CCM

Quick facts about CCM

1. Translating from Swahili to "Party of the Revolution," CCM was formed on February 5, 1977, through the merger of Julius Nyerere's ruling TANU (Tanganyika African National Union) and Zanzibar's ruling ASP (Afro-Shirazi Party).
2. Uninterrupted in power since Tanzania's independence, CCM is the second-longest ruling political party in African history (behind only Liberia's True Whig Party), having maintained uninterrupted executive rule for nearly five decades.
3. In 2008, a massive parliamentary probe exposed a fraudulent multi-million-dollar emergency power contract awarded to Houston-based Richmond Development Company; the fallout forced sitting CCM Prime Minister Edward Lowassa and two cabinet ministers to resign in disgrace.
4. Under President Jakaya Kikwete's CCM administration, a 2008 audit revealed that over 133 billion Tanzanian Shillings (~$178 million USD) was systematically looted from the Bank of Tanzania's External Payment Arrears (EPA) account using 22 phantom companies, deeply implicating senior party elites.
5. Before multi-party democracy was introduced under external pressure in 1992, Article 3 of the Tanzanian Constitution legally established CCM as the sole lawful political party, rendering all state institutions, civil services, and armed forces legally subordinate to party organs.