What will it take for ACT to achieve its Brand Promise?

Unguja. The sole objective of every political party is to win an election and take over power, that is what politicians tell us, but this, is easier said than done.

For almost three months, opposition party ACT –Wazalendo has been crisscrossing the Isles where they held 12 rallies in both Unguja and Pemba to market to the electorate what they have christened as the ‘Brand Promise’.

The rallies came after the lifting of the ban against political activities, something that politicians on both divides say has breathed a fresh air into the political space.

 So far, it all points to a peaceful politicking with the police playing their role of maintaining law and order.

In ACT Wazalendo's vice chairman and First Vice president Othman Masoud Othman’s words, the party was only two years old when the clampdown on political activities was imposed by the 5^th phase government.

“We missed out on building and strengthening the party at the grassroots which is the basis on which every strong party that desires to rule any country is built,” Mr Othman told The Citizen in an interview in June.

The rallies and later on the youth conference that was held in Unguja attracted hundreds of supporters and well-wishers, where Mr Othman, Ismail Jussa Ladhu, Nassor Mazrui, Mansour Yussuf Himid, Salim Bimani and other speakers touched on key issues they believe are ideal in the development of Zanzibar.

The Brand Promise

In setting their agenda for 2025, ACT Wazalendo came up with the brand promise which they say is a catalogue of how they would like to govern Zanzibar should they be elected into power by the citizens.

According to Mr Othman, the ‘Brand Promise’ is what the party stands for and it is a long term vision of the party on key issues in the governance of the country.

“It is what the party promises to the Citizens, to the people of Zanzibar if it is elected to run the government for 10 years from 2025. We have two sets of promises one for mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar, so it is essentially how the party will address key issues and how it will impact on Zanzibar and Tanzania Mainland,” he told gatherings at different rallies.

With the 2025 elections almost two years away some have questioned the rationale of taking the ‘Brand Promise’ to the electorate so early, wondering whether they will have the final push to finish the race.

However, even then Mr Othman and his lieutenants say there are certain issues that need to be brought to order before the General Election in 2025 which include good governance, change in the electoral laws and above all the constitution.

“We are in the government of National Unity, but again, we are in the opposition. So as party, we have the role of overseeing the government, we have to speak out on issues of public concern and to reflect on alternative policies as opposition. That is what we are doing and despite the fact we are not happy, we still have the role to provide alternative thinking on a number of issues,” Mr Othman and other speakers on many occasions reiterated this stand during the rallies.

And it has won them plaudits including Deputy Secretary General of Chama Cha Mapindzi (CCM) Zanzibar, Muhamed Dimwa, who at one point admitted that they were picking some points from the ACT rallies and acting upon them.

The new Zanzibar

One of the most contentious issues that the party has put across is the idea of the new Zanzibar which ACT says is all about how the country, how the government, public issues should be run as opposed to the state of affairs right now.

However, critics of the party believe it is an antagonistic approach towards solving the issues that plague the island nation which includes the nature of the union set up.

ACT Wazalendo stalwarts, disagree with this assessment saying it is all about empowering the ordinary Zanzibari on how the affairs of their nation is run.

“The people of Zanzibar have a vision of where they want to go, for example, their identity for example if you ask any Zanzibari one thing that is lost, which the ruling party doesn’t seem to care about is the identity of Zanzibar,” Mr Othman told a gathering at Nyarugusu. 

He added: Zanzibar before the union in 1964 was a sovereign country that had its own culture, but it had its own history and now with the union that Identity is lost.

In the party’s assessment the idea of a new Zanzibar is not relevant not only within Zanzibar but with the East African Coast. So there are a number of issues that they think needs to be addressed in order to take Zanzibar to the civilized nation that it once was.

Top on the agenda is the issue of Zanzibar having a full autonomy and power to decide on what they consider are Zanzibari issues that do not pertain to the union.

This, too, has wrecked nerves within the ruling party with CCM publicity Secretary- Zanzibar Khamis Mbeto Khamis equating it to the desire to secede.

