ANALYSIS: Bashiru, Membe and CCM tradition
CCM’s secretary general DrBashiru Ally has been making headlines these past few days after he summoned Bernard Membe, a former minister and MP to see him in his office to address the rumors doing the rounds that he is hatching a plan to oppose CCM chairman, President John Magufuli come 2020.
The manner in which Mr Membe was called has caused some concern from some CCM members who say a better way would have been to telephone him or write him a letter. There are others who say this approach has escalated the situation, blowing it out of proportion while it could have all been solved quietly behind closed doors.
Some have blamed this approach to the fact that Dr Ally is “new” to his current office. Certainly, Mr Membe is not the first CCM member to be “reached” through this “public announcement” system. There was the MP who was summoned to see him after Dr Ally claimed that that particular MP had not been seen in his constituency and certainly not in parliament in Dodoma. He used the same approach when talking of a minister who was accused of owning a huge tract of land in Morogoro, saying he would summon him to explain the matter.
Dr Ally has not said whether those two came to see him.
CCM has weighed in on the ongoing political drama through a statement by Humphrey Polepole, claiming that what is happening is “normal”; the statement stressed unity and a grateful party which thanked voters for their continued support in our never ending rounds of by-elections.
So, why go public with an issue that would seem like washing your dirty laundry in public?
Perhaps some context to this unfolding political drama. President Magufuli was elected to CCM’s top job with all the votes of the delegates in attendance. That the party and all its structures endorsed his vision for their party and the country completely. After all, presidents do not own their own election manifestos; those belong to their political parties.
Supporting any attempt from an individual member or a faction within a party to challenge a sitting president and party chairman would be tantamount to conceding that the party has abandoned its chairman or vice-chairman (for the case of Zanzibar).
While CCM’s constitution has left open the option of another member(s) rising to challenge a sitting president (who doubles as party chairman too), any attempt or even signs of attempting that has been frowned upon under the guise of party “tradition”, that in this regard, “tradition” tramples their party’s constitution.
At a time when President Magufuli has ushered in sweeping changes to his party and the country, and with the presidency of Zanzibar up for grab in 2020, any talk of another challenge to the Union presidency cannot be entertained.
Opposition politicians and critics of CCM will say the party is hypocritical in claiming to be democratic while not allowing many players on the field.
Fortunately, the same can be said of them. The post of party leader is never open to the rest while there is an occupant. All these political parties are very nervous at the slightest movement in the grass. By going public with accusations against Mr Membe, (who has been quiet through all this),Dr Ally is pre-empting any other moves by other members who might entertain the thought of testing the waters before or come 2020. This is intended to galvanise more public support for President Magufuli, something which would not be achieved by dealing with everything behind closed doors. The move is also instructive of how CCM’s current leadership views the last two decades and how power has been sought within the party. There are those within CCM who were deeply unhappy with the past two decades where individuals gained more influence to the extent of causing headaches to the party’s national leadership.
They lamented this in public. Dr Ally has always insisted that in CCM every one is an “ordinary” member and that the party is always and should always be supreme to the individual party member.
Order is more important than anything else. Order brings progress. In a topsy-turvy world of our politics, where chaos is guaranteed, the current developments are products of the times we are living through after “liberalising” our politics and our economy. From the days of Benjamin Mkapa, as he approached his second term as party chairman and president, the voices “against” tradition managed to be heard, albeit faintly.
CCM has used all sorts of ways to thwart such efforts from offering different political roles to would be disruptors, to “talking” to them. But the desires of gaining all that a political world could offer do not go away.
While the volume of those who want a bite before their time will keep on rising with time, the latest public accusation against a member was no accident or a result of being “new” to the job.
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