Why Majaliwa is right on Samia’s sole CCM candidacy

By Evanson R. Mdimi

With the clock ticking towards the local government elections later this year and next year’s General Election, Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa has made remarks that deserve to be commended by all Tanzanians of goodwill.

Mr Majaliwa said recently during a public rally in Ruangwa Constituency, which he represents in Parliament, that he would table a proposal seeking to block anyone in CCM from challenging President Samia Suluhu Hassan during the ruling party’s presidential nominations ahead of the 2025 General Election.

He said during the meeting that was also attended by CCM deputy chairman (Mainland) Abdulrahman Kinana that he would propose that the party print nomination forms for only one aspirant – President Hassan, who is also CCM’s chairperson

The reason? President Hassan has performed exceptionally well since she came into office and deserves a second term.

For those who follow democracy closely around the world, this is precisely how things are supposed to be and Mr Majaliwa deserves a pat on the back for coming up with the proposal.

From advanced democracies such as the US to nascent ones in Africa, aspirants challenging the incumbent in party nominations is rare.

Challenging an incumbent whose record speaks for itself is akin to attempting to fix something that is not broken.

In the 2000 Republican presidential primaries in the US, for example, Mr George W. Bush faced several other contestants, including Senator John McCain of Arizona, but after winning the presidency, no Republican member came forward to challenge him in the 2004 primaries.

Senator McCain came back after Mr Bush completed his second and final term. Thus, in the 2008 Republican presidential primaries, Senator McCain battled it out with several other aspirants, including Mr Mitt Romney.

Senator McCain went on to clinch the party’s nomination, only to lose to Mr Barack Obama of the Democratic Party in the 2008 presidential election.

Earlier, Mr Obama faced a spirited challenge from Ms Hillary Clinton in the 2008 primaries. Mr Obama ran mostly unopposed in during the 2012 Democratic primaries and went on to win re-election after defeating Republican candidate Mitt Romney.

Ms Clinton returned to seek the Democratic Party’s nomination in the 2016 primaries held before Mr Obama stepped down upon completing his second term in office.

Ms Clinton defeated his closest challenger, Mr Bernie Sanders, while Mr Donald Trump prevailed in the Republican primaries against several other aspirants, including Mr Ted Cruz and Mr Marco Rubio.

With Mr Trump defeating Ms Clinton in the presidential election held in November 2016, neither Mr Cruz nor Mr Rubio came forward to challenge him in the 2020 primaries.

Although Mr Bill Weld decided to challenge Mr Trump in the 2020 Republican primaries, he later pulled out after Mr Trump’s delegate count made him the presumptive Republican nominee.

Closer to home, Kenya, Zambia and Malawi are among the most promising democracies in Africa, but the incumbent being challenged by members of their own party is virtually unheard of.

In Kenya, which has one of the most vibrant constitutions in Africa, nobody from the Jubilee Party challenged Mr Uhuru Kenyatta when he sought re-election as president in 2017.

In Zambia, Mr Edgar Lungu was nominated by the Patriotic Front and elected Head of State in the January 2015 presidential by-election to succeed Michael Sata, who died in office in October 2014. Nobody from his party challenged him when he sought a full presidential term in the fully-fledged August 2016es presidential election.

Also, nobody from the Patriotic Front challenged Mr Lungu ahead of the 2021 presidential election, which, however, saw him lose to Mr Hakainde Hichilema of the United Party for National Development (UPND). It is highly unlikely that Mr Hichilema himself will face any opposition within UPND ahead of the 2016 elections.

In Malawi, nobody came forward to challenge Peter Mutharika within the Democratic Progressive Party, or Ms Joyce Banda the People’s Party when they were in office.

It therefore goes without saying that is unlikely that Malawi’s current president, Dr Lazarus Chakwera, will face any opposition within the Malawi Congress Party ahead of the country’s next general election.

Back home, the late Benjamin Mkapa stood unopposed in CCM’s nominations ahead of the 2000 General Election in which he was re-elected as President. Similarly, his successor, Mr Jajkaya Kikwete, stood unopposed within CCM before he won re-election as president in 2010.

In fact, the then CCM secretary-general, Mr Yusuf Makamba, declared that as the returning officer for the party’s presidential nominations, he would close his office to anyone who would seek to challenge Mr Kikwete.

He said the party would print nomination forms for only one candidate ahead of the 2010 General Election.

In 2020, the late Bernard Membe’s attempt to challenge the late John Magufuli for CCM’s nomination flopped and he ended up being kicked out of the party.

This is the tradition, especially when an incumbent has performed as impressively as President Hassan.

Evanson R. Mdimi is a commentator on political, social and governance matters based in Mbeya