Reflections on a new political party and the political temperature

Of recent, a new political outfit aiming to be a fully registered political party has managed to make it to the headlines. Tanzania does not lead in the region for the most number of registered political parties, if anything, it has some of the most rigid laws when it comes to political activity compared to some of her neighbours. Still, the political field is crowded, and the majority of political parties barely function or even have name recognition.

From new reports, it is difficult to make sense of what exactly this aspiring new political outfit would add on an already tawdry and polarizing political scene. However, the only coherent thing one would about it is that it is associated by the name of a former president John Magufuli, claiming that they stand for his policies. In a grand scheme of things, it is no accident that this outfit which has been rumoured for some time since late last year, somehow managed to make headlines this year as the long ruling party is in the process of intra-party elections.

Does it point to political rumblings from within CCM leading to a split and some of its influential members forming a new political party? CCM’s split is a ‘permanent’ preoccupation to those interested in matters politics in this country.

In the past, rumours of a possible spilt or breakaway faction from CCM were almost always associated with factional battles within the party, especially headed into the country’s general election with party primaries and the all-important presidential nomination process leaving a trail of political destruction and many bitter losers.

Political concessions go a long way to placate those who feel wronged, deals are cut and plum jobs and appointments are worked out to avoid any huge political fallout.

It will not be the first time, a new political party is formed linked with big names within CCM.

However, the most preferred route is not one of forming a completely new political outfit but rather joining an existing one, to avoid the political red tapes and the pragmatic issues of raising an institution from a scratch.

Regardless of the routes those decamping from CCM have taken in the past, none of them succeeded in dethroning the long ruling party from power.

Some went on to be successful opposition politicians but the majority of these returned to the fold after their ill-fated flirtations with the opposition. The hard realities of opposition politics knocked some sense into some of them in informing their decisions to return to their ‘political home’, while others never really left but just stepped out of the room to cool off or vent their political frustrations, returning ‘home’ after a while as well.

To this end, it is poor timing to introduce a new political party regardless of whether or not they intend to tap into the ongoing political tensions within CCM occasioned by the ongoing political transition.

While those behind this new political outfit have correctly assessed that there is an undercurrent of disillusionment with those calling the shots now, they have miscalculated that it is enough to cause a political upset anytime soon.

There is a genuine difference of opinions about Dr Magufuli and his time in office to the point that some politicians who have urged caution with one’s words have ended up failing in the same task themselves by saying unfortunate things, cannot understand why there are still people who see the former president as the ultimate savior and a man betrayed in death by those politically closest to him.

Equally, those who view his years in power as disastrous to the country cannot understand why his successors still pay public lip service to his time in office even though they seem to move away from many of his political and policy positions.

A new political party will, in no way solve these differences of opinion. It could all come to pass with nothing of substance after sometime has gone by.

After all, CCM is a single political party in all but name. Within, there are several different political parties, a reality which has been with us for decades in the multiparty era.

For this reason, those in charge now know with political certainty that there will come a time when they will need the name of the immediate former president to come to their aid.

The party’s longevity in power has shown that to be true from time to time in a country where, often times, the living have had more trust in the dead with their mortal affairs.