CCM leaders were at pains yesterday to explain the announcement by a district party official of the establishment of a non-existent parliamentary constituency in Shinyanga Region.

No one within the ruling party gave a straightforward answer when The Citizen sought to know why the official declared the establishment of Ushetu "constituency", which has since been disowned by the National Electoral Commission (NEC).

CCM secretary-general Yusuf Makamba threw the ball to party officials in Kahama District, saying they were the ones with the answer.

"Parliamentary nominations are currently being handled at the district and regional levels. Contact party officials at those levels," he said.

However, CCM Shinyanga regional chairman Khamis Mngeja declined to comment, saying he was not the party's spokesman.

"If I comment on this issue, I will be overstepping my authority...it's only the secretary-general who can comment in this matter," he said.

Mr Mngeja was among CCM members seeking nomination as the party's candidate for the Kahama parliamentary seat. Ushetu was supposedly hived off Kahama constituency.

Mr Mngeja said they initially received a directive from higher levels of the party to start preparing for nominations for Ushetu.

"We began distributing forms prospective candidates as part of the party's preparations to field a candidate in the new constituency...all this was procedural," he added.

CCM Kahama District secretary Sospeter Nyigoti, who announced the formation of the "constituency", declined to comment, saying he was not authorised to speak on behalf of the party on such matters.

When pressed further, he hung up and did not pick up the phone when called later.

But Kahama District Commissioner Bahati Matala said they were waiting for official communication from the NEC.

However, the NEC has already stated that it had not established any new constituency apart from the seven announced a few weeks ago. Ushetu was not among the new constituencies.

Meantime, Mr Mgeja announced his withdrawal from the Kahama nomination race.

He attributed his decision to the NEC's declaration that Ushetu constituency, announced last week by the CCM Kahama District secretary, did not exist.

He said his decision seek nomination in Kahama was prompted by the fact that the outgoing Kahama MP James Lembeli had opted to seek the party's nomination in Ushetu. Mr Lembeli could not be reached yesterday.

Others who have also pulled out of the race CCM Kahama District chairman Andrew Masanje and Gongwa Ward Councillor Sosthenes Malale.

The three took nomination forms and returned them on the day the new "constituency" was announced. Other notable figures who were seeking nomination in Ushetu were Mr Raphael Mlolwa and Mr Erhard Mlyasi.

CCM was forced to halt campaigns for preliminary polls after the NEC disowned Ushetu. comment.

Last Friday, just an hour before the deadline for collecting and returning nomination forms, Mr Nyigoti announced that Kahama constituency had been split in two, and the new constituency was known as Ushetu.

The announcement sent sparked confusion as many CCM seeking legislative and civic seats in Kahama opted to seek nomination in the new "constituency".

Mr Lembeli decided to seek nomination as CCM's candidate for the Ushetu seat, saying that was where he was born.