Bernard Membe joins demand for Independent electoral commission
What you need to know:
The former top diplomat says it is something that he told the CCM ethics committee in Dodoma when they called him for questioning.
Dar es Salaam. He was expelled from the ruling party CCM for what the party deemed a breach of its ethics, and now, the former Foreign Affairs Minister Bernard Membe has joined the debate on the demand for an independent electoral body.
In a tweeter post, Membe who was Tanzania’s top diplomat says that the current political climate demands for an independent electoral commission that is representative.
“I said it at the ethics committee, and let me say it again. The prevailing political climate calls for an electoral commission that is independent, representative and transparent at both national and district level,” he wrote.
He says that it is for that reason that he is supporting the voices that are seeking for its establishment.
Membe’s joins the call by opposition parties who have in recent past voiced their concern, saying going to polls with the same electoral commission would be a waste of time.
They include Chadema’s chairman Freeman Mbowe and ACT Wazalendo’s Maalim Seif Sharif Hamad
Ruling party CCM has on February 28, 2020 elected to expel Mr Bernard Membe after the Central Committee (CC) meeting that among other things received and discussed a report submitted its Ethics and Security committee.
The committee had earlier on summoned and questioned Mr Membe and former secretary generals Abdulrahman Kinana and Yusuph Makamba for an alleged misconduct indicating serious diversion from party ethics and traditions.
Reading the CC resolutions at the CCM Lumumba offices in the city, party’s secretary of Ideology and Publicity Humphrey Polepole said the decision to strip Mr Membe of membership was reached after following the trend of his behavior since 2014.
“He has been committing ethical violations since 2014 and received various warnings that intended to give him opportunity to change his behavior something he hasn’t. Therefore, the CC has resolved to strip off his party membership,” said Mr Polepole.
He said the CC also has extended a warning to former secretary general, Mr Kinana who was put under close observation for the 18 months.
