Magufuli Promises better days as election campaigns kick off

Dodoma. Ruling party CCM yesterday commissioned its campaign for the October General Election promising better days ahead if it wins.

Party’s presidential candidate John Magufuli, who is seeking re-election, said he wants to accelerate the gains made in the last five years and deliver more in the second term.

“I have done a lot and you all are witnesses to this. I’m now asking for your vote to sustain the momentum and deliver new more,” said Dr Magufuli at the party’s first campaign rally at Jamhuri Stadium in the capital, Dodoma.

Dr Magufuli mentioned some of the flagship projects he championed in the past five years as including the construction of standard gauge railway and the Julius Nyerere Hydropower Project that will produce 2,115 megawatts.

He also mentioned the increase of number of students joining university and who benefit from study loans from 98,300 in 2015 to 130,885 in 2020 while energy access has improved from 35 percent to 85 percent.

“We will keep on taking measures to reduce poverty by stressing on sectors such as agriculture, tourism and mining which employ more people,” he said promising that he will ensure commercialization of agriculture.

Dr Magufuli also promised that CCM will ensure five more aircraft are bought for the state-run Air Tanzania Company Ltd (ATCL) including one for cargo.

The event, which started early morning to the evening, attracted residents of the new capital and those from neighbouring towns amid entertainment by famous Tanzanian artistes including Diamond Platnamz and Ali Kiba.

The meeting started with entertainment early in the morning and after speeches of the party leaders in the evening, the entertainment sessions continued.

Outside the venue, all was green as party outfits and various items were being sold by entrepreneurs seeking to capitalise on the event.

Some roads near the Jamhuri Stadium were temporarily blocked for the day to allow people to cross safely to the venue.

Apart from scanning of entrants and their belongings in one gate, the security officials also checked temperatures and ensure use of sanitisers before getting in the stadium for those who sat on stages.

That was a measure against possible spread of Covid-19 but no social distancing could be observed inside.

Manifesto introduced

The party introduced some of its parliamentary candidates from Dodoma Region and launched its manifesto for 2020-25.

CCM Secretary General Bashiru Ally also introduced some 18 MPs-elect who were declared as having passed unopposed by the National Electoral Commission (Nec) on Friday after opposition aspirants were all disqualified on various grounds.

“We are starting the campaigns, and we already have a capital of 18 MPs,” said Dr Bashiru.

Some of those who were unopposed include Speaker of the National Assembly Job Ndugai (Kongwa) and Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa (Ruangwa).

“In parliamentary democracy, as a Speaker, the issue is not only about contributing to the deliberations but it’s important for the CCM MPs to have a majority of two-thirds and above so that we can pass anything that is on table,” said Mr Ndugai.

Dr Bashiru also briefly highlighted the audience on the manifesto which will guide the government in the next five years.

Key highlights from the manifesto

The ruling party’s manifesto promises continuity of the “radical implementation” of the development agenda.

The 303-page document highlighted various issues touching the economic sector, good governance, social services, defence and security as well as Tanzania’s international cooperation.

Private sector

The party’s document explains that in the next five years, the government will ensure it creates positive attitudes among civil servants and ensure the private sector makes meaningful contribution towards industrial investment.

The CCM government will also accelerate the implementation of the reforms to improve business environment by implementing the Blueprint for Regulatory Reforms to Improve the Business Environment.

Poverty reduction

The manifesto indicates that Tanzania poverty had reduced from 28.2 percent in 2011/12 to 26.4 percent in 2017/18 and will introduce initiatives such as enterprise development centres in every region.

The manifesto also stresses on entrepreneurial training and lending working equipment to graduates of technical colleges.

Employment

The party targets at least seven million new jobs in the next five years by ensuring credit cooperatives and youth companies access loans from banks and other financial institutions. It will also cooperate with the private sector institutions for them to host graduates for internships to equip them with some necessary skills.

Agriculture

Agriculture employs over 60 percent of the Tanzania’s workforce and the ruling party says in the manifesto that it will supervise the sector’s revolution in the next five years.

Some of the promises to the sector include increasing irrigation farmland from the current 561,383 hectares to 1.2 million hectares by 2025. The party also promised 261 new irrigation schemes in 25 regions.

Industrialisation

CCM pledges that it will accelerate the gains of industrialization which has been implemented since 2015 when Dr Magufuli came into power the first time.

The part said it will attract the private sector to invest in establishing industries for inclusive economy. The government will also establish industrial clusters in every region depending on the availability of resources in that area.

Infrastructure

The ruling party aims at completing some 1,716.75km of road currently under construction and some new 6,006.04 kms to the tarmac level.

In Dar es Salaam, flyovers are planned at Chang’ombe, Uhasibu, Kamata, Morocco, Mwenge, Magomeni, Tabata, Fire and two junctions along Ali Hassan Mwinyi road and United Nations Road and Kinondoni Road. These are part of efforts to decongest Dar es Salaam City.

Mining

The party says it will ensure the mining sector benefits more Tanzanians by promoting small scale miners and ensure all large scale miners procure their products locally.

Tourism

The tourism sector was hit by Covid-19 and CCM states that it wants to increase the number of visitors from 1.5 million visitors in 2019 to five million visitors come 2025. The revenue from the sector is expected to rise from $2.6 billion in 2019 to $6 billion in the next five years.

Education

The government said it will continue with the provision of free education from primary to secondary school levels and increase human resources in higher learning institutions.

Health

The ruling party plans to increase health by 20 percent from the current 8,446 health centres across the country.

Corruption

CCM states that the fight against corruption will move on and will come up with new ways of accelerating the battle.