Hamad says talks way out of current Union�s problems
2009-04-27 10:00:36
By Joyce Kisaka
The Civic United Front (CUF) secretary general, Seif Shariff Hamad, has said the present problems facing the Union can only be resolved through national dialogue.
He made the remarks during an exclusive interview with \'The Guardian\' on Friday ahead of the Union celebrations yesterday.
�To hold a national debate is very crucial in order to strengthen the Union and corrective measures should be taken thereafter, otherwise it would be difficult to deal with matters of the union,� he said.
He said the Zanzibar founding President Abeid Amani Karume wanted a three governments formula for the Union - Tanganyika, Zanzibar and the Union governments.
He said the Father of the Nation, Julius Nyerere, held a different view for the reason that Zanzibar�s identity must be maintained.
He said: �No one has doubts with what our leaders have signed in the Articles of the Union that formed Tanzania, but for the sake of the Union and its people, we have to see the original certificate of Articles of the Union.
Imagine, as we are talking now, no one in Zanzibar has seen them,� he said.
Hamad, who had held several posts in the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar, including chief minister, said the Union itself had brought stability in the region as it had rendered its peoples to be much closer and that the advantages of the Union outweighed the disadvantages.
He added; a strong political will is what was needed on the part of the government and that people should be told clearly the truth about the problems. He said it was the national dialogue that would give them the chance to present their views.
Hamad said the three government sformula would have been the perfect one adding that what was happening now to the Union matters was unfortunate. He said their discussion was taking place in the national parliament involving few law-makers from the Isles.
He said it was very unfair for 20 people to speak on behalf of the whole of Tanzania.
Speaking on the burning issue of oil he said evidence exited that the matter was not discussed by the respective parties and that the Isles Attorney General during that period, Abubakar Hamisi, went to see Mwalimu Julius Nyerere on the same, but the latter said they would consider it in a meeting to be organised later.
Hamad said Zanzibaris were therefore of the stand that the matter was added to the list silently for reasons which they were yet to know todate.
He compared the matter with that of gas, which started to be the Union matter but since exploration of the same began at Songo Songo and Mnazi bay, Zanzibar had not benefited a single cent. He asked why was the arrangement put that way.