Two sitting Members of Parliament, both prominent members of the ruling CCM and former cabinet ministers, have been given until next month to relinquish their positions in the party or risk being shown the door.Former Prime Minister Edward Lowassa and former Attorney General Andrew Chenge are associated – alongside businessman Rostam Aziz – with controversial transactions that have cost the country dearly financially and in various other ways as well as tainted the party’s image.
However, Aziz has since heeded calls by the party that he give way by recently resigning as member of the powerful CCM National Executive Committee (NEC) and as MP for Igunga constituency in Tabora Region.The deadline just given is among the resolutions made here by the party’s Central Committee (CC) that also set the date for the next sitting of the NEC, the body empowered to take measures in line with the decision reached in April this year in connection with the matter.At its April meeting, also held here, the committee resolved that all CCM leaders associated with corrupt practices resign from all party’s positions, failure which the party would act hard against them.
“NEC will meet again sometime in September where, among other things, it will evaluate the progress made in implementing previous decisions,” CCM Ideology and Publicity Secretary Nape Nnauye declared at a media briefing at the end of the CC meeting yesterday. “The party is determined to ensure that the party cultivates and promotes ethical practice within all its ranks and calls upon all those ordered to resign to use the time available to act accordingly in the party’s interest,” he said.
Commenting on widely circulating reports that CCM was reluctant to take measures against beleaguered bigwigs Lowassa and Chenge for fear that their popularity among MPs would see the party disintegrate, Nnauye said: “‘No individual within CCM is more famous, popular or important than CCM itself. CCM is not worried about or scared of anything or anyone. It’s much better that we lose a constituency or a ward in a by-election than continue embracing unethical leaders.”
He brushed aside “any possibility” of the party standing on dangerously shaky ground by taking the decisions it was taking, noting: “Let all those thinking or believing that they can lure CCM members to defect proceed with their plans. We once had strong leaders such as (former minister) Augustine Mrema and (former Zanzibar Chief Minister) Seif Shariff Hamad and they defected, yet CCM has weathered the storms and remained unshaken.”
Reacting to the trio’s pronouncements to the effect that NEC has never directed that they resign, as repeatedly reiterated by members of the party’s secretariat leaders, Nnauye said information on all resolutions is always relayed during formal meetings “and there was no way they can be altered at random”.
Lowassa resigned as PM in February 2008 after being associated with involvement in a controversially awarded tender for emergency power generation to Richmond Company, which had no capacity to deliver. He however, remains a NEC member and legislator for Monduli.
Chenge, who similarly still sits on the NEC and is MP for Bariadi West, is said to have benefited financially from the 1999 controversial purchase of radar from the UK at a cost of 40 million sterling pounds instead of the market value of around 12 million pounds. He resigned as Infrastructure minister in 2008 following intense pressure from the public.
Rostam Aziz is said to be closely connected to the company which many believe contributed to Lowassa’s fall from grace. This is none other than Kagoda Agricultural Ltd, one of the firms that benefited from the 133 billion/- suspiciously withdrawn from the Bank of Tanzania’s External Payment Arrears (EPA) account in 2005.
The trio’s suspicious practices and behaviour are widely believed to have contributed to CCM’s relatively poor performance in the October 2010 General Elections that saw eventual presidential poll winner Jakaya Kikwete to garner a mere 61 per cent of the total vote compared to 80 per cent in 2005.
CCM also suffered massive defeats in key urban constituencies in Mwanza, Mbeya, Arusha, Iringa and Dar es Salaam regions. The Opposition camp shone in some traditionally CCM strongholds in the rural parts of Shinyanga, Mwanza, Kigoma, Mbeya and Arusha regions.Unlike Lowassa and Chenge, who have yet to heed CCM’s resignation orders, Rostam Aziz announced his resignation from the NEC and as MP on July 13.
Nnauye said CCM will soon draw up a timetable that would lead to the announcement of the party’s flag bearer in the Igunga by-election.“CCM has received and accepted Aziz’s decision to relinquish his posts in the party and as an MP and has resolved that all campaign-related activities will be conducted under the leadership of our Tabora regional and Igunga district offices. We are confident that we will retain the constituency,” he added.
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