Category: Politics

{Opposition parties in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have vowed to hold demonstrations ahead of the next presidential elections.}

Through a statement released by an alliance of opposition parties, they say they will mount pressure on President Joseph Kabila to step down once his term expires.

According to his opponents, Kabila is seeking to extend his term in office by postponing presidential elections set for November this year.

“A new U.N. report highlights a worrying clampdown on opposition, media and civil society in the Democratic Republic of the Congo since the beginning of the year.”

Moreover, the 44-year-old has been accused of trying to amend the country’s presidential term limits.

Under the current constitution, Kabila is not eligible to vie for presidency.

He has already run for two consecutive terms and ruled the country for the past 15 years following the assassination of his father Laurent Kabila.

Last year, at least 40 people died during protests over proposed amendments to the country’s electoral code.

Months later, the government said the presidential elections should be delayed by up to for years arguing that the country is ill prepared for elections.

According to a United Nations report, security forces have been accused of summary executions and death threats ahead of the polls.

“A new U.N. report highlights a worrying clampdown on opposition, media and civil society in the Democratic Republic of the Congo since the beginning of the year. It also stresses the need to guarantee political and civil rights ahead of key elections,” Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesman For UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said last month.

Critics argue that the current government has failed to bring stability in the country especially in the violence ridden Eastern region.

The November elections could be the first democratic transition in the war torn country.

Source:Africa News:[Opposition in DRC vow to build pressure on Kabila->http://www.africanews.com/2016/01/09/opposition-in-drc-vow-to-build-pressure-on-kabila/]

{FORMER Presidents Benjamin Mkapa and Jakaya Kikwete and former Prime Minister, Judge (retired) Joseph Warioba have commended President John Magufuli for his good leadership demonstrated so far.}

The former top leaders made the remarks after meeting Dr Magufuli on separate occasions at the State House in Dar es Salaam.

Speaking on Thursday shortly after meeting Dr Magufuli, Mr Mkapa said that he went to see the president to congratulate him on his election victory and the overwhelming mandate he has been given by Tanzanians to form and lead the Fifth Phase Government.

According to a State House statement, Mr Mkapa wished the president a happy and prosperous new year and assured him of his support and availability for any assignment if needed.

On Wednesday, President Magufuli met with his immediate predecessor, Mr Kikwete, at the State House in the city where the latter wished the president happy new year and congratulated him for his sterling leadership.

Mr Kikwete also stated that he supported the various efforts made by the president, including initiatives made to boost revenue collection.

On his part, Judge Warioba, apart from wishing the president happy new year, commended Dr Magufuli for his good start and sterling performance, especially in tax collection, cost-cutting measures and investments in social service sectors such as water, health and education.

Judge Warioba called on all Tanzanians to support Dr Magufuli in his crusade against corruption, abuse of power, embezzlement, thievery of public funds and negligence.

“We must all support the president; we shouldn’t leave him alone to fight against corruption, abuse of power and other vices. He is our leader and we must support him in this endeavour. We shouldn’t let him to go it alone.

All Tanzanians must fight these vices,” the former prime minister and first vice-president said. Since he took power last November, President Magufuli has taken stern measures in curbing corruption, tackling abuse of power, taming thievery and embezzlement of public funds and negligence as well as cutting down costs of running the government.

The measures include removal and suspension of some government officials, arraignment of suspected corrupt officials, restrictions on foreign trips, and reduction of cabinet size.

Source:Daily News:[Kudos for Magufuli by former presidents->http://www.dailynews.co.tz/index.php/home-news/45829-kudos-for-magufuli-by-former-presidents]

{ {{Governors have expressed reservations in the planned retrenchment of public servants and have asked the government to look for other ways of rationalisation.}} }

“Although we agree The Capacity Assessment and Rationalisation of Public Service Programme (CARPS) is noble, we are of the opinion that a number of factors needs to be addressed before the report can be adopted,” said CoG Chairman Peter Munya.

He blamed the bloated workforce in the civil service to the duplication of duties at the two levels of government.

Speaking in Naivasha on Friday, Mr Munya said the management of the wage bill was dependent on the restructuring of the national government ministries, departments and agencies.

