Tanzania main party faces legitimacy crisis
By Kizito Makoye, Dar es Salaam – Tanzania’s revolutionary party Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) is facing legitimacy crisis as grand corruption scams continue to shake up powerful figures of its top echelon.
Former Tanzania's legislator Rostam Aziz in one of his campaign meetings
The party woke up to bitter reality after one of its staunch supporters; Rostam Aziz resigned after he was linked to graft.
Amid mounting pressure: Mr. Aziz’s stepping down will certainly leave an indelible mark in the country’s political landscape.
Three politicians including Edward Lowassa- the former Prime Minister and Andrew Chenge- the former Attorney General had been given ultimatums by CCM to leave their leadership positions.
Rostam Aziz- the party’s mighty figure has shown the way; leaving his parliamentary seat and membership to the party’s – National Executive Committee where he had been a member for over decade.
. Mr. Aziz, who has been a legislator since 1994, resigned after he was mentioned in scandals including theft at Bank of Tanzania in which a Tshillings133 billions got siphoned off unscrupulously from the External Payment Arrears Account.
Mr. Aziz resignation sends warning signals to the government for its sluggish approach on graft.
President Jakaya Kikwete’s proves indecisiveness in tackling graft. He was ridiculed in The East African recently relating his behavior to that of someone ‘hobbled with a reputation of a lazy, foreign-trip-loving President, who is soft on corruption.’
Donors are unhappy the way the government is handling corruption; thus they have either slashed or withheld their development aid- which is injected in the form of General Budget Support .
While the opposition is up in arms calling the government to institute criminal charges against the culprits, corruption is costing Tanzania millions of dollars.
“Mr. Aziz’s resignation showed political maturity. He has shown the way that should be followed by other party members of questionable integrity,” says Zitto Kabwe, from Chama cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo.
Announcing his resignation in a remote township of Igunga -where he had been a legislator, Mr. Aziz blamed fellow leaders for entertaining what he termed as ‘gutter politics’
Analysts say Mr. Aziz’s move is likely to pile up pressure on Mr. Lowassa and Mr. Chenge who have yet to make up their mind about whether they are ready to give up as demanded by the party.
Mr. Aziz had been a backbencher in politics despite having big influence considering the strides he made during campaigns for CCM presidential candidate in 2005.
Mr. Aziz, has insisted that not all the allegations against him were true but admitted that his name had been associated with those undermining the performance of his party.
“My party’s performance went down to 61 per cent last year from 80 per cent in 2005. This did not impress me and I wish my decision improves its popularity,” he said.
He warned that CCM’s future would prove difficult if infighting does not stop.
Kizito Makoye is journalist writing from Dar es Salaam
