Kinana set to take over as CCM vice chairperson
What you need to know:
- He said the party has therefore nominated Mr Kinana to succeed Mr Mangula who has displayed an outstanding and successful service.
Dar es Salaam. Mixed opinions yesterday greeted the CCM nomination of former secretary general Abdulrahman Kinana as the new vice chairman succeeding, Mr Philip Mangula who has resigned.
In the decisions announced yesterday, CCM through its top organs; the National Executive Council (NEC) and the Central Committee (CC) reinstated membership of former Foreign Affairs minister Bernard Membe and his Zanzibar former member, Mr Abdullah Diwani Maulidi.
Mr Kinana resigned on May 28, 2018, something that sparked speculations that he was unhappy with the then verification of party’s properties.
The exercise was bestowed to the then University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) lecturer who came to succeed Mr Kinana as party’s secretary general, Dr Bashiru Ally.
But, Mr Membe was stripped of his CCM membership on February 28, 2020 after appearing before the party’s Ethics and Security committee that was instructed to summon and question him. Other former secretary generals Mr Kinana and Yusuph Makamba were also questioned after implicating them with conspiracy campaigns against the party leader and Head of State President John Magufuli.
Following the expulsion, Mr Membe then joined the opposition, ACT-Wazalendo, where he was picked as party’s presidential candidate for the 2020 General Election.
However, he resigned from party membership and advisory chairmanship early last year, noting that he would remain an ordinary citizen. But, yesterday, CCM secretary of Ideology and Publicity, Mr Shaka Hamdu Shaka said meetings of party’s NEC and CC that convened ahead the today’s extraordinary general congress firmly accepted retirement request submitted by Mr Mangula.
He said the party has therefore nominated Mr Kinana to succeed Mr Mangula who has displayed an outstanding and successful service.
“Mr Kinana has been nominated after a series of meetings in the party. The said meetings also made the decision to reinstate the two expelled members, Mr Membe and Mr Abdullah Diwani Maulidi of Zanzibar,” he said.
Mr Shaka said Mr Kinana was expected to be endorsed by today’s extraordinary meeting of the general congress scheduled to be chaired by party’s national chairperson, President Samia Suluhu Hassan.
Regarding Mr Membe and his colleague, he said: “We have received three letters seeking forgiveness and an audience with CCM top leaders from both of them. They wanted to express their feelings regarding what transpired, therefore through NEC and the CC the ruling party has forgiven them.”
But, yesterday, political analysts said CCM was now returning to ‘their owners’, challenging the youth to assess themselves over party’s lack of confidence in them to the extent of returning to the old blood.
Speaking to The Citizen, a political analyst from the University of Dodoma (Udom), Dr Godfrey Sansa said Mr Kinana’s comeback was good news for CCM because of his political experience.
He said his experience would significantly benefit the ruling party as it continue with intra-party elections as well as preparing for the 2024 local government elections and the 2025 General Election. “But, the appointment raises many questions over competence and trust in the party because Kinana’s comeback in the leadership was unprecedented. Therefore, the youth need to assess themselves to establish what went wrong,” he said
The Udom don said Mr Kinana’s comeback was also the challenge to the ruling CCM to strengthen its succession plan by grooming many youth to become bona fide members and trustful leaders.
He said CCM should continue honouring long-serving leaders after retirement in the capacity of advisors instead of taking them to the frontline.
However, a senior lecturer at the University of Iringa (UoI), Dr Stephen Kimondo, said the nomination clearly demonstrates the ruling party’s decision to take back the party to its owners.
He said by nominating Mr Kinana, CCM has decided to give the position to someone who knows each and everything about the party after witnessing recent political tides.
“There are a lot of the youth who could be entrusted with senior positions like that but recently they went astray and engage in immoral incidents,” he said.
He said their credibility could be proved also through public statements they make, things that anger some party elders.
Apart from endorsing decisions made by the NEC, today’s CCM extraordinary meeting of the general congress is also expected to amend the party’s constitution to meet the present and future demands.
