Chadema unveils reworked policy

Dar es Salaam. Chadema unveiled its twelve-point policy yesterday as it seeks to bring the party closer to the people.

The policy was unveiled a few days after the party declared that it would boycott all upcoming by-elections, saying it would concentrate on rebuilding itself.

The party’s top brass, including chairman Freeman Mbowe and secretary-general Vincent Mashinji, released the revised 2018 edition of its guiding policy, which was first unveiled in 1993.

Based on the centre-right political ideology, the party’s policy shares the view that democratic societies provide individuals throughout the country with the best conditions for political liberty, personal freedom, equality of opportunity and economic development under the rule of law.

Chadema believes that political democracy and private property are inseparable components of individual liberty, and that a socially-oriented market economy provides the best means of creating wealth and material prosperity to meet the legitimate aspirations of individuals in addition to tackling social evils.

The policy covers a wide range of issues, which include the constitution, governance, social market economy, internal politics and social politics.

Other issues are education and science, health, land management, agriculture, infrastructure and environmental and foreign policies.

The revised edition of the policy aims to make sure that the country has a strong alternative party whose ideology is well understood by the people.

The underlying theme of the policy is a market-led economy that Chadema touts while making its ideology clear again that it is a centre-right political party which sees the private sector as the “saviour of the nation”.

The policy reiterates the party’s stance on the running of the national economy, arguing against a planned economy and stifling of the private sector, saying that most of the current national problems were due to a “neglected” private sector.

“The planned economy has failed the nation,” Mr Mbowe said when unveiling the policy.

“We’ll widen the scope of the way we intend to run the national economy by giving priority to the private sector, while leaving the government with its service provision and facilitation role.”

Dr Mashinji said that the policy makes the party’s vision clearer.

“We aim to building strong institutions instead of promoting a personality cult. The policy is crafted in such away that it gives our institutions maximum decision-making powers instead of leaving these powers in the hands of one person,” he said.