Voters in Maswa constituency, Shinyanga Region, have advised Chama Cha Mapinduzi secretary general Yusuph Makamba to stop picking on their legislator, John Shibuda but instead direct his attention to the problem of corruption in party ranks.
Talking to PST recently, they said claims by Makamba that Shibuda had engineered disunity and formation of factions in party ranks were baseless, saying the best he (Makamba) could do was to enhance discipline in his party and nab party functionaries who indulged in corruption and made it impossible for poor aspirants to be elected irrespective of their leadership abilities.
Deo Mwenda, a resident of Nyalikungu in the district, said voters were best placed to decide Shibuda`s fate in his constituency.
Another resident, Silvester Kasulumbai, said there had been a long-standing tendency for leaders to pick on Shibuda, but when investigations were carried out on the issue, it always showed that everything amounted to nothing but political mongering.
`Some party executives in the district have always held Shibuda in disdain, and they are probably the very people who misinformed Makamba,` said Kasulumbai, a CUF counsellor for Ipililo ward.
Commenting on Makamba`s claims, Shibuda said the party leadership in the region had been blaming him for dividing the party.
He proposed formation of a party committee to probe his general behaviour in and out of the party instead of baselessly blaming him.
Meanwhile Chama Cha Mapinduzi secretary general Yusuf Makamba has castigated disunity among party members in Shinyanga Region.
Makamba made the remarks here on Wednesday when referring to disputes that cropped up after party elections at district and regional levels.
He called for immediate rectification of the situation to make sure that factions created were dissolved to bring about unity of the party in the region.
Addressing district party executive committee members from Shinyanga Rural and Urban districts, Makamba said after completing party elections in the region it was obvious that there was disunity among party cadres, adding that this had to be rectified immediately for the well-being of the party.
`The kind of solidarity I had known among party members in Shinyanga is no longer there. It is absolutely necessary that party members and their leaders take up the challenge and work out a common strategy to rebuild unity,` Makamba said.
It was reported that during district and regional elections of delegates to the party national congress and membership to the National Executive Committee (NEC) some opposing camps had emerged in support of different vying candidates.
He said now that the elections had been completed the opposing camps had to be dissolved with immediate effect.