If the Union Government and the ruling party believe that what is needed to bring harmony and unity among Zanzibaris is to create a unity government (the so called government of national unity) then the people’s representatives in Zanzibar should be allowed to endorse the idea and from there a unity government should be established immediately.
But, if the union government and CCM’s NEC believe that in order to have a unity government, there should be first a referendum where by the people of Zanzibar would vote if they agree, then allow me to be the first one to vehemently oppose this referendum for being manipulative, unnecessary and would set a very dangerous precedence in the future.
It is manipulative because the referendum would avoid the political issues that have eclipsed these Islands for so long, and instead it would create a ” merry-go-around” system of dealing with political issues by simply bringing them to vote. Unfotunately, unless we know what percentage of votes would render the exercise credible, it is almost impossible to know what the people really want. Should it be a simple majority vote? What if the referendum comes out almost fifty fifty (something that could easily happen in Zanzibar)? Would we say the people’s voice has spoken?
It is unnecessary because, for almost fifty years, we have known that Zanzibar is split almost in the middle, and there is no way any government can govern effectively without involving the other party. It was for this reason, prior to the revolution, the first post independence government under Shamte, was an all inclusive one. If we already know this, and we have experienced since the elections of 1995, 2000 and 2005 that Zanzibaris are still divided, why not just go along and agree in principle, and in law, that after this year election, whoever wins MUST establish a unity Government. Isn’t that the easiest thing to do, rather than calling for a referendum, and have the people all charged up again right before the general election?
On the other hand, if this idea of national unity is a good idea, and if CCM believes that it is good for Zanzibar to have such a government, why not then consider the same idea for the mainland? Don’t they think some of us believe that a unity government should also be created on the mainland? We believe we have very good leaders outside the ruling party who could be invited to join the government in power. If they don’t believe it, they should also call a referendum on the mainland and see how many Tanzanians would support it. If it is good for one party of the union, I believe it is also good for the other!
But even worse, this is dangerous. If we agree today (as the ruling party seems to imply) that a referendum will be legally binding to the point of changing the political landscape and structure of Zanzibar, why then shouldn’t we expect that a call for a referendum in the future would be made by those voices which would like to secede from the Union? What will stop other politicians citing the referendum to call for a new referendum to decide on other political issues? The possibilities of chaos are endless.
Otherwise, yes for the Unity government, but no for the referendum!
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Yona Fares Maro
I.T. Specialist and Digital Security Consultant