It's Sunday in Arusha, and I am missing my morning talk shows. ...but not election politics, because the Tanzanian presidential/parliamentary election is in 6 weeks and things are a little wild and wooly- even without Donald Trump.
For the last 50 years, the CCM party nominees (green on their flags and shirts) have won the presidential and the majority of local parliamentary elections, and have relaxed into the assumption that their power was firmly in place. Enter the CHADEMA party (blue on their flags and shirts) a grassroots, younger, anti-corruption party that became a real threat to CCM about 8 years ago.
CHADEMA currently holds some seats in parliament but has been unable to successfully launch a presidential contender- until now.
When CCM decided upon their candidate, they completely dissed one guy- Edward Lowassa- who had held nearly every cabinet post in the past, but was not as controllable by party bosses as the man they ultimately chose- John Magufuli. In a completely stunning move, Lowassa chose to align himself with CHADEMA and is their nominee- with widespread support even from former CCM voters.
I have heard CCM local party bosses saying they will split their ticket for the first time in history, because change is necessary. And the younger people (who can vote at 18) are saying it doesn't even matter who is president as long as a do-nothing government is unseated.
In the meantime, roads are filled with trucks honking horns and flying flags, TV is filled with speechmaking, and in a country where voting is nearly universal and has no literacy or other exclusion, this is going to be interesting. And certainly more fun than Meet the Press.