Tanzania in 2006

The year marked the beginning of a new political era under the newly elected president, Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, but under the continued undisputed leadership of the ruling party ‘Chama cha Mapinduzi’ (CCM, Party of the Revolution). Although this implied some change in leadership style, the general orientation of gradual reform poli- cies remained practically unchanged. Neither the domestic political arena nor the foreign policy field presented any outstanding chal- lenges. Despite the partial effects of drought and recurrent power shortages, economic performance remained satisfactory.

Domestic Politics

After his overwhelming election victory in December 2005, the new president, Kikwete, was expected to lead the country for the next ten years (two constitutional terms). Although fundamental changes were not expected, the ‘fourth phase government’ (in continua- tion of the Nyerere, Mwinyi and Mkapa governments) was likely to focus on different issues than its predecessors. Kikwete stated that he wanted to be judged according to the success of his government in tackling the country’s many problems and set himself a three- year timetable. Inaugurating the Union parliament on 30 December 2005, Kikwete named solving the Zanzibar crisis and fighting corrup- tion as his government’s overarching priorities. The first major challenges for the new government were the consolidation of its power and the healing of wounds within the ruling CCM after the severe infighting that had marked the nomi- nation process for its presidential candidate. Although 12 cabinet members from the previous administration were re-appointed, the new cabinet reflected an even more reformist composition than that of Benjamin Mkapa. Kikwete was clearly able to impose his will on

© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2019 | doi:10.1163/9789004407879_004 28 tanzania in 2006 the party. Being a real CCM insider with a strong power base, he could expect support for most of his political projects and reforms. To avoid a serious split in the party, however, he had to reconcile those less reform-oriented CCM factions that had been defeated during the nomination process. These considerations may have af- fected some of the reform projects, especially the anti-corruption drive. Like his predecessor, Kikwete had featured this prominently in his election campaign. Despite some success in reducing small- scale corruption, Mkapa’s record in fighting corruption among high-profile politicians had not been very convincing. Kikwete ini- tiated a second phase of the national anti-corruption strategy and action plan specifically focused on fighting corruption at local gov- ernment level. It remained, however, unclear to what extent these plans and public statements were put into practice. Tanzania hosted two important international conferences on corruption issues: the second global conference of Parliamentarians against Corruption in Arusha from 19–23 September, with 300 delegates from 50 countries, and the pan-African journalists’ conference in mid-September in Dar es Salaam. Having appointed his close friend and long-time political ally Edward Lowassa as new prime minister on 29 December 2005, Kikwete announced the composition of the new cabinet on 4 January. Contrary to promises to reduce governmental expenses, the presi- dent increased the number of ministries from 19 to 22 and the num- ber of ministers from 45 to 60 (including 31 assistant ministers). He justified this step on the basis of the need to adjust governmental design to better suit the requirements of the country. The move was, however, contested by the opposition, which questioned whether a poor country could afford such a costly extension of ministries. A newly created ministry of public safety and security was given responsibility for the police, which had been under the ministry of home affairs. A widely perceived increase in crime and com- mon discontent with widespread corruption among the police as