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Ngawaiya set to ditch TLP
2005-07-21 07:29:37
By Emmanuel Kihaule
Moshi Rural MP Thomas Ngawaiya said yesterday that he was contemplating leaving the Tanzania Labour Party before the October general election.
Ngawaiya accused TLP Chairman Augustine Mrema of launching an overt campaign to discredit him in the constituency, adding that it was ’highly unlikely’ that he would contest the seat on the party’s ticket in the October 30 elections.
”I’ve received credible reports that the chairman is going out of his way to damage my reputation among my voters.
A smear campaign is in full throttle ahead of the elections and I’ve decided to do what is best for me and the people I represent in Parliament, he said in a telephone interview.
He said it was unfortunate that he was still being targeted for abuse by Mrema despite the TLP boss having declared earlier in the year that the two men had buried the hatchet.
’I thought that we had resolved our differences once and for all but I now have to reconsider my position as far as my TLP membership is concerned,’ Ngawaiya, who is also the party’s publicity secretary, said.
Asked which party he was intending to defect to, he said he had been approached by five parties, but added that the ruling CCM and opposition Chadema were at the top of the list.
’I’m still a TLP member, but I’m currently considering switching allegiance to either CCM or Chadema,’ he said, adding that he had ruled out his joining the Civic United Front (CUF) and Demokrasia Makini.
Mrema fell out with Ngawaiya last year when the TLP boss publicly accused the legislator of ’sabotaging’ the party in civic by-elections in Moshi.
Ngawaiya sued Mrema for defamation, prompting his expulsion from the party earlier this year on the grounds that he had violated the party’s constitution by taking Mrema to court.
Ngawaiya was one of several members kicked out by the party.
However, Ngawaiya and other expelled members were reinstated in a stunning U-turn during the party’s extraordinary general meeting in May.
But the legislator has avoided publicly stating whether or not he accepts the party’s decision to pardon him. Mrema could not be reached for comment yesterday.
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