Time to read election manifestos carefully.

BY EDITOR

22nd August 2015

Editorial Cartoon.

The whistle for   election campaigns goes off today in the country, signaling the start of the presidential, parliamentary and councillors’ campaigns.

 

Information from political parties states that CCM will kickstart the marathon campaigns tomorrow at Jangwani grounds while Chadema whose’s candidate is supported by four opposition parties under the umbrella of  Coalition of People’s Constitution commonly referred to in Kiswahili as Ukawa are searching for a proper venue after their request to use the National Stadium today was turned down by the government.

 

Denying Ukawa’s request to use the National Stadium to launch the campaigns was of course expected, given the truth that such a venue has never been used by any political party, CCM inclusive, for any political activities. 

 

Though records show that there are over 20 registered political parties in the country the attention during campaigns will most likely  be directed to two presidential candidates- Dr John Magufuli from CCM and  Edward Lowassa from Chadema (Ukawa).

 

There are approximately 300 candidates who will be combing both rural and urban areas in the 264 constituencies canvassing for votes and get elected parliamentarians in the next sixty days without forgetting  those who will be fighting for the posts of Councillors. Until May 2013 Tanzania had over 700 wards.As political parties start a 60-day marathon campaign each one will be trying to sell its candidates backed up by election manifestos that will be implemented between 2015 and 2020. A manifesto, can simply be defined as a published verbal declaration of the intentions, motives, or views of the issuer, be it an individual, group, political party or government.

 

For years now Tanzania just like any other developing country has been grappling with poverty among its people together with the soaring unemployment rate among graduates of various levels of education, deteriorating health services, lack of access to clean and safe water, falling standards of education, insufficient power generation  and poor farming methods by farmers compounded by unreliable markets for their produce etc.

 

This week some political parties unveiled their election manifestos with which they expect to lure votes. But, very unfortunately given the fact that readership culture in Tanzania remains low very few people are likely to cast their votes based on what the manifestos stipulate.

 

Due to this problem majority of voters will rely on the summaries presented to them by candidates instead of striving to look for copies of the manifestos for thorough scrutiny.

 

Already we have started receiving verbal criticism from a few individuals, stating that some political parties have recycled promises, in a sense that promises that appeared in their 2010-2015 manifestos are reappearing this time around.

 

Of course recycling promises may not be a criminal offense, the only problem with these promises is that - can they be implemented in a span of five years? This is not an era of making useless promises like someone trying to build castles in the air.

 

As a nation we have to determine our destiny. This destiny cannot be determined by people who do not have any basis when electing their leaders. It’s time to read the manifestos so as to make an informed decision.

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN