Battle for Arusha enters new phase

 Arusha. The political battle for control of Arusha, pitting CCM and Chadema, is now moving to the corridors of the City Council, the seat of power that is second only to Dar es Salaam in economic importance.   

Buoyed by their clean sweep of all the four wards in Sunday’s by-election, the leading opposition party says its focus is now firmly fixed on toppling the ruling CCM from the coveted mayoral seat.

The stage for the show down has been set with incumbent mayor Gaudance Lyimo declaring he would not step down from the seat much as Chadema eclipsed CCM in the number of councillors at the City Hall.     

“I have no intention of quitting; instead of scheming how to remove me,  Chadema leaders should direct their numerical strength in serving the people of Arusha,” declared Mr Lyimo in an interview yesterday.

“It is virtually impossible to remove me, their huge win notwithstanding. The law requires a two-third majority vote to remove a mayor or chairman from office. Chadema cannot meet that threshold without the backing of CCM,” said Mr Lyimo.

Following Sunday’s win at Elerai, Kaloleni, Kimandolu and Themi wards, Chadema has raised the tally of its councillors to 15 while CCM has 14. This includes respective nominated and special seats members.          The Tanzania Labour Party (TLP) holds two  seats.

Chadema is, however, poised to raise its number to 16 councillors when the National Electoral Commission finally grants an additional nominated seat that remained vacant when the opposition party defrocked the four civic leaders who were replaced on Sunday. 

Additionally, CCM’s number could fall short of Chadema’s by two seats if the party fails to retain the Sombetini Ward after the CCM ticket holder councillor defected to the opposition.  The Sombetini by-election is scheduled for September and the opposition party is tipped to snatch it.  

With a total of 32 councillors, it means that Chadema will need support of at least 21 councillors to depose Mayor Lyimo. Assuming it wins Sombetini Ward, and also bags the support of the two TLP councillors, the opposition party will still fall short of the threshold by two. “They will need CCM to reach there but let me assure you that is impossible and I am sitting pretty and doing my job as usual,” bragged Mr Lyimo.

The TLP councillors  initially aligned with CCM and even got the deputy’s mayor’s position but have since withdrawn their backing.

Yesterday Chadema secretary for the Northern Zone Mr Amani Golugwa told The Citizen his party would not be deterred by CCM clinging to the mayoral seat and would use other means necessary to enforce their development agenda.

“They can boast of the imposed mayor but vital resolutions are made by a vote of the majority councillors in our reach now. We will use that to effect policies that Chadema believes will bring prosperity for Arusha,” said Mr Golugwa.

 An official of the city council yesterday said the new Special Seats councillor will have to be nominated by the party and forwarded to the National Electoral Commission (NEC), for endorsement or approval.

 The operations of the Arusha city council have paced on since Dec2010 although largely boycotted by Chadema councillors since the party has vowed not to recognize Mr Lyimo. An official privy to the running of the local government said she was not aware if Chadema would press for the election of the new mayor.