Samia’s new plan for CCM

Dar es Salaam. The CCM national chairperson, President Samia Suluhu Hassan, is proposing a slew of amendments to the party’s constitution in order to get it on the right track for the 2025 general election and beyond.

Under the changes, which were unanimously approved by the CCM general congress in Dodoma yesterday, President Hassan wants the party’s regional political and publicity secretaries to become employees of the secretariat. This implies that, unlike in the past, they will no longer have to be elected to the position.

“We have reached these decisions because the type of publicity secretaries we elect have been more busy singing at meetings than carrying CCM’s political ideology and spreading it more to the public,” she said.

She said that the modus operandi seems to have been leading to the election of inept individuals.

“We want to have responsible people to talk about the party well at the regional level,” she said.

According to President Hassan, hiring a publicity secretary will make the latter do the job responsibly because the processes will involve closer monitoring so that if someone does not perform well, his or her contract will be terminated and a qualified individual will replace him.

“Currently the party is doing many things at all levels but no one is talking about them to the public...,” President Hassan noted in the meeting attended by representatives of various parties friendly to CCM; from China, Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, Ethiopia and other guests.

President Hassan also sold her proposals at CCM’s 10th general meeting in Dodoma, for changes to the party’s Constitution about increasing the number of members of the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) to 20 seats from 15 seats for both Mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar receiving the nod from the entire congress.

The meeting also saw the election of members of NEC chairpersons and vice-chairpersons for both Mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar.

The changes that they claimed were aiming to strengthen the party will also see the number of appointed members of the NEC increased from 6 to 10 members.

A total of 1,928 delegates attended the meeting out of 1,934, who were required to attend the meeting that concludes the CCM elections at all levels from the grassroots to the national level.

Speaking while presenting the proposals for minor amendments, CCM secretary general Daniel Chongolo said the aim was to strengthen the structure of the party and expand the scope of ideas on the construction and strengthening of the party’s vitality in various political fields.

The move by CCM, although it may seem like a normal party change, political experts say it was a move taken by President Hassan in order to strengthen all areas towards the 2024 local government elections and the 2025 general election.

“The President has opened democracy in the country, so in order to be strong and win the election, she must look at the loopholes and close them before the election in which she would like to be elected by the people as President,” said Dr Mussa Mohamed, an expert on political issues.

He said the criterion of removing the element of electing the regional publicity secretary was one of the ways to hold accountable those people who are mandated to publicize the party.

“As an employee, he must respect the authority that gave him employment and he will fear that he may be fired at any time, so Mama Samia wants young people who will be ready to work hard for the party towards 2025,” he noted.

For his part, Dr James Ombeni from the college of diplomacy notes that the increase in the number of members in the NEC was one of the great ways to help bring better ideas and push the agenda of the President (Chairperson) to other party members at different levels.

“It is possible that the party has realised that there was a need to balance that number due to its analysis. All this is CCM’s strategy to strengthen itself to ensure that they win the next elections, but still, we will continue to witness more changes,” he said.