I am not defecting to CCM, insists Lowassa

What you need to know:

Lowassa now intends to meet Chadema top organ — Central Committee — to shed light on the meeting, which took place on January 9.
Nicodemus Minde, a Tanzanian political commentator, says meeting with President Magufuli was most likely that CCM is trying to lure Mr Lowassa just as it has done with other MPs.
However, political players believe that Mr Lowassa has not yet settled in the opposition.

Former Tanzania's prime minister Edward Lowassa has come out fighting, denying that his meeting with President John Magufuli was meant to midwife a defection to Chama cha Mapinduzi.

However, Mr Lowassa said President Magufuli persuaded him to rejoin CCM, but he declined the offer, a statement that has been denied by State House.

“I didn’t agree. I told him that my decision to shift to Chadema from CCM was real and not a probability,” Mr Lowassa said in statement.

But in a swift rejoinder, State House said the discussions between the two leaders did not touch on defection.

Mr Lowassa now intends to meet Chadema top organ — Central Committee — to shed light on the meeting, which took place on January 9.

According to Mr Lowassa, he was invited to the State House by President Magufuli during which they discussed various issues of national importance, among them breach of some provisions of the Union Constitution and suppression of multiparty democracy.

The meeting, according to political commentators, was a sign of another defection from the opposition to CCM.

According to Nicodemus Minde, a Tanzanian political commentator, it was most likely that CCM is trying to lure Mr Lowassa just as it has done with other MPs.

“The recent defection of opposition MPs to the ruling party makes Mr Lowassa’s visit to State House interesting, because while President Magufuli has continued to suppress the opposition and media freedoms, it was expected that Mr Lowassa would come out and criticise the president,” said Mr Minde.

READ: Magufuli truce with Lowassa leaves opposition in disarray

However, political players believe that Mr Lowassa has not yet settled in the opposition. For instance, during the 2015 campaigns, CCM secretary general Abdulrahman Kinana had told supporters in one meeting in Kagera region that he believed that after the elections, Mr Lowassa would have realised his mistake and return to the ruling party.

“Mr Lowassa would return and apologise, saying I had gone to weaken Chadema and the opposition, now my work is done, I am coming back home,” Mr Kinana said, adding that CCM would happily welcome him back because he had done tremendous job for the party.

Mr Lowassa defected to Chadema in the run up to the 2015 general elections after his name was removed from the list of CCM presidential aspirants.

After being dropped out of the primaries by his party, Mr Lowassa went on to denounce the party as undemocratic and surrounded with greedy power mongers.