A post-CCM Tanzania: How would it look like
The flags of Chama cha Mapinduzi flies at one of the party's office. PHOTO | FILE
What you need to know:
- Some opposition parties have put forward their visions of a post-CCM Tanzania like the changes to the structure of the Union. Were that to happen, could it lead to an eventual break-up of the country as we know it? There are question marks too on the legacy of the Zanzibar’s 1964 revolution. What would an opposition party that has won power make of it?
A Ugandan columnist, commenting on observations made by a veteran opposition politician, Kiiza Besigye about a post-Museveni Uganda and what remains, remarked that Uganda will remain with what he termed as ‘Musevenism’, which he defined as “distinctive political practices, systems and subsystems as well as ideologies which animate his rule.”
The region in the multiparty era has seen few constants as far as political power is concerned and Museveni has been one of those ‘constants’ for the last thirty-six years and counting. The other ‘constant’ is Tanzania’s ruling party, CCM. It is the only political party in power that preceded Museveni’s guerrilla war and eventual rise to power in 1986.
In the same vein, what could possibly be a post-CCM Tanzania? What will that country look like?
Also Read: Is CCM a party in perpetual transition?
The region is littered with past experiences of independence ruling parties which the tide of history swept them aside to irrelevance or political oblivion. Even in Uganda itself, the party that delivered independence lost power decades ago. In Kenya, the decades-long grip of the former ruling party, KANU, led to fundamental changes of how the country was organised political after time caught-up with it.
Will that be the fate of CCM as well once it has lost power? Or perhaps lessons have been learnt that will help the party survive and thrive in opposition and eventually make a political comeback?
Some opposition parties have put forward their visions of a post-CCM Tanzania like the changes to the structure of the Union. Were that to happen, could it lead to an eventual break-up of the country as we know it? There are question marks too on the legacy of the Zanzibar’s 1964 revolution. What would an opposition party that has won power make of it?
Being an opposition party campaigning for state power and being a party in power are not the same thing. The realities of power will definitely alter some of the plans made while in opposition.
What of the administrative structure of the country? What kind of fundamental changes will be introduced post-CCM? The current set-up concentrates power in a single individual. Almost the entire administration is appointed from ministers down to district executives. Boards of public parastatals are filled by political appointments and not through an open, transparent process where qualified individuals apply for the advertised vacancies, and are vetted accordingly. Could an opposition party that has won power do away with all the ‘benefits’ that come with such a system that places premium on vast networks of individuals and personal connections? Or the realities of being in power where loyalty has to be acknowledged and rewarded with posh appointments win the day?
Over the years, some opposition political parties have spoken of adopting a Kenya-like system of devolving power to counties. Others parties do not offer clear cut options of what happens as far as changing the administrative structure of the country is concerned. Perhaps they are unsure of what to do with the apprehensions in some sections of the population who equate a return to provinces with dividing the country along ethnic lines.
Could an opposition party that has won power ever retain the pomp and ceremony around the National Torch? Like many other ceremonies from the past, CCM has failed to connect these with the population beyond their supporters to the point they are viewed as unnecessary expenses, hence a burden to taxpayers. They are not viewed through patriotic lenses; it is the economic lenses that have taken priority.
CCM is a very rich political party in terms of real estate. It owns many football stadiums around the country which were built during the one-party state. The nature of ownership of these stadiums has been a matter of debates, at times animated debates on whether they should be handed over to the government or remain in CCM. Could the party keep them in opposition?
What of the characters of the politicians that will emerge in such a world? Could the majority of them be staid as they are now, a legacy of the past or come into their own and rewrite and upend the political norms of the country?
CCM appears to have cemented the status of the country’s capital city. In any post-CCM Tanzania, it is unlikely that an opposition party that has won political power will go back to Dar es Salaam. Dodoma is a capital city, in law, even though every tie it is mentioned we have to remind ourselves that it is the country’s capital. Then again, far stranger things have happened in our politics before.
Could be it be a better country, in terms of governance than it is now? Only the future can answer that.
