vice-chairperson for the Mainland.
He will be President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s right-hand man in strategising for the General Election due later this year in October.
Wassira, a veteran CCM member with over half a century of experience in party and govenment affairs, was unveiled as the chosen nominee to delegates attending CCM’s extraordinary general assembly which began in Dodoma on Saturday.
He had been nominated on Friday by the party’s top decision-making organ, the Central Committee, in a closed session. The endorsement by the estimated 2,000 assembly delegates was expected to be a formality on Saturday January 18.
Surprise choice
Wassira is a surprise choice to fill the vacancy left by Abdulrahman Kinana who resigned abruptly in July last year. The new mainland Vice-Chairperson trashed pre-meeting predictions that had pinpointed former Tanzanian Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda as the most likely candidate.
In effect, he will be President Samia's principal advisor, along with Zanzibar President Hussein Mwinyi who is vice-chair for the semi-autonomous archipelago. Their primary duty will be to lead CCM's campaign to maintain its firm grip on domestic politics in the election later this year.
Born in Bunda, Mara region in July 1945, Wassira has been involved in CCM-affiliated politics since 1975 when he was first appointed by then President Julius Nyerere to be the Mara regional commissioner at the age of 30.
Stints as a cabinet minister
His resume also includes stints as a cabinet minister in several capacities during past presidential eras including that of Nyerere, Ali Hassan Mwinyi and Jakaya Kikwete.
And despite often being in and out of government and spending long periods of time on the sidelines, he has remained a wily operator within the inner workings of a party which is susceptible to regular factional splits behind its facade of secretiveness
This streetwise reputation appears to have been a major factor in his latest nomination, as it could prove valuable for President Samia's bid to retain control of the party she leads even as she eyes an extension of her incumbency for another five years to 2030.
The CCM assembly was set to continue until Sunday with other items on the agenda including a review of the party’s progress in implementing its manifesto from the last general election in 2020.
