Opposition camp to boycott House over Access of Information, Media Service bills
Briefing journalists yesterday after the committee’s meeting, CCM Ideology and Publicity Secretary Nape Nnauye said those contesting for Parliamentary and councillorship posts are to pickup their forms between July 15 and July 19.
He placed the cost for Presidential forms at 1m/-, those for parliamentary seats at 100,000/- and those for councilors at 50,000/-.
Nnauye also announced that the aspirants must also secure 450 underwriters from 15 regions covering both Tanzania mainland and Zanzibar. Notably, the figure is considerably higher than that of 2010 when each candidate was only required to have 250 guarantors.
“Supporters from Zanzibar should come from three regions across both Pemba and Unguja Island,” detailed the CCM Ideology and Publicity Secretary.
“The changes on the number of guarantors are only for Presidential aspirants in Tanzania mainland since there are new regions as well as increased number of members,” he clarified.
“The changes on the number of guarantors are only for Presidential aspirants in Tanzania mainland since there are new regions as well as increased number of members,” he clarified.
Those vying for the post in Zanzibar will only be required to secure the same 250 guarantors, he said.
The CCM Ideology and Publicity Secretary went on to announce that screening of the presidential aspirants from Tanzania mainland will be carried out between July 8th and July 12th, after which, the name of the preferred Presidential candidate will be announced.
He said on July 4, the party’s Ethics and Administration Committee shall meet in Dodoma to be followed by Central Committee on July 5th and the National Executive Committee (NEC) on July 8th, 2015.
“The party’s General Meeting will be held betweenJuly 11th and 12th at which point the party shall reveal the name of its chosen presidential aspirant,” Nnauye said.
As for Zanzibar, he said the screening process will begin on July 4th during the Ethics and Administration Committee meeting.
He said for the isles, the CC and NEC sittings will be on the same dates as those for the Mainland, July 5th and July 8th respectively.
“The name of the suitable candidate for the Presidency in Zanzibar will be announced on July 10, 2015 during the General Meeting,” he said.
Nnauye went on to point out that campaigns within the party will be open for 11 days only, between July 20th and July 31st 2015.
Summing up, Nnauye said opinion polls and screening of candidates for all the posts shall begin on August 1st, 2015.
While CCM waits for June 3rd, in Zanzibar, the Civic United Front (CUF) has opened the doors for its qualified members to collect the Presidential candidate forms as of today and the aspirants will have one week to fill and return the forms by May 31st.
The announcement was made by the party’s Director of Election, Omar Ali Shehe who also placed the cost of the forms at 500,000/-, half that of CCM presidential candidates.
“Eligible candidates should pick the forms at our district secretaries’ offices across the island,” Shehe announced.
Detailing a pact entered between CUF and the Coalition for People’s Constitution (UKAWA) he said it has been agreed between the two that the Presidential candidate for Zanzibar should hail from CUF while Chama Cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo (CHADEMA) will avail a candidate for the post of Member of Parliament for the Kikwajuni constituency.
“Once the process is over, all the names will be taken to the National Executive Committee (NEC) for scrutiny before the finalists are scrutinised by the party’s central committee that will subsequently announce the preferred candidate,” he detailed.
Shehe remained optimistic that, since the party has a lot of preferable candidates who according to him qualify for the Presidential post, the party members will turn up in large numbers and that the opportunity will not be left solely to the party’s Secretary General, Maalim Seif Sharif Hamad.
The General Elections of 2015 will be the 5th since restoration of the multi-party system in 1992. Voters will elect the President, Members of Parliament and the local government representatives. As per the Constitution, the General Election will be held on the last Sunday of October which falls on the 25th.
Meanwhile back in Dar es Salaam, Chadema National Chairman Freeman Mbowe speaking during the party’s official launch of its 200 strong youth wing dubbed the Red Brigade said he will vie for presidency to restore the rule of law and good governance.
Asserting that it is time for change, Mbowe alleged that the ruling party CCM has in the last 50 years, failed to provide access to safe and clean water even to an important city like Dar es Salaam.
“In past ten years, Dar es Salaam City has had no operational drainage systems, a fact which has led to floods every time there are rains,” he alleged.
According to him, CCM has also failed to construct a sufficient number of roads and as a result people are stuck in road traffic for more than six hours at a time, this must change, he said.
Mbowe seized the opportunity to highlight the much contested Access of Information and Media Service Bills that he described as dangerous. He reassured stakeholders that all opposition MPs have agreed to boycott the session if corrections are not made to the controversial section in the bills.
“One among the unacceptable things in the two bills is the provision that during announcement of the General Election results, all private media must switch off their news coverage and only the state owned TBC will be allowed to broadcast...we will never accept this to happen to this country,” he pledged.
He took the opportunity to call on supporters of the party and democracy to join Chadema’s effort to ensure that the Constitutional right for access to information is upheld citing that already, two other controversial bills have been assented to laws, these are the Cyber and Statistics bills a move according to him, is meant to stop people from sharing information and views during the election.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
No comments :
Post a Comment