Towards Success: The Triangle of Political Victory

[kanta]

I always say thanks brother for your articles, you have been an outstanding contributor on JF.This is the best article cause it gives out strength and weakness of the political parties especially the big ones in our country.

But i want to emphasize that it is not a secret any more, MAGAMBA is in ICU right now and i anticipate by 2015 so many guests will arrive from different parts of the WORLD to attend the inauguration of a first president from opposition part in TANZANIA as well as the FUNERAL of MAGAMBA..

 

[Ruge Opinion]

The triangle is arguably right,but not the opinion.

The concept is right, but one should not discount the fact that CCM's political base is crumbling and very fast. In the last General Election they were telling us that they had 5 million members. If that was the case they had almost about 50% of the electorate on their side. All they needed was some votes from neutral voters to win the elections. With hindsight we now know that without help from the Electoral Commission and "Security" organs they were gone. The measure of CCM's down spiral is the amount of intimidation and harassment deployed even at grassroots levels during council and parliamentary by-elections. Why resort to force and cheating if you really have a solid political base?

 

[Kimbunga]

On Chadema: It has a very strong political base as well as a rising philosophical/ideological base but lacking a strong structural base (the base still depends heavily on personalities).


MM

Mkuu umenena vyema hapo kwenye red. Wasije watu wakasema umeongea upupu manake humu watu hawachelewi, hawataki kuonyeshwa penye tatizo. Umenikumbusha NCCR-Mageuzi. NCCR-Mageuzi ilianza vizuri sana ikawa inaungwa mkono na wasomi na watu wengine wa matabaka mbalimbali japokuwa si kwaa kiasi kikubwa. Sasa kimbembe kikaja pale Mh. Lyatonga alipojiengua CCM ikaingia NCCR basi hapa NCCR wakaingiza personality, Mrema akawa ndio NCCR na NCCR ni Mrema! Alipotoka tunajua madhara yake kwa NCCR na Mrema Mwenyewe japo sasa tena NCCR imeanza kurudi kwa mwendo wa konokono!

 

[Kimbunga]

For a political party to be successful it needs to position itself to assume power. For this reason it requires what I would call as the Triangle of Political Victory. In this triangle there are a Philosophical/Ideological Base, An Administration/Structural Base and an Activism/political base.

If I were to draw a triangle we would have something that looks like this:



Now:

1. Ideological/Philosophical Base: Is that part of the political party which distinguishes it from all other political parties in terms of their mission, perceptions, goals, platforms etc. This is the central piece of any political parties. Most parties have almost the same kinds of structures or administrative outlook but it is here where the fundamental differences between parties exist. It is not just the written philosophies or ideas but rather the people who promulgate those ideas. A political party needs to have its ideological base in its membership as well as in its leadership. A party without an ideological base, it like a people without a culture.

2. Administrative Base: This is that part of the party which involves its structures and its infrastructures of administration, organization and leadership. While most parties structures are somewhat similar each political party needs to develop its own structures befitting its goals, ambition etc. A political party that just copies and paste what other parties have (albeit under different names) is fundamentally inheriting the weaknesses or strengths of those other parties. So, toward victory a party need to create functionaries that would help it soar high. While all birds have wings, not all birds can fly! The differences are in the structural details of their evolutionary making.

3. Political Base: This is the other fundamental part of a political party. Without a strong political base a party will be just a party but not part of a big party! The political base includes its superstars, loyal members, supporters, ideologues, pundits etc. It includes all political leaders from the very bottom to the very top. The political base is what makes a political party win an election. A party can have a good ideology or bad, it can have a very good structural system but without a strong, die-hard political base it will remain just a party with supporters. In order to be able to assume power - say to lead a country - a party needs all of its political base to be behind its agenda.

In my unsolicited humble opinion:

On CCM: It has a strong political base as well as the administrative base but it is lacking a strong philosophical/ideological base. Since the end of Nyerere's era CCM has never been able to articulate a clear ideological stand as a political party. The so called "Market economy" or "Free market" is in fact not an ideology!

On Chadema: It has a very strong political base as well as a rising philosophical/ideological base but lacking a strong structural base (the base still depends heavily on personalities).

So, once all these three are set towards victory as the saying goes, the sky is the limit or is it?

