FORMER Prime Minister Cleopa Msuya has said that claims that there were rifts within the ruling CCM have been blown out of proportion as nothing like that exists.
Mr Msuya, who is also a member of the CCM Central Committee (CC) broke his long silence to grant the Daily News an exclusive interview on wide ranging issues including his current preoccupation.
“I think this issue has been blown out of proportion. There is nothing like stagnant and dynamic ideologues within our party. We are all one thing with only one challenge before us – to get our people out of poverty,” Mr Msuya pointed out.
‘’What actually happened was that during last year’s elections, there were people with different preferences which are normal. One person or group of persons may prefer one candidate and not the other but within the same coherence of purpose and not any rapture in ranks’’, he added.
He said some candidates were inevitably not elected, adding that in a democracy, one had to accept the outcome. Tanzania held general elections on December 14, last year, in which CCM and President Jakaya Kikwete won with a landslide.
The man who was highly castigated for saying, when he was finance minister, that every man shall carry his own cross, reiterated that he had no regrets over the statement. “It was true then, it is true now and will forever remain the truth,” said the man well known for his pragmatism.
“I was misunderstood a lot when I made that statement in parliament in response to questions from MPs. Some even said I was making a mockery of socialism but the statement was true then, it is true now and shall be true in future too,” he insited.
Some MPs had wanted even personal expenses to be paid by the government which Mr Msuya said was technically impossible. He said no government can freely feed its people, pay for the school fees of their children and build them houses.
Those expenses will always remain the burden of every individual and should be proudly met as an individual’s contribution to society. There was no joy in life by abandoning responsibilities, he said.
Fairly advanced in age, Mr Msuya said he still grew his own food, worked for his party and served his community. He is currently chairman of the non governmental Kilimanjaro Development Forum, which aims to uplift the welfare of the residents of Kilimanjaro region. The full interview appears in the Daily News tomorrow.
