Why family values dooms anne makinda presidential ambition?

[Rutashubanyuma]

The Prof. Mark Mwandosya political remark that pegged CCM presidential hopes in 2015 on the unsteady hands of House Speaker Anne Makinda is a brutal acknowledgement that CCM current stack of presidential pretenders will stumble to retain the State House.


Part of that harsh reality is the recognition among CCM stalwarts that most of the current crop of CCM presidential aspirants is conjoined to the hip with serious allegations of official graft, and that alone may grapple to change the tone, the content and the context of presidential message when 2015 comes knocking…….


CCM needs to change the tone of 2015 presidential race



With official graft now dominating the minds of most voters and unlikely to change when 2015 calls up, CCM has now no choice but to seek presidential candidates who are capable of altering the presidential narratives from official graft to other most esteemed societal values like empowering women to begin with…….


Most of the presidential pretenders now choking the presidential race have one thing in common: Their names have been littering the list of shame; it is now a taboo to raise that popular refrain in public and many a CCM politician has been gossiping in private! When the pretenders dish out money for innocuous of causes, queries of ill-gotten wealth have tended to overshadow those avuncular intents, no matter how well intended those philanthropic gestures maybe. Hence, picking on an infamous graft guzzler as a CCM presidential nominee, may only excel in convincing voters CCM is a party condoning injustice and that may dim her ability of retaining the State House in 2015. In an analogical parlance, that presidential nominee will perspire to change the tack of political conversation and CCM political fortunes will hang on balance…..


Presidential candidates do inspire voters to vote for civic and parliamentary candidates of their parties, too. If a presidential candidate fails to capture the imagination of voters we expect that party to fare poorly in civic and parliamentary elections. The quality of presidential candidate is critical in determining how that party performs nationally, and few party leaders will prioritize friendship at the expense of their party's political fortunes. ….and former president Daniel Arap Moi tried it in Kenya in 2002 with gross consequences to the political fortunes of Kanu, and todate Kanu has never been the same.


Having that in mind, CCM central Committee will ultimately find a compelling justification to debar men from running this race which will be hotly contested than any other election in our short memorable history. With the amended constitution in place, CCM can not solely rely on the electoral body, TISS and local government to rig the election. Though, the path to CCM presidential nominations will in earlier stages appear open and wide to all, but the CCM Central Committee will settle on five women only. The CCM NEC will hail that decision as a divinely ordained! But this is expected since CCM NEC for all purposes and intents is structured in such a manner that it remains being a rubber stamp of the buldozing Central Committee.


Fuming male presidential pretenders will be reminded that it is women's turn to call the shots and because of the magnitude of the stakes at hand our perennial pretenders will all but meekly toe the line. The option of challenging the status quo may end up framing the instigator with valid official graft charges which may not only bring a sudden closure to a political career but also secure a long jailterm for the cradle-rocker. Chadema will be naïve to expect, major revolt from this CCM internal realignment.



How will CCM pull this feat off?



Like it or not, no woman is a self-made politician and hence be credibly perceived as presidential material. Whoever CCM decides to settle upon, that woman will be made a queen as she can not marshall the kind of resources needed to anoint herself. In many ways, lacking the necessarily resources to run a credible presidential campaign is a boon since it reminds voters that that presidential aspirant is not a veteran looter of public resources.
Recent lessons of CCM central Committee gerry-mandering has resulted into Anne Makinda being coronated as the House Speaker against all odds after men and in particular the immediate House Speaker, Mzee Sitta was ostracized. Similar fate confronted UVCCM chairperson gunning mainlanders, when their names were methodically blotted out of the list just to ensure a Zanzibari guns down that much coveted docket. With such a fertile hindsight, it will only come as a surprise to a few unsuspecting political vigilantes when male presidential onslaught is buried in CCM Central Committee on contestable grounds of enshrining women empowerment at the highest ranks of national leadership!


What about the efficacy of House Speaker Anne Makinda's presidential stab?



To her rosy curricula vita, House Speaker Anne Makinda's name has not prominently featured in graft related scandals to bedevil this nation. In her long yet incognito political career, it is family values and not even her lack of consummate political intellect which will ultimately shoot down her presidential bid. Intellectual maestro seems to have eluded the last three presidents, so it ought not to factor in her compelling case. Her CCM credentials may appease many in the rank and file but will repel non-CCM voters keen of distancing themselves with CCM notorious hawks. Her record as the Speaker of the House will, for obvious reasons, come into a sharp focus because she has failed to be an impartial umpire, and often tilting the scales in favour of her own political party!


Her recent utterances have sent mixed signals: On one hand, she cloaks herself with a clown of a sensitive leader to the plight of the poor but on other occasions she appears insular and insensitive. When she assented upon taxation of phone ownership and the reasons she deployed to back that position, many in public perceived her being too mired with the status quo interests and unfit to lead a hoi polloi cause. On constitutional matters before us, she has sided with progressive circles where she was critical of the draft constitution for not doing enough to dwarf lack of accountability in public administration. Could these dilemmas dilating the difficulties in balancing the wants of the status quo against the needs of the needy? Whichever the case may be, it is family values that put her presidential ambition into a stark controversy.


