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CCM: Anti-unionists behind Zanzibar sovereignty agenda
2008-07-19 09:30:33
By Austin Beyadi
The ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi has said that it is wise for the people who are pushing for the union dialogue on whether Zanzibar is a sovereign country or not to stop because the debate will only create misunderstandings among the wananchi.
Speaking in Dar es Salaam yesterday, CCM acting head of the Propaganda Department Richard Tambwe said that the topic had been exhausted and the answers provided.
``All efforts to continue this dialogue which has no basis; will only mean that the moves made are only being made to fracture the Union, a development which will benefit neither the government nor those who are pushing the diatribe.
He said the decision made by the Speaker of the House of Representatives to bring the debate to a close had to be applauded by all Tanzanians who wished for the long existence of the Union government.
“Let’s leave the arguments to those who don’t want to see the existence of the Union government to continue making unnecessary noise, because any elaboration, whether political or judicial, will not stop them from arguing,” said Tambwe.
He said that those who disagree should know that the Union government was there to stay and would get stronger as days go by.
He said that in a Union government structure, there must be one country which is recognised by the international community, not Tanganyika or Zanzibar, but Tanzania.
He said that in the year 2000, some people who are now pushing the sovereignty agenda were acquitted from a treason charge after their lawyers challenged the court that Zanzibar was not a country, and the court ruled that breaching security was a Union matter and that the country’s sovereignty rested in the United Republic of Tanzania.
If they were acquitted after telling the court that Zanzibar was not a sovereign state and that the treason charge against the authority of Zanzibar was not maintainable as Zanzibar was not a sovereign state, then their present arguments cannot hold, he said.
Tanganyika and Zanzibar united in 1964 and formed a new nation which is called Tanzania.
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