Tanzania: Chadema Picks Candidate Ahead of Tarime Election

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The Citizen (Dar es Salaam)

7 September 2008
Posted to the web 8 September 2008

Mkinga Mkinga

Jostling for the vacant Tarime parliamentary seat has gathered momentum with the major parties having picked their candidates for the by-election.

Chama cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo (Chadema)'s central committee on Saturday endorsed Tarime District Council chairman Charles Mwera as its candidate for the October 12 by-election.

Chadema will be seeking to hold on to the seat previously held by Mr Chacha Wangwe who recently died in car accident.

The late Wangwe won the seat in the 2005 general election on a Chadema ticket. Following his death the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi has revived its hopes and bid to take over the constituency.

But yesterday, Chadema secretary-general and Karatu legislator Dr Wilibrod Slaa said the opposition would battle to reclaim the seat. He expressed confidence in Mr Mwera saying he had the backing of the people who "will honour the late Wangwe by voting to be their next MP".

CCM has nominated a wealthy senior employee of the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA), Mr Ryoba Kangoye, as its representative.

Other opposition parties, Civic United Front (CUF) and NCCR-Mageuzi, did not name parliamentary candidates to honour a loose opposition coalition formed early this year. But they have made their picks for the Tarime township ward elections. The elections are set to put to test the opposition unity.

Dr Slaa said although the coalition was facing challenges, fielding different candidates for the ward elections would not limit his party's chances to win both seats.

"I'm sure we shall retain the constituency. We have a competent candidate though there has been all manner of efforts to tarnish Chadema's image," Dr Slaa said in a phone interview. He said there was "evidence" suggesting that some people had been sponsored to destroy the opposition from within.

Meanwhile, the ruling party's secretary-general, Mr Yusuf Makamba and outgoing youth wing chairman Emanuel Nchimbi have opened the CCM youths' general council meeting in Dodoma.

The two warned that the party would not tolerate youths who publicly condemned senior party members. The meeting is expected to endorse nominees for the UVCCM leadership amid open tension between the outgoing leadership and some aspirants.

At the centre of the war of words is Nape Nnauye, an executive committee member who has lately been campaigning on the anti-corruption platform.

His outspokenness has apparently not augured well with some delegates who viewed it as a sign of intolerance and disrespect.

Mr Makamba and Nchimbi said the party would strictly follow its "regulations and precedence" to choose the next youth leadership.

(Additional reporting by Habel Chidewali from Dodoma)

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