Dar es Salaam. A senior official from Tanzania’s ruling party, Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM), has dismissed the notion that it is responsible for propping up the country’s opposition, arguing that their weaknesses are self-inflicted.
The comments from Nasra Mohamed Ramadhan, Chairperson of the CCM Youth Wing (UVCCM) in Dar es Salaam, come as Tanzania prepares for a general election where President Samia Suluhu Hassan is seen as having no formidable challenger, despite 18 parties being registered to compete.
In an exclusive interview with The Chanzo’s Khalifa Said, Nasra shifted criticism away from CCM and toward the opposition’s own “internal deficiencies and flaws.” She argued that blaming the ruling party is a short-term tactic for gaining public sympathy that ultimately prevents them from getting their own houses in order.
“The question is, what kind of strength are we talking about?” Nasra stated. “Is it strength being undermined by CCM, or strength a party builds for itself? Let’s be clear: we do not have the power to weaken CHADEMA, nor ACT, nor TLP. They have their own internal conflicts, created by themselves. How is CCM involved in that?”
While Nasra’s comments reflect a common CCM talking point, a significant body of research and reporting from local and international organisations, as well as academic institutions, paints a more complex picture.
READ MORE: CCM-CHADEMA’s Détente and the Future of Opposition in Tanzania
Briefly, the studies suggest that while opposition parties do grapple with significant internal challenges, the ruling party has actively and systematically worked to undermine them, creating a political environment heavily tilted in its favour.
A 2020 report by Amnesty International, for instance, detailed how the government “weaponised the law to the point that no one really knows when they are on the right or wrong side of it.” This trend is consistent, observed not only in the 2020 general elections but also in the 2024 civic polls and now ahead of the October vote.
However, analysts also point to deep-rooted structural problems within opposition parties that hinder their growth. A 2024 study by the University of Dodoma found a significant “lack of internal party democracy” in Tanzania’s opposition.
The study, titled “Assessing Competitiveness of Political Party Leadership Selection in Tanzania,” concluded that party elections are often “stage-managed to endorse the incumbent.” This lack of internal democracy, the study argues, stifles leadership development and new ideas.
A 2018 article in the African Journal of Political Science and International Relations also concluded that “the reasons for the failure of opposition parties are generally internal and can be attributed to ad hoc preparations, internal/inter-party conflicts, lack of unity among and between political parties, pitiable organisation and bad leadership.”
READ MORE: Tanzania’s 2025 Elections: As Campaigns Begin, Main Opposition Party CHADEMA Fights for Its Survival
The study also notes that most opposition parties lack a strong grassroots base, with their presence largely confined to urban centres. This urban focus, he argues, prevents them from connecting with the majority of the population in rural areas.
Ultimately, the weakness of Tanzania’s opposition appears to be a vicious cycle. State suppression makes it difficult for opposition parties to organise and compete, while their own internal deficiencies, such as leadership squabbles and a lack of internal democracy, further weaken their ability to challenge the ruling party.
In the interview, Nasra credited her party’s success and stability to “very strong institutional structure.” She described a clear, bottom-up framework for building leadership, from the grassroots to the national level, that prepares members for governance rather than what she termed “scavenging” for talent elsewhere.
Despite the political rivalry, Nasra claimed CCM actually desires robust opposition parties. She pointed to meetings at the Tanzania Centre for Democracy (TCD), where the ruling party engages others on the need to “change, build systems, and become self-sustaining.”
“If these parties are truly serious about the lives of Tanzanians,” she said, “they must get organised. They must look inward. Only then can they start to notice their own flaws and begin to fix them.”
However, evidence suggests that both state suppression and internal weaknesses cripple Tanzania’s opposition, indicating that both issues must be addressed to achieve a vibrant multiparty system.
