Deputy Minister of Communication, Science and Technology January Makamba has kick-started the race to succeed President Jakaya Kikwete, saying he will offer his candidature for the top seat in the 2015 General Election.
Mr Makamba declared he was 90 per cent certain he
would contest the seat come next year, when the current office bearer’s
term expires.
Mr Makamba, son of former CCM Secretary General
Yusuf Makamba, told BBC’s Dira ya Dunia on Wednesday night that his
decision to contest the top seat was driven by pressure from the
people. He added: “I have made up my mind about 90 per cent...there are
minor issues I still need to iron out. I need to talk to the elders,
the clergy and retired leaders on how best to approach this thing....”
The Bumbuli MP (CCM) added: “When you are asked to
contest such a respected post by diverse groups of people across the
country, you need to think properly.” Asked who he considered the right
man to succeed President Kikwete, he said: “This post needs a person
from CCM...In our party we have procedures on how to find the right
candidate...the next 10 years will have specific challenges which need
fresh blood.”
The deputy minister, who is in London for a
telecommunications forum, stressed that the next president should be
someone with new thinking on how to raise the country to the next level.
His announcement comes barely four months since
his party reprimanded him alongside five other CCM senior members for
campaigning for the top job “prematurely”.
Others who were cautioned then were former Prime
Ministers Edward Lowassa and Fredrick Sumaye, Foreign Affairs and
International Relations Minister Bernard Membe, the minister for State
in the President’s Office (Social Relations and Coordination), Mr
Stephen Wassira and former Minister William Ngeleja.
In response to a question on why he made his big
announcement while in the UK, the youthful politician said; “I was in an
interview and got asked...I decided to make it clear.”
The deputy minister declared that his record,
after only a few years as the MP for Bumbuli, speaks volumes. He claimed
to have reduced his voters’ problems by about 90 per cent.
Mr Makamba, who once was President Jakaya
Kikwete’s speech writer, said health centres had been built in his
constituency but the problem was lack of health personnel. And the
construction of the district hospital was in the final stages of
completion. All 89 villages in the constituency have also been surveyed
in readiness for electricity connection, he added. Mr Makamba, who
will be 41 next year, told journalists that it was important for
politicians to be close to their electorate and come up with solutions
to their problems together.
On the presidency, he said; “For instance, you go
to Maswa, Liwale, Simanjiro and Wete and the message you get is that you
are fit for the job (the presidency)...but also elders, the youth and
religious leaders all say you can unite Tanzanians...that is serious and
you have to think about it and take action.”
Should he fail to clinch the presidency, he will
go back to work with the voters, he added, as President Kikwete did when
he lost to Mr Benjamin Mkapa in 1995. Mr Makamba was of the opinion that the constitution review process should be suspended until after the General Election.
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