CCM has always raised family values when her stay in power seemed contestable. That happened in 1995 against Augustine Mrema presidential bid and again in 2010 against Dr. Wilbard Slaa. In both occasions CCM dismissed the ethical validity of those presidential aspirants from the opposition quarters as scurrilous affront to family values. Mrema was accused of dealing treacherous with a woman whom he was alleged concubining and a court case was hastily hatched just to drive home that point. In Dr. Slaa's case of betrothing a technically divorcee became an instant election issue and a court case was quickly assembled to besmirch him in the voters' eyes. In all these two cases, it is unclear the effectiveness of those political lynching, and how far they helped CCM torpedoing the presidential efforts of the duo when one considers the roles of electoral body, local government and national security body in rampant rigging of election results.


For Speaker House Anne Makinda is known for begetting a child out of wedlock and has no husband she can call her own! With that fact in mind, her claim to a higher moral ground is tainted knowing CCM has in many occasions excoriated immoral ethics of the opponents' and it will be interesting to see how she navigates this rough seawater of her own creation.

Potential voters will mull upon whether Anne Makinda is sending a wrong message to the youth that it is okay to have children out of wedlock and claims of intemperate fornications are misplaced! With the rate of HIV infections on the rise, casual sex and its undesirable outcomes will eclipse her presidential bid doling out to the opposition with much clout in setting up and managing the presidential race agenda……..CCM ultimately will have to determine whether such incalculable risks are worth to douse themselves in……….

 

[Rutashubanyuma]

KWANINI Spika Makinda hutetea ugali wa wabunge?

Kwa zaidi ya miaka 30 ambayo Spika Anne amelitumikia Bunge amejijengea umaarufu wa kutetea masilahi ya Bunge badala ya wapigakura ambao wamemtuma kule na hizi ndizo sababu zake:-
1) Chochote kinachopatikana Bungeni naye hunufaika. Hivyo ubinafsi pia unampa msukumo wa kupigania masurufu makubwa ya wabunge badala ya wapigakura.

2) Hoja yake siku zote huwa mafao ya wabunge ni kiduchu bila ya kutoa ulinganishi na watanzania wengineo hususani ukweli kuwa uboreshaji wa masilahi ya wabunge ambao malipo yao yanatisha haoni ni kichocheo cha kuongeza pengo la walionacho na wasionacho na hivyo kuongeza misuguano ya kijamii na kusambaa kwa maovu ya kupambana na dhuluma hizo.


3) Kutetea masilahi ya wabunge humpa kinara mhusika umaarufu wa bei poa na kumjenga katika nyadhifa mbalimbali Bungeni kwa kuonekana ni mtetezi wao na wenye sifa hizi mara nyingi hujizolea nafasi nyingi za kiusimamizi katika kamati za Bunge na hili pia macho ya Mheshimiwa yanaliangazia kwa ukaribu.

4) Kulinda nafasi yake ya Uspika pia kunategemea sana kiasi gani anakubalika kwa wabunge ambao ndiyo waliompa huo ugali sasa kuwapiga vuvuzela kuwa mafao yao hayatoshi kunamweka katika chati ya kulinda ugali wake.


5) Mafao ya kustaafu ni makubwa mno yakilinganishwa na watumishi wengineo wa umma na mafao ya viongozi wa kitaifa ni kufuru za wazi kabisa na ndiyo maana kunajitahada ya kuyatungia sheria yawe ni siri maana ni dhuluma za wazi kwa taifa lakini kamwe hutamsikia Mheshimiwa akikemea taswira hii mbaya ambayo sasa ni gonjwa hatarishi kitaifa.

6) Wabunge wengi ni wafuja mali wakidai kufa kwaja sasa hoja za Mheshimiwa kudai malipo ni kiduchu bila kukemea utapanyaji wa mali uliowazi Bungeni ni dhahiri Mheshimiwa analinda kitumbua chake tu hapo Bungeni. Kila shughuli za Bunge zinapoaanza Dodoma malaya wote huamia Dodoma kwa sababu wabunge wanaeleweka kwa kutafuna bucha za nyama mbalimbali. Mheshimiwa angeeleweka kama angelijikita kutoa ushauri nasaha ambao ungeliokoa gharama kubwa za matibabu ndani na nje ya nchi kutokana na uasherati uliokithiri Bungeni na kutuletea gharama kubwa za kutibu magonjwa mengi yanayosababishwa na zinaa isiyo ya lazima.



7) Mfumo mzima wa uteuzi wa spika na uidhinishaji wa masurufu ya wabunge una dosari nyingi na dosari hizo zinachangia kumsukuma Mheshimiwa kutetea masurufu tajwa ambayo yanatishia usalama wa taifa kwa kuongeza tofauti za mapato kati ya wenye nacho na wasiokuwa nacho.


8) Kukosekana kwa chombo huru cha kuidhinisha mishahara ya watumishi wote wa umma kumetoa nafasi ya kipekee kwa Mheshimiwa kutetea upande mdogo wa utumishi wa umma bila ya kukumbuka kuwa kama ni ugumu wa maisha ni kwa kila mtanzania na siyo wabunge tu.


9) Kukosekana dhana nzima ya chaguzi huru na zenye haki kumechangia sana viongozi wengi wa kisiasa hususani wa CCM kutomjali mpigakura kwa kuelewa kuwa hata kaka akikataliwa bado atalazimishia kupita NEC, TISS na serikali za mitaa kuendelea kula na mlalahoi atajijua na kiherehere chake!


10) Wabunge wote ni wajumbe wa Mkutano Mkuu wa CCM ambao utaamua nani atamrithi JK kwahiyo kuwatetea kwa nguvu zote ni kampeni za uraisi za mwaka 2015 zimeanza kimyakimya kwa kumchinja mlalahoi ambaye ushgiriki wake kwenye demokrasia ya nchi hii bado ni kitendawili.