Dar es Salaam. The national chairperson of the ruling Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM) Samia Suluhu Hassan on Wednesday accepted the resignation of the party’s Secretary-General Daniel Chongolo, who requested to step down after being “defamed” online.
Paul Makonda, CCM’s secretary for ideology and publicity, announced Wednesday that Samia, who doubles as the President of Tanzania, consented to Mr Chongolo’s resignation in the ongoing party meetings in the commercial capital Dar es Salaam.
CCM gave no reason for the resignation of Mr Chongolo, who was appointed the party’s Secretary-General on April 30, 2021. However, Wednesday’s announcement follows a letter that has been circulating on social media since Tuesday purported to be authored by Mr Chongolo.
In the letter dated November 27, 2023, Mr Chongolo addresses President Samia, asking her to endorse his request to resign from the position. He says the decision follows recent developments of having his image “tarnished” on social media networks.
“Madam chairperson, I’m not ready to see CCM has its image tarnished in connection to my position as the party’s Secretary-General and the alleged misconduct that I’ve been accused of,” Mr Chongolo writes in the letter. “Madam chairperson, with all due respect, I request you to consent to my resignation.”
READ: Making Sense of Tanzania’s Politics Towards 2025 As Election Fever Grows
The misconduct that Mr Chongolo refers to in his letter concerns reports published on X, formerly Twitter, social media platform, which included the leak of sexual WhatsApp messages involving Mr Chongolo and an unidentified woman.
In the leaked WhatsApp conversation, Mr Chongolo and the woman share intimate and sexual messages, accompanied by nudes that the two exchanged during the course of their communication.
Other reports that circulated online about Mr Chongolo concerned the road accident that the former senior CCM leader was involved in at the Tanzanite Bridge in Dar es Salaam, where it was alleged that he was traveling with an unidentified woman.
In his letter to President Samia, Mr Chongolo, who once served as the Kinondoni District Commissioner, did not deny the reports circulating online about him. He just complained that the reports aim at “tarnishing” his image.
Mr Chongolo became the eleventh Secretary-General of CCM since Africa’s second longest-ruling party was formed in 1977 following a merger between Tanganyika’s TANU and Zanzibar’s Afro-Shirazi Party (ASP). He replaced Dr Bashiru Ally, who served the position for only 34 days.
READ : Chongolo’s Resignation and Samia’s Resolve to Consolidate Power Within CCM
With Mr Chongolo gone, all eyes are now directed to who President Samia will pick as the new CCM’s Secretary-General, with several names being mentioned on social media as likely successors of Mr Chongolo.
One Response
Paul Makonda, CCM’s secretary for ideology and publicity, announced Wednesday that Samia, who doubles as the President of Tanzania, consented to Mr Chongolo’s resignation in the ongoing party meetings in the commercial capital Dar es Salaam.
Paul Makonda CONSENTED?!
So is he the next in line???