MM

Mkuu hii modal ni ya Udaktari wa Uzamivu, imetulia sana na CCM wangekutafuta uwasaidie wangejivua gamba vizuri kuliko yule profesa aliyewadanganya hadi wamejichanganya. Ungewapa hii model na kuipresent kwenye CC yao mambo yao sasa yangekuwa yananyooka. Big up mkuu.

 

[Josh Michael]

All the African base on political parties sometimes zinategemea sana kwa watu husika!! utakuja kusema ua kuona baada ya kipindi cha Jk kwisha kutakuwa hakuna cha base wa philosophy maana inaweza kubadilika kutokana na wakati kipindi hata uchumi husika kabisa maana inakuwa shida sana katika Kujua!! CHADEMA wamefanikiwa wa kiasi kikubwa sana kutengeneza na hata philosophy ila mzee wangu siku hizi nakosa kidogo muda wa kuandika kutokana na majukumu mengi ya Taifa

 

[Ben Saanane]

All the African base on political parties sometimes zinategemea sana kwa watu husika!! utakuja kusema ua kuona baada ya kipindi cha Jk kwisha kutakuwa hakuna cha base wa philosophy maana inaweza kubadilika kutokana na wakati kipindi hata uchumi husika kabisa maana inakuwa shida sana katika Kujua!! CHADEMA wamefanikiwa wa kiasi kikubwa sana kutengeneza na hata philosophy ila mzee wangu siku hizi nakosa kidogo muda wa kuandika kutokana na majukumu mengi ya Taifa

The bedrock of Other nations democratic strength depends on the political ideology of the ruling class(elites),but this is relevant kwa the transformed Society!

 

[Mzee Mwanakijiji]

Demoralization of the base is the worst strategy any party will attempt; in the aforementioned scenario the base feels despised.
Please do something now and improve your communication in future.

One of the danger that exist (I'll argue the greatest danger) as I had shown in "kutoka hapa kwenda kule" last year is that a group of few individuals within Chadema try to play all three roles - they are the activists, they are the political leaders as well as the administrators of the party. This might show how talented and skillful they are but might lead to numerous problems among them - miscommunication between the leaders and the party, neglect of the marginal branches, follow up, system of feedback and monitoring etc. Even drawing strategies depends heavily on the same very people - which sometimes leads to unwise or strategically not too wise course of action.

 

[Mzee Mwanakijiji]

The concept is right, but one should not discount the fact that CCM's political base is crumbling and very fast. In the last General Election they were telling us that they had 5 million members. If that was the case they had almost about 50% of the electorate on their side. All they needed was some votes from neutral voters to win the elections. With hindsight we now know that without help from the Electoral Commission and "Security" organs they were gone. The measure of CCM's down spiral is the amount of intimidation and harassment deployed even at grassroots levels during council and parliamentary by-elections. Why resort to force and cheating if you really have a solid political base?

This is a very good point indeed, CCM failed miserably in organizing its political base which for generation was its best political capital. It counted on its members. The political wrangling of the last year left the party split its members hurt and without a direction or someone to direct them. This still continues today and I'll argue in a foreseeable future, any bi election will not favor the ruling party but Chadema. CCM has to find the way to stop the bleeding so far it has not and I can't see how it will do that.

 

[Mzee Mwanakijiji]

AN OPEN LETTER TO MZEE MWANAKIJIJI,
This is the best article i have ever come across since i joined JF, now i would like to ask you comrade to send me this article to my mailbox novakambota@gmail.com so that i post it in my site

you can just copy and paste it.

 

[Rutashubanyuma]

In my unsolicited humble opinion:

On CCM: It has a strong political base as well as the administrative base but it is lacking a strong philosophical/ideological base. Since the end of Nyerere's era CCM has never been able to articulate a clear ideological stand as a political party. The so called "Market economy" or "Free market" is in fact not an ideology! Even more, the ruling party is facing a very unique situation in its political base; it lacks activism! As a matter of fact some of its cadres despise the idea of activism this brings to a clash among its leaders; the bureaucrats of old and younger youthful members . While the question of ideology is a difficult one the question of the split of its base is the greatest threat to its future. I totally believe that the weakest link within the part is the confluence of the two.

On Chadema: It has a very strong political base as well as a rising philosophical/ideological base but lacking a strong structural base (the base still depends heavily on personalities).

