Monday, August 3, 2015
Dar es Salaam. Deputy minister
for Labour and Employment, Dr Makongoro Mahanga, yesterday quit CCM and
announced he is heading for the main opposition outfit, Chadema.
Dr
Mahanga becomes the first minister in the current government to jump
ship and join former Premier Edward Lowassa who joined Chadema on whose
ticket he will run for the presidency.
The deputy
minister quit CCM only hours after he was defeated in his bid for
re-election for a third term as MP for Segerea. Chadema immediately said
it was ready to welcome him into the fold to strengthen their onslaught
geared at removing CCM from power via the October 25 polls.
“We
welcome Dr Mahanga to join us as we look to build a stronger Opposition
in readiness to take over the government. We welcome all Tanzanians of
goodwill to join Chadema’s efforts to save the country from CCM’s poor
leadership,” said the opposition party’s spokesperson Mr Tumaini Makene,
adding:
“CCM and its government are not only doing
what is against the people, they are also doing thing that hurt the
party’s own existence. With its free fall, we’ll now obviously the
government- in-waiting. We’re looking forward to welcoming many more
members from CCM.”
Dr Mahanga becomes the second
minister to defect while in office in Tanzania’s recent history. The
only other minister to have resigned in a similar manner was Mr
Augustine Mrema in the early 90s. Coincidentally, Mrema quit as minister
for Labour and Employment, the same ministry that Dr Mahanga has been
serving, albeit as deputy minister.
Yesterday, the
disappointed Bunge aspirant told journalists at a packed press
conference at his home in Segerea that he was quitting CCM over
witch-hunting from unnamed senior politician and government official.
Dr
Mahanga was the deputy minister for Labour and Employment for ten years
of President Jakaya Kikwete’s administration and MP for Segerea
constituency.
He said has instructed his driver to hand
over the government vehicle to the ministry and that he would ask the
Chadema to receive him.
The new development comes just
few days after former PM Lowassa decamped to Chadema following his
defeat in the CCM presidential nomination process, an outcome he
described as unfair. He later picked up nomination forms to contest the
presidency through the opposition’s coalition popularly known in its
Kiswahili acronym, Ukawa.
Dr Mahanga is a close ally of the former Premier, but he was quick to deny any link between his move and that of Mr Lowassa.
He instead said that blatant disregard of party rules in the primaries was the reason for his decision to leave.
Speaking
last week, Mr Lowassa said he was defecting CCM because it disregarded
its own rules and regulations and rules during the presidential
nomination which gave victory to Works minister John Magufuli.
“What
happened was pure rape of democracy because they made sure my name
didn’t appear amongst those which were submitted to the Central
Committee,’’ he said, adding:
“I will be lying to
Tanzanians if today I were to say I still love CCM, for it’s no longer a
party that brought me up and I can unequivocally state that it has lost
the sense to lead this nation,’’ he said.
Yesterday,
Dr Mahanga said: “I want to state clearly that I have no grudges against
CCM members in Segerea constituency who, in 15 years of my leadership
as their MP, accorded me ample cooperation in bringing development, but I
have problems with a few leaders in CCM who have been tampering with
democracy,’’ he said.
The 60-year-old politician
further complained that he was wondering why President Kikwete never
promoted him to full minister for a whole ten years.
“I
am a capable person; I wonder why I was made to remain stuck in the
deputy minister slot for all these years,’’ he said, adding that he was a
good friend both Mr Kikwete and Mr Lowassa.
“My
mentors in politics were Mr Lowassa and Mr Kikwete and I cannot deny
being a close friend of Mr Lowassa because we have been family friends
for many years,” he said.
Asked if he was conscious of
the fact he was losing his plum post as minister, Mr Mahanga remarked:
“Even as we speak, I have directed my driver to hand over my vehicle to
the ministry because from today onwards I am no longer a minister
although I still wanted to enjoy the air conditioning of that VX,’’ he
said.
There are indications that many CCM members who
are being axed in their party’s primaries will hop into the Opposition.
Last week, Chadema Chairman Freeman Mbowe said there was a large number
of CCM members who were set to join Ukawa. He was speaking few minutes
after he handed over a Chadema former PM.
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