Chadema names 3 for mayoral election

Dar es Salaam. The opposition party -- Chadema -- yesterday announced the names of its councillors it nominated to vie for mayoral posts in the Dar es Salaam City amid complaints over a foul play bent on sabotaging the polls.

The Chama cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo deputy secretary general (Zanzibar), Mr Salum Mwalimu, said the party had picked its three cadres for a mayoral posts for the city, Kinondoni and Ilala municipal councils.

He named the candidates as Isaya Mwita for the city mayor, Charles Kayego for the Ilala municipal council mayor, and Boniface Jacob for the Kinondoni municipal council mayor.

“The people gave Ukawa the mandate to govern the Dar es Salaam Region and we will do that with all our zeal by ensuring we either end or reduce all woes that have been inconveniencing them,” he said.

However, he noted that there wa a foul play the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) was engineering to defeat the opposition in those posts.

Going by the number of opposition councilors in those areas, Kinondoni and Ilala municipal councils were most likely to be governed by parties forming the Coalition of the Defenders of the People’s Constitution popularly known in its Kiswahili acronym as Ukawa.

Mr Mwalimu asserted that CCM was planning to sabotage the polls after it came to their attention that the ruling party was unethically planning to bring in special seats councillors from Zanzibar to vote for the mayoral posts.

In view of this, he called on the National Electoral Commission (NEC) to step in and end challenges that had been coming up since the exercise had started. Numerous challenges were noted especially in areas where the Opposition was leading, he explained.

In cases where the Opposition was leading with the number of councillors, NEC would misguide itself by giving CCM more chances for special seats candidates, he added.