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My main focus is national interest, Mkapa clarifies
2005-07-24 07:34:27
By Issa Yussuf, Zanzibar
President Benjamin Mkapa has said that his repeated statemet that he would use state power in the forthcoming general elections does not imply that he will favour Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM ), the ruling party of which he is the national chairman.
Mkapa made the statement in Zanzibar yesterday, when opening a one day seminar on broadening the 2001 political Accord (Muafaka).
The seminar, held at the Zanzibar Beach Resort, was attended by representatives of permanently registered political parties, mainly their secretaries-general.
’’I have been misunderstood. When I talk of using state power in the coming elections, I do not mean favouring CCM, I mean using the state powers to make sure that peace, and stability prevail during the elections,’’ Mkapa said.
He told the audience: ’’The government, CCM, multiparty democracy, our freedom, development ,our country, and political parties all will have respect only if elections are free and fair. It is our responsibility and duty to fulfill the obligation in order to have respect.’’
In his nearly quarter-an-hour speech, Mkapa stressed the need for all political parties to practice political tolerance, despite the fact that each party strives to gain power.
Participants, including some diplomats, heard Mkapa pressing for CCM and the opposition Civic United Front (CUF) to broaden the Muafaka by forming a committee that would foresee ’’National interest in the elections.’’
The President also urged political parties to have common policies of national interest in the elections that would be respected and implemented by all political parties in the country.
He said all the political parties should distance themselves from acts that may engineer violence, adding that ’’We may not absorb every policy, but this could be our guidance in having fair, peaceful, and stable elections.
In some countries, however, every political party is obliged to declare publicly and follow the agreed policies.’’
He said that his intention and that of CCM in general was to see to it that the forthcoming general elections are peaceful, free and fair, and that he had deliberately asked CCM Secretary-General Phillip Mangula to meet with his CUF counterpart Seif Sharif Hamad to iron out differences that had cropped up between the two parties.
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