So, once all these three are set towards victory as the saying goes, the sky is the limit or is it?

tatizo la huu uchambuzi hauelezei nafasi ya wizi wa kura na jinsi ambavyo unachangia katika kusababisha misdiagnosis of the true issues...............

 

[Mzee Mwanakijiji]

tatizo la huu uchambuzi hauelezei nafasi ya wizi wa kura na jinsi ambavyo unachangia katika kusababisha misdiagnosis of the true issues...............

Ukiangalia vizuri utaona kuwa hiyo hoja yote imo ndani ya mambo hayo matatu. Think about it. Utaweza vipi kufuatilia kura zako kama ur structurally weak? or administratively not well organized?

 

[Ben Saanane]

Mkuu umenena vyema hapo kwenye red. Wasije watu wakasema umeongea upupu manake humu watu hawachelewi, hawataki kuonyeshwa penye tatizo. Umenikumbusha NCCR-Mageuzi. NCCR-Mageuzi ilianza vizuri sana ikawa inaungwa mkono na wasomi na watu wengine wa matabaka mbalimbali japokuwa si kwaa kiasi kikubwa. Sasa kimbembe kikaja pale Mh. Lyatonga alipojiengua CCM ikaingia NCCR basi hapa NCCR wakaingiza personality, Mrema akawa ndio NCCR na NCCR ni Mrema! Alipotoka tunajua madhara yake kwa NCCR na Mrema Mwenyewe japo sasa tena NCCR imeanza kurudi kwa mwendo wa konokono!

Kimbunga,

Umenichekesha sana,hapo kwenye Red.Ikitokea hivyo basi ujue,ndiyo maana tiba kama hii inahitajika kwa sababu hizo philosophy zingekuwepo basi vyama vya siasa visingekuwa na blind followers kama hao.

 

[Zing]

Thanks for the Article nzuri
Llakini hivi hawa vongozi wetu nasisi wananchi kwa hata yale mambo tuli yosoma darsani kama management levels wanayakumbuka na kama tunayakumbuka tu nayatumia.

Mfano utakuta mtu ni Top manager/Leaders lakini anataka afanye kazi za Middle or Level manager. Mambo ya richmond ni mfano kuwa watu wanasoma darsaani mambo waliyosoma wanayaachia kwenye makaratasi

Ofisi nyingine hakuna hata muudo unaoleweka ( Organisation structure)kujua majukumu ya Leader A yanaishia wapi na ya B yanaanzia wapi.

 

[Mzee Mwanakijiji]

Ben, one of the dangers that I see when people speak of ideologies is that they define certain ideologies exclusively in terms of Western political theories. Thus, a conservative Tanzanian will be measured against the conservatives of the UK or the US.

 

[Kimbunga]

Ukiangalia vizuri utaona kuwa hiyo hoja yote imo ndani ya mambo hayo matatu. Think about it. Utaweza vipi kufuatilia kura zako kama ur structurally weak? or administratively not well organized?

Ni kweli kabisa mkuu. Kwenye uchaguzi mkuu kuna sehemu tulishuhudia baadhi ya vyama ikiwemo CHADEMA vilishindwa kuweka mawakala wao kusimamia kura zao na hivyo kuipa CCM kufanya ilivyotaka. This was definitely due to structural/administrative weakness. Mkuu hizo tatu ni tiba tosha kwa chama chochote cha siasa chini ya jua.

 

[Ogah]

Mwanakijiji...asante kw amada nzuri

Kobello.....tueleze ni kipi usichokubalina kwenye opinion ya Mwanakijiji

Ben..........well,..........what can I say.........salute & Kudos!

Nape Jr....................nafikiri umeona opinion ya MKJJ kuhusu CCM kwenye hiyo Triangle....what says you?
Zitto/Mnyika...........what says you.............. from MKJJ opinion


This is one of the best recent thread hapa JF............keep it up JF

 

[Kimbunga]

Mwanakijiji,

Right now most of our political parties have no ideologies,its anything or anyone goes. I believe the rate of decamping that went on in the last elections just goes on to show that they (the politicians and parties) have no idea of what they actually want out of serving the nation,all they want is to get into power and would use any means to get there.One would wonder why Hilary Clinton did not become a Republican considering the long and hard presidential tussle between Hillary Clinton and Obama, I am guessing this is because she believes in the Democratic ideology of peope welfare as opposed to the Free Market principles most Conservative GOP believe in.I do think out political parties need to go back to the drawing board.

