Samia, Mwinyi win kudos

• Political stakeholders pass 15 resolutions
• Commend good political climate
• Call for more public awareness on 4Rs
• Castigates electoral corruption, bad mouthing

DAR ES SALAAM: THE special meeting of political parties’ council and stakeholders of democracy has made 15 resolutions, including praising President Samia Suluhu Hassan and Zanzibar President Dr Hussein Mwinyi for putting in place a conducive environment for conducting politics.

As the three-day conference concluded on Wednesday, it was resolved that Dr Samia and Dr Mwinyi managed to maintain a good situation through, among others, forming task forces for assessing state of politics and making recommendations for improvements.

Some of the recommendations, including lifting the ban of political rallies have been implemented.

Reading the resolutions ahead of official closing, chairperson of the meeting, Prof Bernadeta Killian, said it was also resolved that the planned tabling of three Bills for amendments in the National Electoral Commission (NEC), Political Parties Act and the National Elections legislations should not be under certificate of urgency.

“This is in order to provide a wide room for people to participate in contributing their views,” Prof Killian explained.

The meeting also agreed that the constitution rewriting process should start with forming a special committee to involve all key stakeholders who would look at all concerns aired by stakeholders.

“There is a need to conduct research to see a possibility of making the local government elections be supervised by the National Electoral Commission (NEC),” she read.

It was also suggested that more research is needed to establish a reason behind the reduced number of voters in elections.

According to Prof Killian, the participants agreed that more education was needed among members of the public over the importance of the President Samia’s 4Rs philosophy; Reconciliation, Resilience, Reform and Rebuild.

Meanwhile, the meeting which involved about 700 participants including leaders of different political parties and democracy stakeholders wanted to see strengthened fight against corruption, especially in elections.

It was also resolved that democracy within political parties should be heightened.

“Each political party has to have specific rules for candidates, including Special Seats,” she said.

Another resolution was on strengthening morality from the family level and strengthened civic education, including awareness of the constitution.

Furthermore, the gathering ruled that political parties should have a strategy for increasing the number of women, youth and people with disabilities in politics and leadership.

“Political parties should avoid using religious platforms and buildings for political activities,” she said, adding that the political parties also must respect the country’s laws when carrying out their duties so as to maintain peace.

The meeting also resolved that leaders of political parties and their followers must get rid of using abusive language, giving misleading information and defamation statements; instead, they should focus on marketing their policies while using decent languages.

On the other hand, the police force was also asked to operate effectively and professionally during the elections.

When officiating the closing of the meeting on behalf of President Hussein Mwinyi, Zanzibar Second Vice-President Hemed Suleiman Abdulla assured that both union and Zanzibar governments have received the recommendations and will work on them.

“We have received 15 recommendations…both governments will work on them,” Mr Abdulla assured.

He assured the gathering the two governments will ensure that the democracy is strengthened while peace and tranquility prevail.

“So far, the political situation is calm, and the governments will continue to protect peace and bring development to the Tanzanians,” he stated.

He said Tanzania belongs to all citizens and it was the duty of each one of them to protect peace, noting that the views given during the three-day meeting were focused on building the nation.

In another development, he condemned political leaders who use abusive language when addressing political rallies, saying such an attitude may disrupt a country’s peace and unity.