ACT-Wazalendo ‘to reassess GNU’

Unguja. Opposition party ACT Wazalendo said it is set to re-assess the three years of the Government of Nation Unity (GNU) at a conference that is set to take place on December 8.

The party’s leader, Zitto Kabwe, told journalists in Zanzibar that it will take stock of the GNU because most of the issues that were agreed upon during the reconciliatory process have not been implemented.

”The Government of National Unity has brought calm and peace to the Isles, but the commitment of the Zanzibar Government towards fulfilling some of the issues remains wanting,” he said.

He said the December 8 conference, which marks three years since ACT joined the GNU, will show which direction the party should take towards 2025 because they have given the government the benefit of doubt for a long time.

“We don’t want a repeat of the same circle of violence that has been happening during each of the past elec-tions,” said Mr Kabwe, who was flanked by the party’s Vice Chairman and Zanzibar’s First Vice President, Othman Masoud Othman.

Speaking about the by-election held recently at the party’s Mtambwe stronghold,  Mr Kabwe strongly condemned widespread rigging and violence.

Kabwe listed 15 incidents of rigging and violence that took place in the election, including those that pointed towards the same old methods that marred the 2020 polls.

“There was the forging of a ZAN ID card for the ACT Wazalendo candidate by the Wete District office in an attempt to disqualify him from running for office, the inclusion of non-resident voters on the electoral register, and election officials giving multiple votes to CCM supporters,” he said. He also claimed that ZEC officials entered polling stations with ballots in their pockets and stuffed them into the ballot boxes during counting.

He added: “Ballot papers were found outside of polling stations in the hands of CCM cadres; election officials allowed non-residents to vote; election officials deliberately spoiled ballots by inking them, drawing on them, and failing to stamp ballots cast by suspected ACT Wazalendo supporters.

He further said that at certain polling stations, election officials refused to verify ballot stubs where complaints were made about irregularities.

He accused election officials of inflating the number of votes for the CCM candidate and reducing the number of votes for the ACT Wazalendo candidate when filling out results forms.

According to Kabwe, some ballot papers were not collected.

He further alleged that at some stations, ACT Wazalendo agents were forcibly ejected from polling stations and beaten up when they demanded that procedures be followed.

According to him, there was widespread misuse of government properties, such as vehicles, to campaign for the CCM candidate, including transporting fake voters to polling stations.

Kabwe alleged that the rigging and violence were carried out by CCM in collusion with the security forces, aimed at denying victory to the ACT Wazalendo candidate, Dr Mohamed Ali Suleiman.

“We have exposed this rigging to you so that you can help us inform the public that CCM and its leaders are the same, that the security forces are the same, and that there is no genuine intention to oversee political reforms to ensure free and fair elections,” Kabwe said.

Kabwe called on the people of Zanzibar and all lovers of democracy around the world to take action, saying ACT Wazalendo will continue to fight for genuine political reforms and an electoral system to ensure the 2025 election is free and fair.

Last week, while commenting on the Mtambwe results, CCM’s publicity secretary for Zanzibar, Hamis Mbeto Hamis, said ACT was only invited to the GNU out of the mercy of President Hussein Mwinyi because they did not meet the constitutional threshold.

“This is being hypocritical because how do you label the government of all sorts of things yet you are part of that very system that is paying you salaries,” said Mbeto.

He said if ACT was not satisfied, they should leave the GNU, because it will not be the first time that they are not part of the GNU.

“During Dr Shein’s last term, there was no GNU, and things went on very smoothly,” said Mbeto.