Mkuu Ben your analysis is quite true. Most of our politicians are power mongers, they don't believe in their party ideologies/manifesto. No wonder we are witnessing decamping, crisscrossing and the like not backed by their belief in ideology rather belief in power. We have a long way to go.

 

[Kimbunga]

Kimbunga,

Umenichekesha sana,hapo kwenye Red.Ikitokea hivyo basi ujue,ndiyo maana tiba kama hii inahitajika kwa sababu hizo philosophy zingekuwepo basi vyama vya siasa visingekuwa na blind followers kama hao.

Mkuu Ben kwani niliyoyasema hayatokei hapa? Nayakubali maoni yako pamoja na changamoto zinazoambatana nayo.

 

[Mtazamaji]

Mwanakijiji hujawi kuapta mwaliko wa kuwa guest speaker kwenye hizi semina elekezi za hapa kwetu.

Serikali yetu ingekuwa ina ina akili za kutosha wangekuita japo semina elekezi zao chache ili wazee wetu wasiopita pita kwenye mitandao wayasikie haya haya hata wanapokuwa "kunduchi beach. hotel" au "Ngurdoto"

Kuna kiti kingine ambacho nadhani hakiongelewi lakini ni cha muhimu. nacho ni . DECISION MAKING PROCESS

 

[KERENG'ENDE]

For a political party to be successful it needs to position itself to assume power. For this reason it requires what I would call as the Triangle of Political Victory. In this triangle there are a Philosophical/Ideological Base, An Administration/Structural Base and an Activism/political base.

If I were to draw a triangle we would have something that looks like this:



Now:

1. Ideological/Philosophical Base: Is that part of the political party which distinguishes it from all other political parties in terms of their mission, perceptions, goals, platforms etc. This is the central piece of any political parties. Most parties have almost the same kinds of structures or administrative outlook but it is here where the fundamental differences between parties exist. It is not just the written philosophies or ideas but rather the people who promulgate those ideas. A political party needs to have its ideological base in its membership as well as in its leadership. A party without an ideological base, it like a people without a culture.

2. Administrative Base: This is that part of the party which involves its structures and its infrastructures of administration, organization and leadership. While most parties structures are somewhat similar each political party needs to develop its own structures befitting its goals, ambition etc. A political party that just copies and paste what other parties have (albeit under different names) is fundamentally inheriting the weaknesses or strengths of those other parties. So, toward victory a party need to create functionaries that would help it soar high. While all birds have wings, not all birds can fly! The differences are in the structural details of their evolutionary making.

3. Political Base: This is the other fundamental part of a political party. Without a strong political base a party will be just a party but not part of a big party! The political base includes its superstars, loyal members, supporters, ideologues, pundits etc. It includes all political leaders from the very bottom to the very top. The political base is what makes a political party win an election. A party can have a good ideology or bad, it can have a very good structural system but without a strong, die-hard political base it will remain just a party with supporters. In order to be able to assume power - say to lead a country - a party needs all of its political base to be behind its agenda.

In my unsolicited humble opinion:

On CCM: It has a strong political base as well as the administrative base but it is lacking a strong philosophical/ideological base. Since the end of Nyerere's era CCM has never been able to articulate a clear ideological stand as a political party. The so called "Market economy" or "Free market" is in fact not an ideology! Even more, the ruling party is facing a very unique situation in its political base; it lacks activism! As a matter of fact some of its cadres despise the idea of activism this brings to a clash among its leaders; the bureaucrats of old and younger youthful members . While the question of ideology is a difficult one the question of the split of its base is the greatest threat to its future. I totally believe that the weakest link within the part is the confluence of the two.

On Chadema: It has a very strong political base as well as a rising philosophical/ideological base but lacking a strong structural base (the base still depends heavily on personalities).

So, once all these three are set towards victory as the saying goes, the sky is the limit or is it?

MM

Thank you MM for your intellectual thinking! All the three pillars are important for political success but are not equally important one is more less important than the other.For the part with Good Ideology and good political base is highly ranked to success as political administration base is more cost and less important.Basing on personalities is quite important for young and growing political part compared to political administration base which will require more funds for its base.Also personalities are king makers eg.Odinga political chain in Kenya.With very strong political ideology personalities politics base go down by itself,for this case CDM are in better chance compared to CCM.