Mtei believes the opposition will someday assume power

Arusha. When you talk about the history of the multi-party system in Tanzania, the name Edwin Mtei cannot go unnoticed.

Mr Mtei, commonly referred to as Mzee, is one of the founders of the main opposition party, Chama cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo (Chadema).

Mzee Mtei, a former minister for Finance in the government of the late Mwalimu Julius Nyerere and former first Governor of the Bank of Tanzania (BOT) and former Secretary General of the East African Community (EAC), was one of the founding members of Chadema with the late Bob Makani and others.

Mzee Mtei despite being out of the political arena for many years, he still believes the opposition is growing stronger and will someday dethrone the Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party through the ballot box from ruling the country.

He says he is satisfied with the trend of the opposition, especially Chadema in its political struggles to lead the country and offer an alternative to CCM.

According to the veteran of the Tanzanian politics, Chadema has been very successful since its formation, adding he is proud of the youth of the party.

“They are doing a good job of bringing about reforms in the country as we did, now I cannot interfere in anything because they are doing well under the leadership of their chairman, Mr Freeman Mbowe,” says Mzee Mtei.

He adds: “Chama cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo will someday take power and this is our goal, they are doing a good job and many Tanzanians are supporting them.”

He says the secret behind the party’s success is that Tanzanians have continued to have faith in the party that has good policies of addressing their problems.

Mzee Mtei says the challenges that the party has been going through are the ones that increasingly make it become stronger and get motivated to do much better in politics.

“Every party has its challenges as even when we formed this party there were many challenges, but we managed to encounter them and to this day the party has remained active,” he says

Mzee Mtei, who is 90-year-old, has five children including Dr Lilian Mbowe who is the wife of Chadema chairman Freeman Mbowe and others who are Nora, Mashinda, Yohane and Kineneko.

The former BOT governor says he still believes that there is a need for a new constitution and the continued awareness of the freedom expression by citizens to carry out individual economic activities without obstacles.

Talking about the 30 years of the multi-party system in Tanzania, some residents of Arusha Region aired their views by saying that it has been very successful and the country is safe compared to other countries.

Mr Joram Munisi, a resident of Arusha Region, says for Tanzania to continue being safe without being drawn up into big conflicts, as it happens in other nations, is something to be proud of as we mark the 30th anniversary of the reintroduction of the opposition.

“We can see many nations have been embroiled in civil wars and major conflicts due to political differences, but for us, despite several challenges, political parties still survive and tolerate each another,” he says.

Another resident of Arusha, Ms Neema Lukumay, says the 30 years of multi-partyism have helped the nation to correct itself where there are challenges.

She said that explains that it needs to constantly improve its policies and laws including seeking views from its citizens in order to move with time.

“It is a good thing to see the nation is still united in the 30 years of many parties and the views of the opposition are collected and worked upon, although not very much” she says. She says the rise to power of President Samia Suluhu Hassan has continued to strengthen freedom and democracy, adding that now being an opponent is no longer considered a “sin” and the President herself has been sitting together with the opposition to discusses various issues.

Businessman Lucan Chuma says the majority of Tanzanians, when an argument about the reintroduction of the Opposition came up in 1992, were worried that the nation would have been drawn into chaos but now they have realised that many parties are not enemies. “Personally, I was one of those who cast votes, wanting the reintroduction of many parties and I’m thankful that we are going on smoothly although in the past six years there were some challenges,” he says.