Tanzania President John Pombe Magufuli. Tanzanian opposition adamant that Dr Magufuli was backing the Kenyans and accused Mr Odinga of supporting a “dictator”
Tanzanian government has denied that President John Magufuli is
interfering in Kenya’s election by supporting National Super Alliance
flagbearer Raila Odinga.
However, the Tanzanian
opposition was yesterday adamant that Dr Magufuli was backing the
Kenyans and accused Mr Odinga of supporting a “dictator”.
The controversy follows Tanzanian opposition fears, some reported in the Nation, that Dr Magufuli, a personal friend of Mr Odinga, is providing financial and strategy support for the Nasa campaign.
On Monday, Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Minister Augustine Mahiga told The Citizen,
a Nation Media Group Publication, in Dar es Salaam that reports linking
Tanzania with its neighbour’s elections which are 13 days away were
“false”.
Dr Mahiga, a former
diplomat, described the reports, some attributed to the ruling Jubilee
Party, as false and “not based on truth”.
“Rival
camps are, therefore, using every technique to outperform one another,
but the Government of Tanzania is not siding with any of the two major
camps,” he argued.
He said President Magufuli’s government
believed it was the duty and democratic right of Kenyan voters alone,
through the ballot paper, to choose their President.
However,
the Tanzanian opposition said President Magufuli, who banned political
activity and ordered the arrest of opposition leaders, is supporting Mr
Odinga to return a favour.
On Monday, Chadema chairman Freeman Mbowe told the Nation
that the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) leader went against the
relationship between his party and Chadema when he backed President
Magufuli in the country’s 2015 elections.
'Dictator'
“It
is obvious,” said Mr Mbowe by phone. “We had a relationship between ODM
and Chadema in youth exchange programmes. Come the 2015 elections, Mr
Raila came out openly in support of Magufuli.”
Mr Mbowe wondered why Mr Odinga, who professes to be a democrat, was working with a “dictator”.
“Our
problem is not Mr Raila supporting President Magufuli if he were a
democrat,” said Mr Mbowe. “He is a dictator who is jailing people
everyday and we wonder why Mr Raila is supporting him.”
Chadema’s
director of publicity John Mrema recalled that after the elections Mr
Odinga flew to President Magufuli’s rural home and stayed for a week.
“Just the environment, the relationship between Raila and Magufuli, you don’t need to ask,” said Mr Mrema.
A few days ago, Tanzanian opposition leader Edward Lowassa endorsed President Uhuru Kenyatta for re-election and hit out at Mr Odinga for “betraying” his Chadema party.
In
May, National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale claimed President
Magufuli had offered to host a parallel tallying centre for Nasa during
the August 8 General Election.
Mr Mrema said Dar had remained silent on the issue. Mr Odinga denied the claim but defended the rationale.
Parallel tallying centre
“Jubilee had a parallel tallying centre which was at the Catholic University,” Mr Odinga was quoted as saying last month.
“They also had their server connected to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) server through Kencall.
“But
because Nasa wants to do parallel tallying, it has suddenly become a
crime and top Jubilee leaders are running all over the place trying to
give it a bad name.”
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