Peter Nyanje
By Peter Nyanje ; pnyanje@tz.nationmedia.com
(email the author)
Posted Wednesday, July 17 2013 at 12:44
Posted Wednesday, July 17 2013 at 12:44
In Summary
Arusha has turned out to be one of political
hotbeds in the country. It has sometimes been the source of discord
which leads to the death of innocent people
It is very hard to make sense of Arusha
politics. The competition between Chadema, CCM and CUF is so stiff that
sometimes people get lost when trying to understand the politics which
these three parties play in Arusha.
Arusha has turned out to be one of political
hotbeds in the country. It has been the source of discord which
sometimes has lead to deaths of innocent people.
Many people held their breath when voters in four
wards in Arusha city went to the polls last Sunday to pick their
councillors in highly contested by-elections following expulsion of
former councillors by Chadema.
Bomb explosion during the last day of campaigns on
June 15 at Chadema rally, which lead to postponement of the by
election, kept many people wondering if the last Sunday by-election
would have been peaceful. Thank God we witnessed no major incidents
during the exercise.
Now that the by-election has been concluded and winners
are celebrating with losers licking their wounds, it is time to turn
our back on the bygones and look ahead. After years of chaotic politics,
Arusha residents now need calm to be able to make sense of politics
without being contentious and worried about economic and social aspects
of their lives.
Calls had been made several times that after
election the winning party or team should be given opportunity to
implement their promises. I hope that we will observe the same in
Arusha. It is my hope that we will give the victors opportunity to
fulfil what they promised to do during their campaign rallies.
Any political gimmicks, which would delay the new
councillors action to help their people improve their economy, is
uncalled for at this time. Chadema, CCM and CUF should immediately
forget what happened during the campaigns and collaborate in using the
new leaders to bring development to the people.
We all know that these four wards have gone without representatives for long time.
The saga surrounding their discharge within Chadema took months to resolve. The by-election process also consumed a lot of time.
What happened during the politicking before and
during campaigns derailed much of the ground work which the councillors
started in their wards. Therefore, catching up with this situation
requires dedication but also space.
The main rivals, Chadema and CCM should give these
new councillors time to do their work. We know that these two parties
might move their antagonism to the Arusha mayoral contention. Let us not
allow this to happen because it will deny the new leaders and their
people opportunity to recoup what they have lost.
All concerned parties should understand that the victory for the
Chadema four new councillors does not automatically mean development to
the residents of the four wards.
They should now go back to work and the new
leaders should guide them to implement what they presented as their
plans during the campaigns.
Keeping on celebrating the victory and mocking the losers will not do any good to Chadema or residents of the four wards.
Source: The Citizen.
Source: The Citizen.
