Published on 20/01/2025
Tanzania’s ruling party Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) has opted for continuity, endorsing President Samia Suluhu Hassan and President Hussein Ali Hassan Mwinyi for the upcoming Union and Zanzibar elections respectively.
Aspiring presidential candidates within the party will have to wait another five years for their chance. This decision was solidified during the party’s national congress yesterday. The ruling party remains firmly behind its incumbents, prioritizing stability in leadership.
The resolution, which was unanimously approved by all delegates, followed a recommendation from former President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, who served as Tanzania’s head of state from 2005 to 2015.
The decision comes amid overwhelming support from delegates at the CCM National Congress that ended yesterday in Dodoma.
Addressing the congress, Mr Kikwete acknowledged the enthusiasm of the delegates but emphasised the need to adhere to the party’s established procedures.
He reminded delegates that every political party has its own nomination process and timelines that must be followed.
“Each party has its own procedures and timeline for selecting a candidate. That decision is made in this meeting,” Mr Kikwete told the delegates. He cited Namibia as an example, where a candidate is often chosen a year before the general election.
His remarks came as delegates repeatedly chanted their support for President Hassan and President Mwinyi, prompting cheers and applause that momentarily interrupted his speech.
“If we want to decide today that Samia is our candidate and Mwinyi is our candidate, we have the authority to do so,” Mr Kikwete said, prompting another round of applause.
However, he cautioned against bypassing legal frameworks and urged the congress to ensure that the nomination process remains legally sound.
“When the time comes, once Parliament is dissolved and the electoral commission calls for candidates, we must ensure that the process follows the correct procedures. This will prevent legal complications that could arise and jeopardise our candidates’ eligibility,” he explained.
He referenced the 2005 CCM nomination process, where he was selected as the party’s presidential candidate in May of that year, emphasising that the party sets its own rules and must ensure they align with the legal framework.
“If the consensus here is that President Samia Suluhu Hassan and Dr Hussein Ali Hassan Mwinyi should be our candidates, then what remains is for CCM Secretary General Dr Emmanuel Nchimbi and his team to review the relevant procedures. The congress has already spoken,” he said.
Turning to President Samia, who chaired the congress, Mr Kikwete remarked: “Madam Chairperson, I am not sure whether I have clarified matters or made them more confusing. But the people have spoken. If they want you to continue, who else will say no?”
He then proposed that the congress formalise the decision through a written resolution to avoid ambiguity.
“The best way to handle this matter is to draft a special resolution for this congress, explicitly stating this decision.
The resolution should then be presented, approved, and formally adopted,” he suggested.
Following this, President Hassan directed the CCM Secretariat to take the necessary steps to prepare the resolution.
“If this is the decision, I now instruct the CCM secretariat to draft and present the resolution here for approval,” President Samia declared.
Delegates welcomed the move with applause as the congress moved forward with preparations for the historic endorsement of the two candidates.
After the resolution for President Hassan had been made, it remained that the entire Executive Committee had to also sit and come with a resolution for Zanzibar’s candidate. Later, the committee came with the name of Dr Hussein Mwinyi as the flag bearer for Zanzibar for the October General Election, with cheers from the delegates of the National Congress.
Outside the Jakaya Kikwete Conference Centre, where the meeting was taking place, a delegate of the National Congress, Mr George Ruhoro, said they decided to close the debate on the issue of presidential candidates.
“Today we have finished the work. If there is someone who dreams of running for the presidency, forget it. Today is the end of the work. And if there is someone who had those dreams, maybe he should run for his mother’s party, but for the CCM, the work is done and completed,” said Ruhoro, who is a Member of Parliament for Ngara.
He said the decision was based on Tanzanians reacting to the performance of national leaders.
“All Tanzanians have seen the implementation of the Election Manifesto for Tanzania Mainland and Zanzibar. Everyone who hears, those who have eyes see, the deaf have touched, and all have seen that this is the right decision,” he said.
He said the members were touched by the way they work and the only reward was to let retain them in the country’s top office so they can continue pushing the wheel of development for Tanzanians.
A delegate of the National Congress and the Member of Parliament for Njombe Urban, Mr Deo Mwanyika, said they saw no need to keep CCM candidates unknown until Parliament is dissolved.
He said that they have decided to do so in order to start explaining to the people that there are no other CCM candidates but the two in that position.
“There is only one reason, what happened has never happened even to me, Njombe and the people in here are witnesses. We have seen clips of development projects for 40 minutes each that you can’t even imagine you are in Tanzania,” he said.
Another member, Prof Adolf Mkenda said even if they had not done that yesterday, he didn’t see how there could be any kind of competition in those positions.
“It’s our culture that people love the good things you do… But if everything they have done would have been explained, we would probably have the whole day to explain,” said Prof Mkenda.
He said the decision is not strange at all and asked people to remember where they came from by looking at other presidents who stayed in power for two periods.
Political analysts for their part noted that CCM’s decision was not complicated to the extent of seeing the endorsement as undemocratic.
“The way CCM does things is totally different from other political parties, it has a great system and trust among members.
“First, they only measure a person strictly by looking at the manifesto implementation, that’s what has resulted the decision we are witnessing today,” said a political analyst, Mr Thomas Byemelwa.
According to Byemelwa who spoke to media, the ruling party believed it has no competitor who could scare them from making the early decision.
“In football, its not always normal for a coach to reveal his squad earlier than its expected to avoid making the opponent plan better against his team. The same, we didn’t expect CCM to do so as early as now, but the party could have seen no threat from the competing parties,” he said, adding that everything was also open as which candidates will lead CCM to general election as flag bearers.
Another analyst, from the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM), Dr Moses Chaula, said that the decision was a translation to how a majority of CCM MPs and other leaders have had their work made easy by the two presidents.
“The people who are most feared in CCM are delegates of the National Congress, because if they stand against somebody, he or she cannot win anything. However, the decision by all delegates here, shows how they have been saticified by the two leaders,” he said, adding, “Also, thus is a message to any speculation that CCM was divided, its not, especially with how the two governments have fulfilled what was expected of them.”
