Freeman Mbowe

Freeman Aikaeli Mbowe (born 9 December 1961) is a Tanzanian politician and the current nominated chairman of the Chama cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo (Chadema – Political Party for Democracy and Development). He was elected to continue as a National Assembly member representing the Hai District in the Kilimanjaro Region as per the 2015 general election.[1]

Freeman Mbowe
Born
Freeman Aikaeli Mbowe

(1961-12-09) 9 December 1961
Tanzania
OccupationPolitician
Political partyChadema

Mbowe was elected to the National Assembly in 2000 representing Hai Constituency (Kilimanjaro Region). He won 64.5% of the vote, which was the highest percentage of votes won among constituencies with opposition MP's.[2]

In preparation for the 2005 elections, Mbowe was nominated to represent Chadema as their presidential candidate for the 2005 presidential elections.[3] Jumbe Rajab Jumbe, a Zanzibari was chosen as his vice-presidential candidate. The election was originally scheduled for 30 October 2005, but was postponed until 14 December due to the death of Jumbe.

Mbowe constructively criticized the lengthy postponement, saying a week's delay would have sufficed and that his political party cannot afford to finance extra campaigns. Chadema eventually settled on Anna Komu to be the running political party executive.

He placed third out of ten candidates in the presidential election of 14 December 2005, winning 5.88% of the vote. In the 2010 general elections, he was elected as a member of parliament for The united republic of Tanzania parliament after winning against the experienced candidate the incumbent from Mapinduzi, Fuya Godwin Kimbita taking 51.63% of the vote. Currently, he is the leader of the opposition in parliament after Chadema won a significant majority in the opposition camp in parliament.[4]

One of the founders of Chadema in 1992, Mbowe is a good strategist which makes him currently one of the main strategists of the Chadema political party and a main executive board member in the political party to ensure the political growth of his party, of which he has steadily led as chairman since 2004, in a healthy politically competitive environment that has witnessed a steady collapse of major opposition parties since the 1990s at the hands of the CCM government, the country's highly politicized police force, and intelligence.

References
  1. "Parliament of Tanzania". 6 May 2017. Archived from the original on 6 May 2017. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  2. "Masauni saga exposes CCM's vetting failure", The Citizen, Mwananchi Communications, retrieved 21 May 2010
  3. Mpinganjira, Ernest (4 December 2005), "Mbowe Rises to Become CCM's Biggest Political Headache", allAfrica.com, retrieved 21 May 2010
  4. "Zitto — Why I Want to Succeed Mbowe", The Citizen, 26 August 2009, retrieved 21 May 2010


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