Choice of Magufuli by CCM will stem fallout: analysts

Mesothelioma Survival Rates About 40 percent of patients with mesothelioma survive the first year after diagnosis. That survival rate depends on many factors, including age, cancer stage, cancer type, race and gender.

Dar es Salaam. Nomination of Dr John Magufuli as the CCM presidential cabdidate will save the ruling party from rifts.

Dr Magufuli’s nomination has elicited mixed reactions, with numerous political commentators saying he is a strong politician with the capacity to battle it out with the Opposition.

Political analysts are of the view that the rifts that were likely to occur after the CCM nomination can now be contained with the presence of a shiny pebble in the ruling party.

However, opposition party leaders who spoke with The Citizen said they were not threatened by the CCM pick, adding that they were ready to slug it out with Dr Magufuli on the basis of issues bedevilling the country. CCM, which has ruled Tanzania for five decades, on Sunday named the Works minister as its candidate for this year’s presidential race.

Whether or not Dr Magufuli will manage to take over from President Jakaya Kikwete, whose two terms have come to an end, Open University of Tanzania (OUT) Political Science lecturer Emmanuel Mallya is of the view that the Opposition is likely to face a titanic battle come October 25.

“He is the most accepted candidate and this should be a challenge to the Opposition to field a good candidate as well,’’ he said. According to him, Dr Magufuli would help to reunite all camps that had created rifts in CCM during the nomination process.

The Opposition, through its Ukawa coalition, met at the weekend in Dar es Salaam to nominate a presidential candidate for the upcoming General Election. However, they failed to agree on the candidate to field and later Ukawa co-chair, Prof Ibrahim Lipumba, said their candidate would be known tomorrow (today). Ukawa is a coalition of four major opposition parties—Chadema, CUF, NCCR-Mageuzi and NLD.

A senior lecturer of Political Science at the University of Dar es Salaam, Dr Benson Bana, said Dr Magufuli’s nomination will help the ruling party in its bid to give a hard time to the Opposition which is increasingly getting stronger.

>

“Dr Magufuli has the best record in terms of hard work and he is not tainted by any corruption scandals. Therefore, the Opposition needs to re-structure its campaign strategy because the CCM candidate is more of an asset than a liability,’’ he said.

Dr Bana said the CCM flag-bearer had exhibited the highest level of performance in all the dockets that he was appointed to lead and that he was a no-nonsense man who made tough decisions against underperforming officials. According to the don, he stands a great chance of taking Tanzania to the next level of development.

His views were echoed by another UDSM lecturer, Richard Mbunda, who remarked: “Dr Magufuli’s record is the best and you don’t need to market him to the public because he is already very well known.’’

He added that because he, unlike other aspirants, had no camp, he stood a greater chance to bring back together all CCM members.