VETERAN politician Samuel Sitta.
Source : Daily News- ROSE ATHUMANI
VETERAN politician Samuel Sitta pledged delivery and vowed to defend the Union after being elected Chairman of the Constituent Assembly, scooping 487 votes out of the 563 votes cast.
Mr Sitta, also a veteran cabinet minister, MP and former Speaker of the National Assembly, beat his only opponent in the race, Mr Hashim Rungwe Spunda, who managed only 69 votes of the total votes cast. Announcing the results, the Returning Officer, Dr Thomas Kashililah, said only 563 members voted out of 629.
Seven votes were spoilt. Interim Chairman Pandu Ameir Kificho described the election and the pre-poll campaign from both candidates as ’intense.’ Thanking the assembly for showing their confidence on him, Mr Sitta thanked God and his opponent (Mr Rungwe) for his participation.
He also expressed gratitude to Mr Andrew Chenge from CCM. “Some people had started rumours that Mr Chenge and I are in conflict within CCM; this is not true. We have both come a long way as friends. I recommended him for the position of Attorney General (AG) during former President Ali Hassan Mwinyi’s administration,” he explained.
Mrs Sitta also said that once the country makes history by writing the new constitution, both Union President Kikwete and Zanzibar President Dr Shein will be on good record for ensuring that the nation arrives at the goal peacefully.
“We should continue to cooperate and to be patient with each other, so that we can indeed arrive at the goal of writing the new constitution that will bring back hope to the marginalised, including teachers and farmers and ensure that good governance prevails and the laws to be enacted remove the rot in government,” he pledged.
Earlier, while responding to questions from the voters, Mr Sitta promised that those against the Union between Tanganyika and Zanzibar will be taken to task. He added that some people had even started rumours that he (Mr Sitta) was critically ill and in hospital.
Mr Sitta assured the CA members that he was well and ready to take on the responsibility of guiding the assembly in getting the new constitution. He said together with the wisdom of the CA members, he will ensure that there is a consensus in the assembly whenever disagreements arise.
“President Kikwete was wise to choose CA members who are endowed with wisdom...we will work to ensure there is a consensus. And those few who are working to have the Union break up, we will take them to task and we promise them that the Union will continue to be stronger,” he observed.
In his pre-poll self-briefing, Mr Sitta said he has been a Member of Parliament for 25 years; has been a minister for 14 years since the first phase government led by Mwalimu Julius Nyerere and the Speaker of the Ninth Parliament. “I will work diligently, I will not take any sides and I will work to ensure your stay in Dodoma is a happy one.
We will work diligently to produce the new constitution and change the public’s perception of the CA members that they only want the allowances,” he explained adding that instead the public will agree that the members need terminal benefits. He jokingly told the CA members that choosing him as the assembly chairman would be like taking a frog back to its former pond.
On his part, Mr Spunda told the voters that his vast experience as a businessman and his legal stint as an advocate of the High Court will enable him to manage the assembly industriously and efficiently.
Mr Spunda urged the assembly to vote for him without fear, assuring them that his undisputed record of winning criminal and civil cases in high court was the testimony of how he will manage the CA.
Meanwhile, the Interim Chairman, Mr Pandu Ameir Kificho, announced that CA members from Zanzibar, women in particular, interested to run for the position of deputy chairperson to pick up nomination forms and return them today at 10am in the morning.
The election exercise would be conducted in the afternoon to get the CA deputy chairperson from Zanzibar, as the assembly Standing Orders direct that if the Chairman is from Tanzania Mainland his deputy will come from Zanzibar. They also stipulate that if the chairman is a man, the deputy must be a woman.
At the same time, CA member Mr Amon Panju, on behalf of members living with disabilities, has commended the Interim Chairman, Mr Pandu Ameir Kificho, on the way he handled the special assembly during which he took into consideration various needs of the people living with disabilities.
He commended the National Assembly’s administration for changing the facilities to accommodate members living with disabilities. He mentioned some of the facilities changed as stairways, parking space, handicap signs as well as toilets.
Meanwhile, the election of the CA Chairman completes the long route of the official formalities that was required to be fulfilled for the Assembly to officially take off.
It all started on February 16, this year, when all members were required to have reached Dodoma ready for the process, which started for members to register at the Parliament’s Grounds assisted by staff specially designated for the task.
On February 18, an election for the interim Chairman was held where Mr Kificho scooped majority of the votes cast, enabling him to chair the sessions sometimes in a difficult circumstances with the absence of the guiding rules or standing orders.
But backed by his 18 years experience as Speaker of the House of Representatives in Zanzibar, he managed to sail through.
On February 19, the tough job of preparing the standing orders started and according to the work schedule released then, the preparation of the standing orders were initially expected to take three days, but the task proved to be as complex as everybody witnessed later, possibly due to the fact that that was a new experience which was to be carefully undertaken.
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