“The bloated workforce being witnessed is exacerbated by the fact that even though functions like agriculture, health and water have been devolved, we still have duplication of duties,” he said.

He said ministries continue to hire staff to perform the same tasks that are constitutionally assigned to the county governments.

Mr Munya’s remarks follows a statement by Devolution Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru that the government will embark on ” staff rationalisation” to tame the wage bill.
Nearly 40,000 civil servants will lose their jobs and those to be affected are in positions made redundant by the constitution.

Mr Munya noted with concern the slow pace of completing transfers of functions assigned to the devolved units, with the timeline elapsing in March 2016.

He said the limited transfer of the functions by the county government will inevitably culminate into a constitutional crisis if not done within the stipulated timeframe.
“We urge the Transition Authority to gazette the remaining functions,” he said.

He said county governments could not proceed to undertake the duties unless they are gazetted.

Mr Munya also hailed the National Treasury for releasing the 2015 disbursement but regretted that funds were sent to counties later that the scheduled constitution timeframe.

“The counties are literary gliding to a halt,” said the CoG chairman.
He said the delay was hampering service delivery, with workers going for months without pay as well as the holdup in the implementation of development projects.

DAILY NATION

{ {{In a sweltering makeshift restaurant in downtown Dar es Salaam, a fading picture of Julius Nyerere, grey-haired like a stern but loving grandfather, looks down at diners. Next to it is a framed picture of President Jakaya Kikwete who Tanzanians will be seeking to replace when they go to the polls on Sunday.}}
}

The two leading candidates, John Pombe Magufuli of the ruling Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM), and Edward Lowassa of the opposition Ukawa alliance have both repeatedly invoked Nyerere’s name during their campaigns but shifting demographics and political realities mean Tanzania’s Founding Father has, in this election more than any other, become a symbol of the country’s past promise, but not its future prospects.

Formed in 1977 through the merger of the Tanganyika African National Union (Tanu), the ruling party in the Mainland and the Afro-Shirazi Party that ruled in Zanzibar, CCM has been in power since Independence and is one of the oldest and most entrenched political parties on the continent.

Yet, like its counterpart, the African National Congress in South Africa, CCM has shown signs of weakness and fatigue that could be costly in Sunday’s election, including the defection of former prime minister Lowassa to the opposition after internal disagreements over Kikwete’s succession.

Such internal disputes are not new. In 1995, in the country’s first multiparty General Election, CCM was rocked by the defection of minister Augustine Mrema and Nyerere had to expend precious personal political capital to stop the renegade official from taking power.

“Tanzania stinks of corruption,” the famously austere Nyerere said at the time. “The State House is a holy place. I was not elected by the people of Tanzania to turn it into a den of racketeers. This year’s elections will be ruled by money. Previously, candidates were asked where and how they got their property. Wealth was not a qualification. This year wealth will be the primary qualification!”

Twenty years later, and after a series of mega public procurement scandals over the past decade, corruption has slithered down the list of priorities for many Tanzanians.
The choice is between a candidate fronted by a ruling party with a long list of corruption scandals under its watch, and an opposition candidate who was forced to resign as Prime Minister over his role in one of the bigger ones, the Richmond scandal.

CCM’s saving grace

January Makamba, an MP and spokesman for the CCM campaign recently said the opposition had “ceded the anti-corruption agenda” by picking Lowassa as its candidate. This could yet return to haunt Ukawa but an Afrobarometer survey in 2014 found that corruption was only the ninth most important problem Tanzanians wanted the government to address, behind health, education, water supply, agriculture among others.

This change in attitudes reflects wider changes in Tanzanian society since the days of Nyerere that could affect the outcome of the election. Long gone are the days of Ujaama socialism; Dar es Salaam and other major Tanzanian towns now spot large shopping malls — those temples of individual consumerism — and major international brands.

Younger Africans today are part of a growing, aspirational class of “millennials” born around the turn of, or who came of age at the turn of the millennium and they will have a large say in elections across the continent, including in Tanzania.

Some 57 per cent of the country’s 22.7 million registered voters are aged between 18 and 35, while one in four is aged 35 to 49. In fact, with a median age of 17.5, almost half of all Tanzania’s population of almost 50 million were born after Nyerere’s death in October 1999.

The East African