Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM) has every reason to celebrate the 38th anniversary of emerging number One and retaining that top position in the triumphant administration of this prosperous nation harmoniously and peacefully; regardless confronting numerous challenges arising from other registered opposition parties that have not yet scored adequate votes to become known as a ruling party since their founding, while great effort still continues to be the victor in the next October 2015 election.
The basic purpose of political parties is to nominate candidates for public office and to get as many of them elected as possible. Once elected, these officials try to achieve the goals of their party through legislation and program initiatives. Although many people do not think of it this way, registering as a CCM makes them members of this dynamic political party.
Political parties want as many people involved as possible. Most members take a fairly passive role, simply voting for their party's candidates at election time. Some become more active and work as officials in the party or volunteer to persuade people to vote. The most ambitious members may decide to run for office themselves.
Political parties perform an important task in government. They bring people together to achieve control of the government, develop policies favourable to their interests or the groups that support them, and organize and persuade voters to elect their candidates to office.
Although very much involved in the operation of government at all levels, political parties are not the government itself, and the Constitution makes no mention of them. In this way Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM) has continuously performed wonders admirable by all partisans and will continue to do better annually and perpetually.
Needless to mention herein that the socio-political and economic achievements were considerably incredible after only these 38 years and how about the next General election now rapidly being approached? The task will be further simplified due to the wealth of experiences and know-how, so far attained by CCM forwarding ever and backward never.
A political party is an organization of people which seeks to achieve goals common to its members through the acquisition and exercise of political power. While there is some international commonality or team-work in the way political parties are recognized, and in how they operate, there are often many differences, and some are significant.
Many political parties have an ideological core, but some do not, and many represent very different ideologies than they did when first founded. In democracies, political parties are elected to run a government by the electorate. Many countries have numerous powerful political parties, such as Germany and India, some have a two-party system such as the United States of America, U.K. and some nations are one party system, such as China.
In dominant-party systems, opposition parties are allowed, and there may be even a deeply established democratic tradition, but other parties are widely considered to have no real chance of gaining power. Sometimes, political, social and economic circumstances, and public opinion are the reason for others parties' failure.
Sometimes, typically in countries with less of an established democratic tradition, it is possible the dominant party will remain in power by using patronage and sometimes by voting fraud. In the latter case, the definition between Dominant and single-party system becomes rather blurred. Examples of dominant party systems include the African National Congress in South Africa, the Liberal Democratic Party in Japan, and the National Liberation Front in Algeria.
Burke laid out a philosophy that described the basic framework of the political party as "a body of men united for promoting by their joint endeavours the national interest, upon some particular principle in which they are all agreed". As opposed to the instability of the earlier factions, which were often tied to a particular leader and could disintegrate if removed from power, the party was centered around a set of core principles and remained out of power as a united opposition to government.
Depending on the demographic spread of the party membership, party members from local or regional party committees in order to help candidates run for local or regional offices in government. These local party branches reflect the officer positions at the national level.
It is also customary for political party members to form wings for current or prospective party members, most of which fall into the following two categories:
Identity-based: including youth wings, women's wings, ethnic minority wings, etc.
Position-based: including wings for candidates, mayors, Regional and District Commissioners, professionals, students, etc. The formation of these wings may have become routine but their existence is more of an indication of differences of opinion, intra-party rivalry, the influence of interest groups, or attempts to wield influence for one's district or region.
These are useful for party outreach, training and employment. Many young aspiring politicians seek these roles and jobs as stepping stones to their political careers in legislative and/or executive offices. Political parties are funded by contributions from:- party members and other individuals,
organizations, which share their political ideas (e.g. trade union affiliation fees) or which stand to benefit from their activities (e.g. corporate donations) or
Governmental or public funding.
Political parties, still called factions by some, especially those in the governmental apparatus, are lobbied vigorously by organizations, businesses and such as trade unions. Money and gifts-in-kind to a party, or its leading members, may be offered as incentives. Such donations are the traditional source of funding for all right-of-centre cadre parties. Starting in the late 19th century a new source of political fundraising, was founded as membership dues.
