Rev. Dr. Godfrey Malisa was a CCM member but saw his membership terminated under dubious circumstances. His troubles began when he questioned the illegal nominations of President Samia Suluhu Hassan, Zanzibar President Mwinyi and Secretary General Dr. Nchimbi to run under the CCM banner for the presidencies for the first two and union vice president for the latter. Dr. Malissa threatened to sue CCM for blatant violations of CCM and the union constitutions. In a matter of days, he saw his CCM membership illegally taken without even being heard. He is now saying he fears for his life, asking us to pray to God to protect him. This is his harrowing story.
It all began somewhere in Dodoma, where CCM was conducting her nomination of the deputy national chairperson to replace Abdulrahman Kinana, who had called it a day. The appointment of Stephen Masato Wasirra observed the CCM constitution. He was proposed by the central committee and seconded by the national council before the national convention ratified his appointment. Dr Malissa did not complain about the appointment of Wasirra to be the CCM national vice chairperson because it had followed the strictures of the CCM constitution.
However, while the national convention was receiving the implementation of the CCM five-year manifesto, one senior member who seemed impressed by the achievements arose from nowhere to propose a motion that violated the core of the CCM constitution. This member alluded that because the convention was satisfied with the five-year manifesto implementation, it proposed that President Samia Suluhu Hassan and Zanzibar President Mwinyi be ratified to run for their respective posts in the forthcoming elections. The motion was quickly seconded by a couple of senior CCM members. A motion was swiftly approved, and the duo were shovelled with congratulatory messages.
Some members of the general convention queried whether the convention had powers under the CCM constitution to nominate and approve presidential candidates as it was done. Senior party members recommended that the party elder, who was a former CCM chairperson and president of Union Tanzania, should offer his advice on the matter. Jakaya Kikwete took a leaf from SWAPO rather than the CCM constitution as if SWAPO’s modus operandi was above the CCM constitution! He went on to praise SWAPO for nominating their presidential candidate earlier to proffer them with sufficient campaigning time. He counselled the convention should follow suit, and if there were legal ambiguities, the CCM secretariat would seek advice from lawyers. The matter was abruptly closed.
After the nominations, President Samia nominated Dr. Nchimbi as her running mate. The convention unanimously endorsed the proposal. After the meeting, some CCM members expressed disquiet, feeling there were blatant violations of the CCM constitution. Rev. Dr. Malissa went public, expressing his shock, appal, and anger that what was done was improper and illegitimate. He recommended that the whole process be revoked pending full observation of the CCM and union constitutions. He cited Article 21 of the union constitution that stipulated all Tanzanians, save for qualifications required, would be given an opportunity to seek any public office. He went on to say the said nominations had intentionally precluded other qualified Tanzanians from exercising their constitutional rights. He also took a jibe at those nominations from assailing the CCM constitution that requires all members to be given an opportunity to apply for such positions. After the applications are received, the CCM central committee will consider those applications and recommend not more than five applicants for consideration by the national council. The national council, through voting, will shortlist the names of not more than three and send them to the national convention to vote for whoever was seen as fit to represent the party in the general election.
Commonsense and logic had it prevailed, at least the CCM secretariat ought to have given him a hearing. He wasn’t heard, and before he fully understood what had happened to his concerns, he was axed from CCM. It is now a habit for CCM to purge party members who stand against the leadership. Public accountability was dead a long time ago! Bernard Membe, now deceased, was culled from the CCM membership register, and his crime was to ask for the presidential nomination forms to challenge the then-incumbent president Magufuli. He, too, was not afforded the right to be heard. Asking to fulfil his duty as a member of CCM was an unforgivable sin, so to speak!
After stating what was bothering him in his heart over how CCM disrespected her constitution, Dr. Malissa’s close confidants forewarned him that he was now a marked man and, therefore, should watch his back. He lamented that: “Huo mzigo ni mzito sana hasa unapotishia usalama wangu…..na ninarudia tena…ningependa kuwajulisha watanzania wenzangu ya kuwa niko kwenye wakati mgumu sana….kwa sababu tu nimesimama kusema kweli….tumefika mahali hata watu wanashauri ni afadhali uondoke hapa nchini. Kama kuna watanzania wengine watainuka na kusema hayo ni maamuzi yao. Mimi nimesema ambalo nimeona linapaswa kusemwa. Niwasihi watanzania waendelee kuniombea, waniombee kwa Mungu ili nipate ulinzi wa uhakika kwa sababu haya ninayoyapitia sasa hivi hata mimi nashangaa kwa sababu hivi unaweza kusema kweli halafu ukabanwa na ukawekwa mahali pagumu namna hii inashangaza kwa kweli.”
The interviewer wanted to know those who were threatening him whether they were inside CCM or outside it. He wasn’t sure where they were. He said those who wished him evil were inside and outside Tanzania. He said he was also receiving calls outside Tanzania urging him to be extremely careful; his life was in mortal danger. He was surprised that Tanzania had reached this stage of intolerance, where divulging the gospel truth may be risking one’s life. He said, so far, he has not accosted direct violence or meeting suspicious people who were after him, but he has received counsel to watch out for himself. Those who have advised him to take care of himself cited examples of those who came out to speak the truth and faced the wrath of the rulers of the day.
The interviewer prodded him on whether he still considered CCM to be the right political party to advance his cause. He said yeah, CCM as CCM was okay in terms of its constitution, mission, objectives and policies. However, CCM has now been hijacked by a cabal of very few individuals who have even overturned CCM’s chief stakeholders, peasants and workers! Today’s CCM no longer advances the interests of the weakest members of the nation but of those who are well-to-do tycoons. Today’s CCM is not the same as Nyerere’s, which was a mass party, but this one had all the hallmarks of a vanguard one.
As in the case of Membe, which bears similarity to this one, his life is not in danger. After illegally annulling his CCM membership, the aim was to rob him of his “locus standi” after he had threatened to sue CCM. However, the union articles that he mentioned still enshrine him with that “locus standi”. This is not one of those life-threatening cases, and those who were advising him to the contrary got it all wrong. We know the difference between the two.
He should take a deep breath that after the elections, just like what happened to Membe, he can apply to restore his CCM membership, and he will get it back. What I concur with him is that today’s CCM is not Nyerere’s CCM. This monster is now masquerading as a mass party, catering for all. CCM stopped being an everybody’s party in 1995 when we had our first multiparty elections. What kind of a mass party will axe its members for defending and safeguarding clear articles of the union and CCM constitutions? CCM is now a vanguard party serving the interests of the rich and powerful. The poor who have not woken to those facts are suckers that CCM will exploit to advance her parochial interests.
Read more analysis by Rutashubanyuma Nestory
