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195 Chapter 22 Multiparty Politics and Nurturing a Political Party As the Tax Commission was giving the final touches to its Report, the Nyalali Commission, which had been appointed to study and recommend whether and how Tanzania could revert to multiparty politics, submitted its own historic report. I warmly welcomed the recommendation that the Constitution of Tanzania be amended to allow for multiparty politics. Whilst the amendments to the Tanzania Constitution were being deliberated by the public and in Parliament, several groups emerged planning to found political parties. A number of people, who knew my stand on national issues and shared my views, discussed with me the possibility of launching a political party. I was then frequently in Dar es Salaam on Tax Commission business and we formed a group, which I chaired, to prepare aims, basic policies and a party constitution. Indeed, it is possible that I might have hastened the completion the Report of the Presidential Commission on Revenue, Taxation and Public Expenditures in order that I could participate more freely in this new, largely selfimposed task. The discussions for the launching of our party started casually at the Legion Club, and most of the founder members were Club members. As the discussions got more serious and started to require notetaking, we shifted the venue to my hotel, and later to Geoffrey Marealle’s house where I was a guest when my stay in Dar es Salaam became indefinite, and rather too costly for me on the completion of the Tax Commission work. If it was necessary to meet during the day, we used the Chairman’s office in the TDFL building. Information started to spread that I was involved in serious preparations for a political party to be launched immediately the law allowed, and I started to receive visitors. Many were current or former ministers or deputy ministers in the Government or senior functionaries of the single ruling party (Chama cha Mapinduzi). I was quite candid with them, and in many cases we discussed the possibility of their joining our party. At this time I also became aware of the fact that the National Security Service was following 196 my movements closely, and especially trying to identify those who were visiting me – either at home in Arusha, or in my hotel if I happened to be in Dar es Salaam. This surveillance did not bother me, or any of my friends. We were determined to observe the law strictly; and we openly and candidly explained what our intentions were, even if this were a handicap to our fast growth and success. The amendments to the Constitution and the new law relating to the launching and operation of political parties were passed by Parliament in April 1992. It was announced that the new Constitution would be operative from 1 July 1992, and that new political parties could be provisionally registered from that date. At about this time, Edward Barongo, who had been a prominent politician since the early TANU days and had served as a Deputy Minister and Regional Commissioner during the Nyerere era, came forward and declared his intention to join us.He held bitter feelings against the CCM government, having suffered detention under the Economic Crimes and Sabotage Act, and we welcomed him. Indeed, when the day for submission of our formal application for provisional registration came, he and I were chosen by the preparatory committee as the joint signatories for that application. Later, Edward was somewhat disappointed when he did not become Vice-Chairman at the first formal elections of office bearers for CHADEMA. But he served well as our first National Publicity Secretary. Before the 1995 General Elections, however, he resigned from CHADEMA and rejoined CCM, claiming that the party was too élitist, and falsely alleging that only university graduates were treated seriously by the leadership. The people who came forward to discuss the possibility of launching the party were convinced that doctrinaire socialism would not work in Tanzania. We wanted to design a society in which the state would create conditions for all able-bodied citizens to apply themselves fully to earn a decent living. We would allow market forces to operate in our country, and would put in place regulations so that the exploitation of national resources would benefit all citizens, particularly indigenous ones, whilst ensuring that there were adequate incentives for foreigners with capital, including technology, to come forward and invest in Tanzania. Under this policy, which we called “Indigenisation”, we...

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