Membe had little political stain, a rarity for an African politician
Saturday May 13 2023
Tanzanian late politician Bernard Kamillius Membe. PHOTO | THE CITIZEN
When Bernard Kamilius Membe was born 69 years ago in Lindi region, Tanzania was not even in existence as a republic and today’s ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) wasn’t even established yet.
He died on Friday, leaving a divisive legacy: Was he a rebel in the CCM? A soft-spoken former intelligence officer who became a diplomat? Or an under-achieving politician?
He may have been all of them. But one thing clear to Tanzanians is that he served a party that elevated his political star, got betrayed by it and later was forgiven by the same country’s longest ruling party.
The true picture of his career may be known when a book or some memoirs of his colleagues are written. But here is how his political start rose, and fell. Membe was born in Southern Tanzania, today’s Lindi region on November 9, 1953. He rose through the ranks of government mostly as an intelligence office, and later foreign minister to become one of the prominent politicians in the ruling CCM.
His political star sparkled in 2005 when he won a seat in parliament, representing Mtama Constituency in Lindi.
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Former Tanzania president Jakaya Kikwete would nominate him to cabinet as deputy minister for foreign affairs. Two years later, he was promoted to full minister in the same docket. He served in this portfolio until the end of Kikwete’s first term. His sheen continued to hold as he held on in cabinet throughout the Kikwete tenure.
But like most politicians, he had an eye on the bigger prize: The presidency. The path to that was just not clear and even the ruling CCM, had other ideas.
In 2015, he had been one of Kikwete’s choices to succeed him. But the party’s many factions meant he had obstacles all over. One such faction was led by former prime minister Edward Lowassa, who had left his post in the Kikwete years following a damaging scandal. Lowassa’s power base, as Membe would later learn, was still powerfully intact within CCM.
The intrigue
After Lowassa, alongside 38 other contenders were thrown out in the primaries, the race pitted Membe against John Pombe Magufuli, who had made a name serving as energy minister in the Kikwete years. With a political beef between Lowassa and Kikwete still raw, the former premier got his opportunity to settle a score. He led his faction to back Magufuli, producing one of the surprises in the political history of Tanzania.
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Kikwete, also CCM’s chairman, would late argue he had no chosen candidate in the polls. But political observers were quick to point out he would likely have enjoyed a scenario had his arch-enemy Lowassa been vanquished.
As it would turn out, neither Kikwete nor Lowassa had made their bets right: Magufuli turned out to be a menace to both Lowassa and Membe, including the eventual expulsion from CCM and ban on their political freedoms.
CCM last year readmitted the two and ‘forgave’ their misdeeds against the grand old party. But that re-admission is credited to President Samia Hassan, who replaced Magufuli upon his death in March 2021.
“For more than 40 years, Membe served brilliantly as a public servant, diplomat, MP and minister. My condolences to the family, relatives and friends. May God rest him in eternal peace,” Samia said in a condolence message Friday.
Poor showing at the ballot
Still, Membe’s political ambition hadn’t died after the 2015 ‘betrayal.’ But as he would learn later, even the CCM, a party he had been loyal to for years was quick to move on.
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In 2020, Membe decamped to the opposition Alliance for Change and Transparency (ACT)-Wazalendo party then contested for presidency against Magufuli. He returned a poor show, earning just 81,129 votes (0.55 percent) against Magufuli’s 84.3 percent. This was followed by a clampdown on opposition figures, some of who fled the country.
At least Membe is still loved in Tanzania. At the end of May 2022, he returned to CCM as an ordinary member, after the ruling party passed a resolution pardoning its former defectors.
He died on Friday at the Kairuki Memorial hospital in Dar es Salaam, where he had been rushed earlier in the week. HIs family said he suffered chest complications before he was taken to hospital.