Chama Cha Mapinduzi birthday in changing circumstances

CCM is celebrating 44 years since it was formed back in 1977. In a country of nearly sixty million people-minus CCM predecessor parties of TANU and ASP-no one has ever known a rule by any other political party.

And in a country whose median age is that of a teenager, the majority have lived with CCM as the ruling party. These demographics are proving to be an ongoing challenge which the party is yet to better understand.

Depending on who you listen to, CCM is an old party going back to the days of Tanganyika independence and Zanzibar’s revolution. To others, it’s a “young’ party, just like the rest because it was registered like them when the country returned to multiparty democracy.

With rapid urbanization across the country, more than twenty million people live in semi-urban or urban areas.

These are restless in such of far better economic opportunities, and their migration to urban centres come with different set of challenges to the long ruling party.

Gone are the days when its birthday fetes equaled other state celebrations like those of Uhuru or Union.

In some previous birthday celebrations during the one-party era, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere had cautioned CCM against turning into a “vanguard party”, he said, its leaders and members should always remember it must continue to be a “party of the masses”.

Gone too, are the days when the party’s constitution was part of the country’s constitution. When its electoral calendar was enshrined in the country’s laws.

To better appreciate CCM’s longevity, one has to look around this region.

Back when it was formed in 1977, the region was politically very different to what it is now. In Rwanda, the country was ruled by a hybrid regime of military and a sole political party which was to be banned for the genocide in 1994. In Burundi the story was the same.

In Uganda, Idd Amin’s murderous regime was in its final years. In Kenya, Daniel arap Moi was still more than a year away from ascending to power. And South Sudan was decades away from its own independence.

While times have changed very much since those days, some things have remained relatively familiar. The one-party era still cast a long shadow today.

CCM still holds court when its various meetings are in session. The country is glued for news coming out of such meetings in the way that it never does for any other political party. It is also true that, there are many who still see CCM as a party that will guarantee political stability and the Union itself.

CCM is still a party-state, a ruling party still tied to state institutions in ways that continue to give it unparalleled advantages during elections.

The political lexicon of “party and state leaders” is common as party and state functions intertwine more often than not.

However, even with all these advantages of the past, some things are not the same. While it was the party of the youth in the one-party era, it competes for their attention today.

The changing economic prospects and the opening up of the economic sector means there are many young people who simply do not see themselves going through CCM to succeed in life. They do not see a party that resembles them or one that is capable of fulfilling their aspirations.

Will CCM ever find a way to understand this growing voting bloc? The glorious past will never be enough for the dotcom era. These days there are some years when CCM’s birthday goes almost unnoticed or its themes are easily forgettable. The realities of changing circumstances.

In the era of never ending electioneering and a premium placed on winning political power, CCM celebrates another birthday at a time when its hold on the country increased with last year’s general election as its political opponents and critics cried foul play.

However times are changing.

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Mr Mwakibete is a socio-political commentator and analyst based in Dar es Salaam