Waitara: Democracy isn’t cheap

Dar es Salaam. Former Ukonga Member of Parliament Mwita Waitara yesterday unequivocally defended the ongoing wave of party hopping and the subsequent by-elections, saying democracy was always expensive, dismissing the suggestion by many that the repeat polls were just unnecessary losses of taxpayers’ money.

Mr Waitara defected to CCM from Chadema where among other positions he was the MP for Ukonga Constituency.

CCM has nominated him to vie for the very same constituency in the up-coming by-election.

Approximately up to 100 opposition leaders, including councillors and members of parliament, have defected to CCM with Chadema being the hardest hit as almost 50 of its former leaders have since decamped to the ruling party. Other parties affected by the ‘trek’ are ACT-Wazalendo and CUF.

Critics have at different times aired their voices over the matter arguing that such moves only burden the taxpayer, as by-elections were costly and the money spent on them could have been put to better use.

But according to Mr Waitara, this whole debate was misleading noting that if people thought democracy was cheap then they got it all wrong. The politician told The Citizen yesterday during his visit to Mwananchi Communications Limited offices that as at present he had not heard of a project that stalled because money was directed in repeat polls.

He further remarked: “I’m not [even] sure that the taxes that people pay go to fund the by-elections”.

Mr Waitara, nevertheless, failed to say where funds for by-elections were sourced from.

In justifying his argument, when confronted by MCL reporters, Mr Waitara claimed that when he made the decision to resign his positions in Chadema, by-elections never occurred to him, as he was more focused on rejoining CCM. “Democracy [in] itself is a costly [process],” he said affirmatively. “The government is supposed to set aside the budget for funding [democracy],” added Waitara.