Honourable Chairman of DUA
Honourable DUA Council members,
Distinguished Guests and Friends,
Ladies and Gentlemen:

It is a great honour for me personally, my Political Party CHADEMA and my country Tanzania, to be given the opportunity of welcoming you to Tanzania and Dar es Salaam. In Arabic, Dar es Salaam means The Haven of Peace.

My country Tanzania feels privileged and honored to host this distinguished leaders conference and Council meeting of The Democratic Union of Africa (DUA). In our National language, Kiswahili, I say "karibuni sana"; meaning you are warmly welcome. After all, ladies and gentlemen, the acronym DUA forms a Kiswahili word meaning bountiful blessings.

Mr. Chairman, it is my understanding that the delegates for this August assembly come from the width and breadth of the African Continent. Africa is represented from South to North and from the East to West. Some of you are part of the ruling Parties back in your countries. Some of you are getting ready for the election in the near future. All not withstanding, the sheer fact that you could still find your way to Dar Es Salaam is a profound testimony that Africa cooperation is not the responsibility of Governments only but also of political parties which are in reality the ideological and policy root of the very Governments.

Mr. Chairman, this is therefore a suitable and appropriate venue in which to take a look at the economic, social and political state of our much-maligned continent. Africa has been maligned as a DARK Continent even when the sun shines more brightly and more frequently on our continent than in other Continents!

Mr. Chairman, Distinguished delegates, many of the countries represented here have been independent for many years and we can no longer have valid excuse for blaming past colonial periods for the many ills that still haunts our Continent. We have been at the helm, we have made and chosen our systems and we have in principal full control of wealth of resources that our continent is endowed with!

Africa today, under some Government comprised of its own nationals, has seen and witnessed plundering and mismanagement in the use of natural and human resources of unthinkable proportions!

Mr. Chairman, Distinguished delegates, the simple message I wish to drive home is that we ourselves are now accountable for the state in which our continent finds itself. We and no one else is accountable for the abject poverty, which threat the very survival of our own people. The fact that we have allowed our continent for so long to be the playground of countless irresponsible governments, we have to accept this challenge.

Mr. Chairman, all of us here, belongs to one or other political party. Some of us here, the mighty few, and even belong to ruling political parties in their respective countries. Regardless of our current status, we should share one common objective and that is to take over or perpetuate the reigns of governments in our respective countries by due democratic process so we can accord our people the benefits of good life that God intended to them.

	We and no one else is accountable for the abject poverty, which threat the very survival of our own people. The fact that we have allowed our continent for so long to be the playground of countless irresponsible governments, we have to accept this challenge...

Mr. Chairman, distinguished delegates, by and large, Independent Africa today is witnessing the set in of a new generation of leadership and as we all know, changes are inevitable. I would like to remind all my colleagues here that ironically every generation have a mission. This mission can either be fulfilled or betrayed. The challenge and our mission have to be to make Africa a better place to live and we must fulfill it.

Mr. Chairman, distinguished guests, while working hard to fulfill our mission, we have to constantly ask ourselves why in most countries in our continent the process of changing power is overwhelmingly burdened with danger while it happens as a matter of course in most other continents?

It is true that the root of any pluralistic government today is a political party. As leaders of political parties, we need to address this issue vis-a-vis the governance we practice in our own political parties. This will lay a foundation for the emergence of disciplined and polished leaders of our generation.

Mr. Chairman, Distinguished delegates, just as the will of the people is the only legitimate foundation of Governments, so is also that of a political party, for, after-all the political party is only the Government in power or in waiting. Once the will of the people is mentioned, then democracy, which gives expression to that state, must now be mentioned.

This is the very democracy Mr. Chairman and distinguished delegates, which is so desirable but is yet so elusive in practice. Probably the most overused and misused word in the political language is this word democracy! Everybody uses it, identify with it but hardly if ever practices it!

Mr. Chairman and distinguished delegates, while we cannot avoid representational democracy, we must make sure to recognize the individual wills, within the public will.

What I am advocating is the need to re-examine our representational base vis-a-vis individual within that base. Our party slogan is "PEOPLES POWER". It acts as a constant reminder for us that ultimate power resides in individual.

Mr. Chairman and distinguished delegates, we CHADEMA view Tanzania as a State in which its citizens hold the power and the mandate to make their own decisions and the power to make their leaders accountable to the people. This is our vision, which we hope to realize by sensitizing our people to demand their civic and political rights through civic and political education programmes.

Education, Mr. Chairman, is the operative word here, for as the wise has observed, "Education makes people easy to lead, difficult to drive, easy to govern but certainly impossible to enslave.

Mr. Chairman and distinguished delegates, given an opportunity every politician will like to talk for hours! Furthermore, it is not my intention to turn my welcoming speech in to a keynote speech, however as a committed true son of the land, I thought it right to share some of the basic and burning fundamental values that form the core of our very existence as a political party.

Mr. Chairman, once again I would like to thank you, your secretariat and all those who made this conference possible to take place in Tanzania. We assure you our cooperation in ensuring that this conference lives to its expectation.

My special thanks should go to our friends the Conservatives Party of the UK for participating with us in this important conference.

Having allowed me to say all these Mr. Chairman, as the host Party with respect I now officially passover to you the "work permit" to conduct your business in Tanzania!

KARIBU SANA AND PLEASE FEEL AT HOME.