Tanzania: Clean Party Polls Vital
The Citizen (Dar es Salaam)
EDITORIAL
3 July 2008
Posted to the web 3 July 2008
Election fever is already high as the various wings of the ruling Chama cha Mapinduzi prepare to elect their national leaders. One of those being keenly watched is, of course, Umoja wa Wanawake Tanzania (UWT), for its sheer numbers and their potential impact on the overall political leadership of the biggest party in the land. Some people have come forward to declare their intention to vie for the top seats, while those who feel they have already done enough for CCM are opting to call it a day.
It is democratically healthy for any politician to announce early and openly that he or she intends to vie for this or that post or opt out. The current UWT boss, Ms Anna Abdallah, has declared that she will not seek re-election in the November poll, while dismissing as nonsense talk that she has anointed someone to succeed her.
To those aspiring for leadership of the women's wing, it is important that they shun not only divisive politics, but also demonstrate in word and deed that they will uphold clean politics. It is, therefore, important that they come out in the open and denounce corruption in all its forms and any attempts to introduce this menace into the party's politics.
Even as we expect the CCM Ethics Committee to closely watch the process and identify the crooked members for action to be taken against them, the bigger challenge is on the aspiring leaders to conduct themselves beyond reproach.