By Staff Reporter, DAR ES SALAAM Tanzania
Tanzania’s main opposition party, Chama cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo (CHADEMA), has today, November 27, 2020, expelled '19 traitorous' Special Seat members of Parliament accused of betraying the party.
The CHADEMA national chairperson, Freeman Mbowe, announced that the party has also stripped the 19 MPs of any party leadership positions they held and ordered their immediate replacement.
Following ubearerable irregularities in the last October General Elections that gave CHADEMA's presidential candidate 19% votes, the opposition party disowned the results and call for fresh credible elections.
CHADEMA claims the elections were heavily rigged in favour of the ruling party. But the national electoral body and the ruling party CCM have rejected the claims.
Mbowe said the party's Central Committee, which is the party’s top decision making organ, has directed its lawyers to move to court to challenge their 'irregular' nomination as Members of Parliament of the women’s wing.
The decision was arrived after a day-long meeting of the Central Committee at Bahari Beach Hotel in the commercial city of Dar es Salaam.
The resolution was eagerly awaited by party members and citizens following days of anxiety within the party.
Mbowe said despite expelling them from the party, the accused have a 30 days window to appeal the decision to strip them of the party membership status.
"It is a difficult decision to make but one which we had to make as a principled party and not as a matter of fashion,” Mbowe told the press.
He said the 19 leaders sworn as Members of Parliament contrary to the party constitution on Tuesday had lost the trust and betrayed the party over electoral injustice in the just ended October General Election.
Mbowe said the women members participated in an illegal process to have themselves nominated and take oath against the provisions of the constitution and the party’s own internal process.
"The said MPs should from today not be involved in any way with Chadema affairs and the committee has directed respective party organs to replace them.” Said Mbowe.
He was delivering the verdict of the extra-ordinary meeting that was called to address the surprise turn of events since their members were sworn in as Special Seat Members of Parliament.
The party holds that they participated and took part in an orchestrated illegal process to install themselves against the wish of the party which had declared not to recognise the results of the October 28 election results.
The expelled members did not show up today as summoned to defend themselves before the committee.
According to the law, a Member of Parliament who does not have a party’s membership or endorsement cannot be one.
Mbowe said the party could not tolerate the blatant abuse of the constitution, noting that the Speaker of National Assembly illegally swore in their members as part of the scheme to hurt the opposition.
He said those who accepted the Member of Parliament slots did not consider the heavy cost that the party and its membership across the country was facing since the elections.
“The party is hurting and hundreds of our members are in jail over trumped up charges yet they had the courage to go and take part in this heinous process,” Mbowe said.
Earlier this week, CHADEMA Secretary General, John Mnyika, told journalists that his office did not present the names to the National Electoral Commission for nomination as Members of Parliament.
"These names were faked by Electoral Commission in collaboration with the Parliament leadership and hurriedly sworn them outside the Parliament building contrary to the constitution." Mnyika said.
The former long serving National Assembly Speaker, Pius Msekwa was quoted by a local newspaper as saying that all the 19 Members of Parliament lost the Special Seats status the moment the decision to strip off their membership was announced.
He said the country’s constitution says parliamentarians lose their status immediately when their membership ends, noting that Chadema was required to start the nomination of other people who would hold the 19 positions if they wish so. - Africa
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