Tanzania President Kikwete sworn in
DAR ES SALAAM, Wednesday - Tanzania’s newly-elected President Jakaya Kikwete took the oath on Wednesday at the start of a five-year term in which poverty alleviation and unrest on the Zanzibar islands will be high on his agenda.
DAR ES SALAAM, Wednesday - Tanzania’s newly-elected President Jakaya Kikwete took the oath on Wednesday at the start of a five-year term in which poverty alleviation and unrest on the Zanzibar islands will be high on his agenda.
Kikwete, 55, hailed the peaceful handover of power as evidence of Tanzania’s stability and pledged to continue the policies of outgoing President Benjamin Mkapa.
The ceremony was attended by President Yoweri Museveni and the leaders of Burundi, the Comoros, the DR Congo, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Sudan, Zambia and Zimbabwe, the prime minister of Ethiopia and the king of Lesotho.
At Wednesday’s ceremony, Mkapa received a 21-gun salute in honour of his tenure and a peaceful transition. Mkapa shed tears at several points during the event.
Kikwete also offered to create more political space for opposition parties, who performed woefully in last week’s election and say Tanzania remains a de facto one-party state.
“It has been encouraging that power in our country has been changed peacefully,†Kikwete told the mammoth crowd in a swearing-in ceremony at Dar’s main stadium.
“We’ll not have major policy changes. Those who think we shall introduce new measures are lost.â€
Mkapa presided over a decade of political and economic stability — with the exception of repeated election-related unrest on the Zanzibar islands — that has pleased Western donors.
Heads of state from around Africa attended the ceremony after Kikwete won last week’s poll with 80.2 percent of the vote to extend the ruling party’s four-decade grip on power.
Although Tanzania introduced multi-party politics in the early 1990s, opposition parties say the government’s all-powerful election machine and grip on national life have given them no chance of a breakthrough.
The main opposition party, the Civic United Front (CUF), won a mere 11.6%.
Kikwete, 55, hailed the peaceful handover of power as evidence of Tanzania’s stability and pledged to continue the policies of outgoing President Benjamin Mkapa.
The ceremony was attended by President Yoweri Museveni and the leaders of Burundi, the Comoros, the DR Congo, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Sudan, Zambia and Zimbabwe, the prime minister of Ethiopia and the king of Lesotho.
At Wednesday’s ceremony, Mkapa received a 21-gun salute in honour of his tenure and a peaceful transition. Mkapa shed tears at several points during the event.
Kikwete also offered to create more political space for opposition parties, who performed woefully in last week’s election and say Tanzania remains a de facto one-party state.
“It has been encouraging that power in our country has been changed peacefully,†Kikwete told the mammoth crowd in a swearing-in ceremony at Dar’s main stadium.
“We’ll not have major policy changes. Those who think we shall introduce new measures are lost.â€
Mkapa presided over a decade of political and economic stability — with the exception of repeated election-related unrest on the Zanzibar islands — that has pleased Western donors.
Heads of state from around Africa attended the ceremony after Kikwete won last week’s poll with 80.2 percent of the vote to extend the ruling party’s four-decade grip on power.
Although Tanzania introduced multi-party politics in the early 1990s, opposition parties say the government’s all-powerful election machine and grip on national life have given them no chance of a breakthrough.
The main opposition party, the Civic United Front (CUF), won a mere 11.6%.