A few days after Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM) Central Committee (CC) yellow-carded six bigwigs over early campaigns and violation of party regulations, one of the warned members, Mr Bernard Membe on Thursady broke his silence.
Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Mr Bernard Membe
He said that the CC’s decision was right and was aimed at maintaining respect and the integrity in the party.
The decision that was reached by the party also placed Mr Member along with other five members—Edward Lowassa, Frederick Sumaye, January Makamba, Stepehen Wassira and William Ngeleja in the danger zone for a period of 12 months.
While in the danger zone, the members were not allowed to participate in any election within the party and also were strictly prohibited to commit any act that was against the party’s regulations short of which they would jeopardize their positions.
Mr Membe, who doubles as Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation minister, pointed out that political parties were duty bound to set a clear and straightforward system to get good leaders.
“Basing on the truth that many countries in the world including Tanzania failed to follow the best system of getting leaders like the system set in Rome, of getting its leaders.
“In Rome political parties in the country must have a transparent way of getting dedicated leaders who will maintain the credibility of the party,” Mr Membe told the journalists.
Mr Membe clarified the matter linking it with how the Pope in the Vatican was being chosen saying that when picking the church leader there were no groups emerging and instead the whole process was open, transparent and fair.
He said that the world has succeeded in imitating a number of cultures from Rome including judges and National Assembly speaker’s dressing style but only failed to imitate the best ways Rome uses in acquiring its leaders.
“The Rome system of choosing leaders was the best in the world because it has no classes, favouritism and bias. This is not the case in Tanzania,” he said, adding that the party must be strong enough to govern the process.
He pointed out that failure to adopt Roman style of getting leaders, when election approaches the whole process is marred by chaos and number of irregularities.
He insisted that the mechanism applied by CCM in punishing them was right and that any party that fails to have such system of running its internal affairs and maintaining its credibility was not worth existing.
By CHRISTOPHER MAJALIWA, Tanzania Daily News