State of the Union

But is the new Zanzibar with a full autonomy to handle its own affairs pro union?

ACT in the rallies maintain that they want to stay in the union given the unrivaled advantages that it provides plus its proximity to trade blocks such as the EAC and SADC.

In their view they want a union which is fair and equitable.

Vice chairman Mr Othman told supporters on numerous occasions that the union was part of the geopolitics of the time, the interests of big nations by then.

“The paradigm has shifted, we should look at the union in the economic perspective, it should give room for Zanzibar to grow. The economic development of Zanzibar has been retarded partly because of the Union, for example, Zanzibar cannot use the same fiscal policy as Mainland Tanzania because in the first place it is a big economy with a population of about 60 million people whereas Zanzibar is less than 2 million,” he said.

He added: This means we have economic circumstances that demand a special fiscal framework, for example income tax is a union matter, so how could Zanzibar attract capital into its economy using the union framework.

Therefore, they maintain that in the new Zanzibar is one they want to negotiate a new deal for Zanzibar within the union.

“So it is not a question of being pro-union or not, because for every serious person the union is a unique opportunity because it takes us into close proximity with a big economy which we cannot afford to miss as a small jurisdiction. But under what terms?” Mr Othman questions

Watching over the government

Observers from certain sections do not agree with ACT’s assertions on some of the issues that are plaguing the administration because they serve the same government.

However, ACT says that as an opposition party, it is their duty to watch over the activities of the government, this is despite the fact that they are part of the Government of National Unity (GNU).

During the rallies they put the government to task on several issues including government spending on projects that they claim did not meet the prerequisite of the procurement laws in the country.

This to them points to corruption amongst top government officials and on top of it is how several government tenders were awarded including the reconstruction of Amani Stadium which the government awarded to a contractor as an emergency.

“Who among us did not know that in 2024, Zanzibar’s revolution will turn 60 years old? And how does that become an emergence?” questioned Ismail Jussa.

Among other issues the party also questioned the huge amount of money allocated for the tender.

"The other day, the Union government announced it had secured a contractor for the rehabilitation of the 60,000-seater Benjamin Mkapa Stadium at Sh31 billion, and yet the rehabilitation of the 12,000-seater Amani Stadium is set to cost Sh52 billion. This is not possible and points towards only one thing! Corruption!" said Mr Jussa.

Other areas that they consider as unsatisfactory is the awarding of the construction of the Airport Road contract, the management of the Airport by Dubai Company Dnata, Malindi Port management contract and most recently a case filed against the United Republic of Tanzania at the World Bank Tribunal by Pennyroyal who were the developers of Blue Amber Resort.

CCM counter offensive

The ruling party on the other hand has not been idle either, taking the ACT allegations stride by stride saying the opposition has fallen short of mentioning the achievement scored by Hussein Mwinyi’s government.

Defending the allegations levied against his administration President Hussein Mwinyi in one of his addresses said that those who were criticising the procurement procedures were envious because his government has implemented development projects in record time, pre-empting detractors’ anti-government agenda.

“We wanted to reconstruct the Amani Stadium in time for the 60th anniversary of the revolution on January 12. If we had opted for an open tender, it would have taken us a very long time for the successful bidder to start work and deliver the project on time.

This is why we settled on Orkun and CRJE because they were already here and have the capability of delivering in the required period,” said Dr Mwinyi.

The opposition however refuse to buy this argument saying the celebration of the 60^th anniversary cannot be treated as an emergence.

Dr Mwinyi says there was no law that was broken.

“The guys are already at work, ready to deliver a FIFA Standard stadium that can host such games now that Tanzania is bidding to host the 2027 AFCON tournament,” he told journalists.

Regarding the Malindi Port, he said that it was the heartbeat of Zanzibar’s economy, and it had reached a point where ships had to spend up to two months waiting to offload cargo because the port operations were manual in this era of automation. The inefficient port operations affected the economy, he noted.

The campaigns for the 2025 General Election could be some two years away but as it seems the gloves are off and the two leading parties that form the GNU are ready take on each other in what promises to be a mouth watering contest.