Third female aspirant picks up forms
Ruling party, CCM, cadres (from left) Dr Augustine Mahiga and Ms Monica Mbega display briefcases containing presidential moniation forms they collected from CCM headquarters in Dodoma yesterday. PHOTO | EDWIN MJWAHUZI
What you need to know:
Another woman presidential aspirant has collected nomination forms to join the bruising titanic battle for State House as she took a swipe at the nomination process.
Ms Monica Mbega now becomes the third woman aspirant to pick up nomination forms for the presidency after Ms Amina Salum Ali and the director general of the Medical Institute for Medical Research (NIMR), Dr Mwele Malecela.
Speaking after collecting the forms, Ms Mbega said CCM’s process of nominating aspirants was not good because it creates rifts within the party.
Dodoma. Another woman presidential aspirant has collected nomination forms to join the bruising titanic battle for State House as she took a swipe at the nomination process.
Ms Monica Mbega now becomes the third woman aspirant to pick up nomination forms for the presidency after Ms Amina Salum Ali and the director general of the Medical Institute for Medical Research (NIMR), Dr Mwele Malecela.
Speaking after collecting the forms, Ms Mbega said CCM’s process of nominating aspirants was not good because it creates rifts within the party.
She was referring to her experience when she lost a parliamentary seat in Iringa Urban Constituency in 2010. “When you have more than 10 aspirants battling it out for a single seat, it is obvious that those who lose remain with internal grudges that are likely to split votes,’’ she noted.
She said one of the aspirants may use his wealth including bribing people so that a candidate who is presented by the party after intra-party competition does not clinch a landslide victory.
In the race for Ikulu, the number of CCM cadres picking presidential nomination forms yesterday reached 30 after Ms Mbega and former Permanent Representative to the United Nations Dr Augustine Mahiga collected the forms.
Speaking shortly after collecting the forms, Dr Mahiga, a respected diplomat who has served in different capacities at local and international levels, said without unity, the country’s peace would be at a cross-roads.
He said the country has been trading on a slippery road to disunity something he said needed to be looked at with a critical eye. “We have enjoyed our union for 50 years and should I be nominated to vie for the country’s top job, I will ensure that our union remains strong.
On the war against graft, Dr Mahiga said his government would step up the war against the vice, adding that fighting corruption needed more than just political statements.
“If we do not deal with corruption we will lose our direction, therefore, we need more legal and administrative adjustments in order to declare an endless war against it,’’ he stressed.
Citing the CAG report, the diplomat underscored the need to tame misappropriation of funds which he said was derailing development because that money would have been used in construction of roads and laboratories.
