SOME academicians have faulted the recent
declaration of the ruling CCM party’s stand in support of two tier government which
was officially proclaimed by its national chairman President Jakaya Kikwete
saying the move is regarded as the denial of people’s rights of democracy. Speaking
in an exclusive interview on Tuesday last week in Dar es Salaam, the assistant
lecturer Rehema Stephano from the University of Dodoma (UDOM) said that, CCM’s
recommendation is likely to hijack discussions on new constitution in the
Constituent Assembly (CA) currently on the move. Rehema is on the view of the
fact that, since the CA is composed of many members of the ruling CCM party, she
fears as all matters discussed and voted upon would be mostly favoring the
interests of the ruling party and not otherwise. She said the President’s
declaration is against the majority of people’s will as earlier revealed in the
report by the Constitution Review Commission (CRC) led by Judge Joseph Warioba.
The commission was tasked to collect people’s views and came up with the
suggestion of three tier government structure. She said CCM stand on two tier
government those are their views which they should have presented them before
Warioba’s commission for scrutiny, and added that it is not fair to campaign
for them when the second draft of constitution is set for discussions. However,
she noted that, CCM should understand that, the constitution is not for the
political party and this shouldn’t be tampered at any cost and instead leave
the people decide on what type of a government structure would suit them. Rehema
gave her concern at a conference organized by the Eastern and Southern African
Universities Research Program (ESAURAP) which was held in Dar es Salaam early
this week. The conference brought together academicians in the country to discuss
better constitution or ‘Katiba Bora’
for Tanzanians. Another academician Professor Betrum Mapunda said that, the
government structure which the people of Tanzania should have adopted is a one
tier government system which ne said could minimize all unnecessary expenses
including the current chaos in the union government. His views disregarded
neither having a two tier nor a three tier government structures as both of
which he noted is more expensive to run compared to the national economic
standard. However, he suggested that, a unified Tanzania nation should have one
tier government structure. Another academician, Dr. Isaack Safari of the Saint
Augustine University of Tanzania (SAUT) said that, party’s policies should not
be introduced as guidelines to attain better constitution as they have no use
for the interest of the nation. However, he cautioned that, “If CCM will
dominate discussions in the CA, the history will judge them and in view of this
its members have to respect the whole process for the sake of national
interests”.
A Member of Parliament for Mwibara (CCM) Kangi Logola
Meanwhile, some CCM party members in the CA have strongly
criticized their party’s stand requesting them to support and defend the idea
of a two tier government structure when brought in public debate during the
discussions. They have noted that, they do not see the rationale to support the
idea and yet the constitution making process is for the people in the country. Interviewed
earlier this week is a Member of Parliament for Mwibara (CCM) Kangi Logola who
openly disagreed with his party’s intention and resolved to defend the majority
opinions of the people he represent in Warioba’s commission. Logola was quoted
as saying that, “I Kangi Lugola as a member of CA, I stand to defend the rights
of the people whom sent me in Parliament, I want a three tier government” he
said and insisted that, there are two things of his party’s stand and that of
his own as a representative. The Chairman for Constitutional Review Commission
of Zanzibar Ali Saleh was quoted earlier this week as saying that, “he would be
surprised to see Zanzibar members in CA if they would go against a three tier
government structure as proposed by Warioba’s commission in the second draft”. He
said that, a two tier government structure currently being touted by CCM party
has extremely failed to end up union chaos for the last 50 years, added that
there was no way other than pulling out of the system. He said he would become
more perplexed if the Zanzibar members would reject the system as this had been
the only means proposed for long as a lasting solution to end up the existing
chaos in the union government. Tanganyika Law Society (TLS) has threatened to
go to court if the CA currently discussing the draft would dare delete the
important factors included in the second draft of constitution and would lodge
a court injunction against the decision. The concern was issued on Wednesday by
the firm’s President Francis Stolla who noted that, the basic factors of the
constitution draft should be respected at all cost as these are people’s views.
He said members of the CA have been sent to represent the majority of the
people in the country and not the ruling CCM party. The participation and
representation during the process to gather views on the proposed new
constitution was free and fair says the CRC’s Chairman Judge Joseph Sinde Warioba.
During the process, a total of 1,365.337 people gave out their views out of
which 333,357 were made directly while 1,942 were in writing. Warioba said the
statistics show that the constitution review was participatory and all groups
were represented including the marginalized groups. The representation of the
number of people who participated was fair and equal and there were no group
that exceeded the other, warioba was quoted as saying. He said his commission
received views from inside and outside the country through public rallies,
special forms from the commission, letters, social networks, emails, face to
face , face book, the commission’s website features articles from newspapers
and text massages. Both men and women participated fully in the constitutional
review process as there was equal representation from all groups including
people with disabilities and the elderly.
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