Prime
Prof Kamuntu warns NRM on succession planning
Prof Ephraim Kamuntu. PHOTO | FILE
What you need to know:
- The senior member of the ruling party warns that the poor implementation of the party’s constitution and code of conduct will lead to the party's destruction once its founders are long gone.
A senior member of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) has warned that unless the party enforces its constitution to guide succession planning, it won't live beyond its founders.
Prof Ephraim Kamuntu, who is a former Justice and Constitutional Affairs minister, told journalists at Hotel Africana in Kampala last week that a recent private investigation he initiated to find out how the party’s constitution and code of conduct are being implemented, revealed gross indiscipline among party members.
He warned that the current poor application of the party’s constitution and code of conduct would destroy the party once the party founders are long gone.
Prof Kamuntu said he derived his mandate to convene the meeting and seek out the views of his Sheema Constituency voters from the NRM constitution that provides for NRM Parish conferences to mobilise the party members at the parish level and also monitor how government programmes are being implemented. He said financed the conference.
He cited the rise of independent party members contesting against the official party flagbearers, nepotism, voter bribery, breach of the party code of conduct, lack of disciplinary measures within the party structures as some of the key issues, voters in Sheema Constituency said, are weakening NRM.
“In Tanzania, Chama Cha Mapinduzi is still a strong party after its founder Julius Nyerere died. Ali Hassan Mwinyi succeeded him, Benjamin Mkapa took over, Jakaya Kikwete succeeded him, and the current president succeeded John Magufuli. Therefore, NRM should build and consolidate its structures when the founding members are still alive,” Prof Kamuntu said.
Prof Kamuntu cited the rise of independent party members contesting against the official party flag bearers. He also named nepotism, voter bribery, breach of the party code of conduct, and lack of disciplinary measures in the party as some of the key evils, he said voters in Sheema constituency, listed as weakening the NRM party.
He added that some of the infringements call for immediate expulsion of the culprits from the party but no one has been penalised because the party has never set up any disciplinary committees to handle such cases.
He warned that the laxity was breeding some members who are becoming more powerful than the party.
Prof Kamuntu said by enforcing its party constitution and the code of conduct, the NRM would be able to choose transformative leaders who are development and service-oriented and are respected by party members, instead of electing the corrupt, and transactional leaders who bribe voters and look for commissions to do what is required of them.
Mr Richard Todwong, the NRM party secretary general, said they are aware of the disruptions but played down the levels. He said they are coming up with new rules and regulations to deal with the cracks.
“There should be no cause for alarm. We have some cases of indiscipline and we have internal mechanisms of dealing with it. We are coming up with new rules to regulate that,” he said.
Mr Emmanuel Dombo, the NRM spokesperson, said they have also been conducting parallel investigations and discovered some party members are causing divisions within the party.
Mr Dombo added that some party members steal money meant to facilitate campaigns for their members while some youths who have matured into adults are still occupying offices of youth and are making the party look ugly.
He also accused some leaders of being corrupt and falsifying results during elections.
But Mr Enock Barata, the director of legal affairs at the NRM secretariat, said they have no problems with candidates who set out from the beginning as independent because it is their constitutional right to contest as independents.
He said they, however, have a challenge with those who stand for primaries and lose then contest against party flag bearers, which is not a problem only within NRM but other political parties too.
He said they decided not to take legal action against such candidates in the last elections because the country held elections in the shadow of Covid-19 pandemic without a voters register.
Mr Barata said they opted for mediation to resolve such cases but would enforce the rules, given a clean register.
He said the country needed to amend the law regarding election financing because voter bribery is a problem across all the political parties.
"We have seen it in NUP, DP and FDC. I think we need to revise the laws on election financing because this is not only happening in NRM. We have seen MPs who have lost seats in court because of voter bribery," he said.
