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CCM candidates in Geita find going tough
2005-10-03 07:31:19
By Renatus Masuguliko, PST
CCM suffered a major setback in Geita at the weekend after a crowd jeered its parliamentary and civic candidates at a campaign rally.
The candidates, Ernest Mabina for the Geita parliamentary seat and Saidi Mahuma for the civic seat, were heckled at a rally attended by candidates from neighbouring constituencies — Faustine Kabuzi and James Msalika for Busanda and Nyangw’ale, respectively.
The charged political atmosphere forced CCM leaders leave rather than face further humiliation.
The incident took place on Saturday afternoon just as the rally scheduled for Kalangalala grounds was starting.
When the crowd shouted that they did not want Mabina, he responded by boasting that he would win even if they jeered.
The crowd took this as insolence and began heckling him.
The crowd said they had wanted Mabina’s opponent in the primaries, Donald Marx, to run for the seat on the CCM ticket.
Mahuma found himself in the firing line also when he tried to rally the audience to support Mabina.
The crowd told him to dump Mabina or else he would too be rejected.
The supporters said they would support the CUF candidate after the party rigged out Marx.
As result of the incident, CCM leaders have convened an urgent meeting today to discuss the problem and lay new strategies to capture the seat in the October 30 elections.
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