CCM presidential candidate Jakaya Kikwete is scheduled to have a live televised debate with journalists in Dar es Salaam tomorrow.
The party's Campaign Manager, Abdulrahman Kinana, revealed this in a meeting with journalists yesterday in the city, where he also commented on the use of abusive language against the leader by Chadema in a campaign rally on Tuesday.
He said the debate would be held at Arnautoglu Hall at Ilala Municipality from 8pm to 10pm.
Kinana said journalists would be given time to ask the candidate direct questions during the debate.
Only Chadema presidential candidate Dr Willbrod Slaa has so far held a live televised debate ever since the election campaigns started. The debate which was highly rated was held on Saturday.
Civic United Front presidential candidate Ibrahim Lipumba is also scheduled to hold his tomorrow.
Recently, the CCM secretary General, Yusuf Makamba, was quoted as saying that his party would be engaged in dialogue with the citizens during the campaigns period and that it was not planning to have any live televised debate.
"We are engaging in a dialogue with wananchi in our campaigns trail. We don't expect our presidential flag-bearer, Jakaya Kikwete to take part in televised debates," Makamba had told this paper from Karatu, in Arusha Region where he was campaigning for his party.
He said the CCM presidential candidate had a lot of things to talk to the citizens during the campaign rallies, and that the party therefore saw no, reason for planning any television debate.
In another development Kinana said yesterday that his party would submit its complaints to the Registrar of Political Parties against the Chadema official who insulted its presidential candidate, Jakaya Kikwete, at a rally in Dar es Salaam on Tuesday.
The campaign manager said that, while addressing a campaign rally at Mwembe Yanga grounds in Dar es Salaam yesterday the Chadema parliamentary seat candidate for Temeke allegedly hurled insults on the CCM presidential candidate.
Kinana said that the insults used against the party's presidential candidate were unfair and a violation of the political parties' code of ethics.
He said: "It's unfair for a candidate to take to the political platform and insult or assault other candidates instead of spelling out his party's policies to the people…What Chadema has done to CCM is unfair and intolerable."
"We have decided to lodge our complaints with the Registrar of Political Parties and the National Electoral Commission for further actions," he insisted.
Kinana said Chadema should understand that Kikwete is not only a presidential candidate, but also the President of the country and people should respect him.
"We are very disappointed with the insults the Chadema candidate for the Temeke parliamentary seat, Pastor Dickson Amos Ng'hilly, made on our presidential candidate at Mwembe Yanga grounds on Tuesday. The party will lodge its complaints to NEC and the Registrar of Political Parties for further action," he said.
Ng'illy was arrested by police yesterday morning and interrogated before he was released on bail.
According to Kinana, "a candidate cannot ask voters to vote for him by abusing other candidates."
He insisted: "I hope that security officers also heard the insults and they will take legal action against the Chadema candidate."
He urged Chadema not to use the media to assault other political parties, adding that they were surprised why Dr Willbrod Slaa was yet to take action against the candidate while knowing that he had violated the political parties' code of ethics.