From the second half of the 20th century on parties which continued to rely on donations or membership subscriptions ran into mounting problems. Along with the increased scrutiny of donations there has been a long-term decline in party memberships in most western democracies which itself places more strains on funding.
In many other democracies such subsidies for party activity (in general or just for campaign purposes) have been introduced decades ago. Public financing for parties and/ or candidates (during election times and beyond) has several permutations and is increasingly common. Frequently parties rely on a mix of private and public funding and are required to disclose their finances to the Election management body.
In fledgling democracies funding can also be provided by foreign aid. International donors provide financing to political parties in developing countries as a means to promote democracy and good governance. Support can be purely financial or otherwise.
Frequently it is provided as capacity development activities including the development of party manifestos, party constitutions and campaigning skills. Developing links between ideologically linked parties is another common feature of international support for a party. Sometimes this can be perceived as directly supporting the political aims of a political party. A stable political party such as CCM has capably performed throughout its existence due to its pursuance of good governance and superb democratic principles, to push matters as forward as possible. Bravo!
Other donors work on a more neutral basis, where multiple donors provide grants in countries accessible by all parties for various aims defined by the recipients. There have been calls by leading development think-tanks to increase support to political parties as part of developing the capacity to deal with the demands of interest-driven donors to improve governance.
A case in point, we are afraid that in a multi-party country, we have already noticed how some of those specific opposition parties are intentionally causing tyranny or misuse their fortunes to oppress and frustrate the good intentions of the ruling party for their own advantage. For example, the attempt to sabotage the adoption of the newly proposed Constitution through soliciting other loyal members to refrain from taking part in the referendum and so forth, unknowingly that it is entirely a national issue for the benefit of all of us.
Generally speaking, over the world, political parties associate themselves with colors, primarily for identification, especially for voter recognition during elections. The green and yellow colours and emblem used by CCM are vital for identifying the faithful members of this ruling party. Hence, most of us appreciate, value and applaud how effective and efficient this political vanguard performs for the United Republic of Tanzania in close collaboration with other political parties to ensure security and unanimity.
Political parties represent groups as well as individuals. These interest groups have special concerns. They may represent the interests of farm workers, urban Africans, small business operators, particular industries, or teachers — any similar individuals who cooperate to express a specific agenda.
The main political parties in the United Republic appeal to as many different groups as possible. They do so by stating their goals in a general way so that voters are attracted to a broad philosophy without necessarily focusing on every specific issue.
Some of the opposition parties are known for their support of business, conservative positions on social issues, and concern about the size of government; while others traditionally have supported labour and minorities and believe that government can solve as many of the nation's problems as possible. The alternative to using the general philosophies of the political parties to sort out candidates is to vote for individuals based on just their own one-or two-issue programs.
Political parties are not policymaking organizations in themselves. They certainly take positions on important policy questions, especially to provide alternatives to the position of whichever party is in power.
When in power, a party attempts to put its philosophy into practice through legislation. If a candidate wins office by a large majority, it may mean that the voters have given him or her mandate to carry out the program outlined in the campaign.
It is impossible to separate policymaking from politics. Many groups with different interests and their own agendas are involved in all stages of policymaking. A good example is the 2014 formation of a Constituent Assembly for the newly proposed Constitution which was accomplished despite the deliberate refusal by some of the opposition parties namely ‘UKAWA’ to participate in its deliberations; with their ill intention to incapacitate, what they never knew, that it would be a major part of policymaking for the good welfare of the whole nation!
In developing an economic policy, government officials rely on the recommendations of economists who typically base their analyses on theories of how the economy works or should work. As might be expected, economists often disagree on the cause of a stock market decline or the best solution for curbing inflation.
We realize how well equipped CCM has been to train and utilize its own qualified human resources to develop the country’s advanced economy. Congratulations to the interim CCM Chairman, President Jakaya M. Kikwete, and his counterpart President Mohamed Shein, Vice Chairman, Mr. Mangula, Secretary General Colonel Kinana and all other colleagues of CCM both in Zanzibar and Mainland for steering the course to the everlasting or perpetual prosperity of the United Republic of Tanzania. Happy Birthday, CCM.
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