Ive heard your voices Chademas Edward Lowassa as he concludes campaigns

Tanzania’s opposition party Chama Cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo (Chadema) on Saturday concluded its campaigns ahead of Sunday’s election by holding a major rally at the famous Jangwani Grounds.

Chadema’s candidate Edward Ngoyai Lowassa, who served as the Prime Minister of Tanzania between 2005/08 will face-off with seven other candidates including the ruling party Chama Cha Mapinduzi’s (CCM) Dr. John Pombe Magufuli.

In his final rally, Lowassa – whose campaign call has been Mabadiliko (Change) – said that the country is in its current state du to bad leadership and governance that has been continued by CCM.

Lowassa said that the country’s economy has suffered under the CCM’s regime and called on the electorate to come out in large numbers to vote in favour of change with an aim of changing the country’s fortunes.

The former Prime Minister, who is also the outgoing Member of Parliament for Monduli, said that he will turn-around the economic policies in order to expand the country’s economy by establishing friendly business and investment regulations.

Lowassa further pointed out that the poor state of the economy has significantly contributed to the high number of unemployment in the East African country thereby leading to high crime rates and especially among the youth.

Lowassa, whose campaign is predominatly led by the youth, said that the biggest challenge the young generation is facing apart from high levels of unemployment, is poor education that he termed as less competitive compared to other countries in the world.

He said that he will concentrate on reviewing the current curriculum to match the global education standards in order for the country to broaden job prospects for the young people.

Apart from education, Lowassa noted that the country’s infrastructure is in a poor state due to lack of good planning and execution of expansion strategies.

On this, he said his government – should he be elected Sunday – will not only expand the road networks, but will also increase the number of airports and airstrips, railway lines and ports with an intent to expand load carriage and capacity of transport services as well as make them more effective.

With Tanzania being the most blessed country in terms of minerals in East Africa, Mr. Lowassa sad that his government will concentrate on putting in place plans and policies as well as regulations to address the unending complaints from the miners that their efforts and minerals were being threatened by greed and corruption.

He further pointed out that he will revise the agricultural policies to make farming less expensive, affordable and competitive since it is the largest employer with over 70% of Tanzanians relying on it for their livelihoods.

Lowassa, who defected to Chadema after he was allegedly removed from the nominations list by CCM, said that his campaign and leadership will turn-around how the country has been run.

He accused CCM of deliberately delaying efforts by hard-working leaders in order to advance its political agenda.

Lowassa and Magufuli are the top contenders in the poll that will attract at least 22.7 registered voters, out of which 57% are youth.

Lowassa will cast his ballot in Monduli, Arusha, Magufuli in Chatu, Geita in Mwanza and outgoing President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete in Bagamoyo.

This year’s election is the most competitive in Tanzania’s political history and Chadema is determined to end the 38 years of political dominance by CCM.