Greed for power won't take Ukawa anywhere.

BY EDITOR

8th August 2015

Editorial cartoon.

August 6, 2015 has entered the books of records of the country’s politics after Civic United Front (CUF) National Chairman Prof. Ibrahim Lipumba unexpectedly resigned from the post but promising to remain an ordinary party member.

 

Prof. Lipumba’s resignation came by surprise given the fact that the reasons he gave to support his decision were also not expected.

 

According to the economist-turned politician, he was forced to resign after the four political parties forming the Coalition of People’s Constitution commonly known as Ukawa in Kiswahili decided to field Former Prime Minister Edward Lowassa for the October general elections as their joint presidential flag bearer. 

 

Secondly, Prof. Lipumba said the coalition defaulted on its main agenda of ensuring the country writes the best Constitution. He explained that by accepting former premier Lowassa into Ukawa, a member who supported the faulty constitution, the coalition committed a political offence and that he was not ready to be part of it. By all standards, Prof. Lipumba’s resignation leaves many questions unanswered given the truth that he was among Ukawa leaders who attended an occasion at Bahari Beach Hotel last week to receive Lowassa as he was joining Chadema. 

 

The U-turn he has made makes someone wonder whether opposition leaders trusted by a section of the public in this country indeed deserve to be called ‘leaders’.

 

If Prof. Lipumba had any reservations towards Lowassa joining Chadema and Ukawa, for that matter, he should have made it clear right from the beginning.  

 

Records show that the economics guru of international status became chairman of the opposition Civic United Front (CUF) in 1995, and since that year he has unsuccessfully vied for the presidency for four consecutive times.

 

When Ukawa parties were readying to choose its flag bearer, Prof. Lipumba picked up nomination forms before his party endorsed him.  Under Ukawa’s initial arrangement proposed presidential candidates from all parties forming the coalition were again to be scrunitised before nominating a joint flag bearer.

 

However, as events unfolded Ukawa parties later decided to nominate former premier Lowassa as their joint candidate after the Monduli MP defected to the opposition side.  

 

Had Ukawa nominated Prof. Lipumba as their joint candidate it means he would now be running for presidency for the fifth time consecutively.

 

Now, here the questions are: Could it be possible for Prof. Lipumba to make the same decision if Ukawa had nominated him? Is it not possible that his resignation has, indeed, been triggered by him being denied the chance to vie for presidency by Ukawa fellow leaders? Or, has he been convinced by any other political party so that he could frustrate the opposition side for certain purposes?

 

Much can be argued around this subject but the bottom-line here is that opposition leaders in this country have started losing credibility before their followers. 

 

Understandably, political parties in any country are driven by a common agenda - striving to form the government. But, when some opposition leaders frustrate the camp, especially at this time of election you end up asking yourself whether these parties indeed mean what they say.

 

With this trend opposition parties should not start engaging in witch-hunt, searching for individuals crippling their efforts ‘to capture the State’. They should be honest to their followers.

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN