A Divided CCM Is Not a Bad Idea at All
- Category: Governance
- Date 22-11-2009
- 372 views
A rose will always be a rose even with another name. The uniqueness of the revolutionary party - chama cha mapinduzi - which has governed Tanzania since independence derived from the credibility of her leaders.
It is possible that the founding father, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere brooked no complacency for corrupt tendencies and knew scripture, “When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked rule, the people mourn” (Proverbs 29:2).
Mwalimu would possibly have agreed to change the name of his favourite political party from CCM to CUF, TLP, Chadema or any other brand if it remained corruption-free.
The minister for good governance Mh. Sofia Simba recently indicated that Tanzanian business guru, Reginald Mengi, is not a significant CCM member. She reasoned that Mengi would not hobnob with anti-corruption crusaders if he were a staunch supporter of the ruling party.
This is reminiscent of an Acholi proverb that ‘an elephant kills the owner of the field it is raiding’ i.e. if you catch a thief red-handed stealing something that belongs to you, he might kill or harm you. This may be the reason the wary businessman and later the Dar es Salaam CCM branch officials laboured to assert Mengi’s steadfast loyalty to the ruling party since 1974.
Comrade Reginal Mengi should not be alarmed by the minister’s ranting. He should remember that if you are going to kick authority in the teeth, you might as well use two feet. Some people buy their safety by submitting to the whims and power of the corrupt, but this is catastrophic in the long run.
Leonardo da Vinci once said that anyone who conducts an argument by appealing to authority is not using his intelligence; he is just using memory and should thus not be allowed to win.
The Comrade thinks that for the good of the wananchi, what matters is the quality of the country’s leaders other than the name of the political party to which they subscribe. Some once unrivalled political parties have suffered total annihilation but the nations they governed remained.
When the Kenya National Union (KANU) allowed corruption to thrive, it was not merely thrown out of power but has since been discarded. Before it crashed from power, Malawi’s ruling party, the United Democratic Front (UDF) had split into two camps: one supportive of Bingu wa Mutharika's anti-corruption drive and another loyal to the former president, Bakili Muluzi who opposed the increased prosecution of officials accused of corruption.
The downfall of UDF did not destroy the nation; instead the country emerged from the shame of perennial famine to become a food exporter.
Kenneth Kaunda’s United National Independence Party (UNIP) had suffocated all other political forces as though it was the only option the nation had to have or perish. It was nonetheless toppled and replaced with the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) and Zambia is okay.
In Ghana, leading political parties New Patriotic Party (NPP) and National Democratic Congress (NDC) have been wrestling power from each other for more than a decade without causing a political catastrophe. Allegations of corruption have led South Africa’s African National Congress (ANC) to split, giving birth to The Congress of the People, and a sense that Nelson Mandela’s once formidable party will ever be overthrown.
The Comrade has, however, witnessed tragic incidents of rewarding the corrupt in Uganda. A deputy minister for education was censured by parliament in 1998. soon after, he was promoted to the powerful ministry of health where millions of dollars from Global Fund were soon to disappear
In 1999, Uganda’s minister for investment was censured for corruption. Thereafter, he was promoted to the influential ministry of foreign affairs. When the country hosted commonwealth heads of government meeting (CHOGM) in 2007, a lot of money reportedly went missing from the treasury.
Similarly, the Uganda minister for security was recently accused of grabbing eleven billion shillings from the workers’ savings at NSSF but he was protected because he is a loyal member of the ruling party.
Question: Is this the practice Mh Sofia Simba wishes for the loyal CCM members?
The Comrade says, “Never!”
By Venansio Ahabwe
Source: The Comrade, The Guardian on Sunday