THE GOVERNMENT PREPARE FOR NEGOTIATION WITH UKAWA FOR RETURNING TO THE CONSTITUTION ASSEMBLY .....
Dar es Salaam. A grand
mediation effort to break
the stalemate in the
constitution making is in
the offing.
The Prime Minister Mr
Mizengo Pinda is working
with the Political Parties
Council and the Political
Parties Registrar office
to bring the Ukawa group,
which walked out of the
Constituent Assembly in
April, to the negotiating
table to iron out
differences.
Ukawa is a coalition of
opposition parties in the
Constituent Assembly. The
Political Parties Council
(PPC) comprises national
leaders of all political
parties.
Sources told Political
Platform that the Prime
Minister wants to use the
opportunity of the
Political Parties
Council’s meeting
scheduled for June 14th to
16th to launch the
mediation process. Retired
national leaders and other
influential persons,
notably, Presidents
Benjamin Mkapa and Ali
Hassan Mwinyi, as well as
political parties, would
also be involved in the
process.
The initiative has been
taken after realizing that
mediation is the only way
that will help us to get
the new constitution.
Mr Sisty Nyahoza,
assistant political
parties registrar neither
denied nor agreed about
the initiative saying more
light would be shed at an
appropriate time.
Premier Pinda, however,
confirmed to the Political
Platform that the meeting
will be held in Dodoma
with more than 100
delegates.
Mr Pinda said he was asked
by the leaders of the PPC
attend its extraordinary
meeting that, among other
things, will be used to
convince the Ukawa to
return to the Constituent
Assembly.
“It’s true that there is
such a meeting organized
by the political parties
council and as you know
the office dealing with
political parties is
within my docket…..so I
think finding a solution
is something good in the
constituent assembly
stalemate,” Premier Pinda
said
The Prime Minister said
actually the meeting
organised by PPC has its
agenda. Though the issue
of mediation the stalemate
in the constitution making
process would prominently
feature in the meeting.
Prof Ibrahim Lipumba, who
is one of the three
principal leaders of the
Ukawa, led out of the
debating chamber a huge
number of Members of the
Constituent Assembly
(MCAs) and sympathisers
who had been convinced by
his arguments.
The visibly emotive Prof
Lipumba told the CA: “We
have had enough insults in
this Assembly; the process
has so far failed to meet
expectations of Tanzanians
and we are not ready to be
party to that.”
Before announcing the
move, Prof Lipumba said it
was not the number of
governments but the
political will that would
kill the Union. He
observed that in the two
days of the general debate
of Chapters One and six of
the Draft Constitution,
people were being
discriminated on the basis
of their origins, which,
he argued, was a clear
threat to the Union.
“We have all been hearing
discriminative statements
in this Assembly, and
government leaders who are
here have been cheering.
People have been called
Arabs, Wahadimu and
Wapemba. But we want to be
categorical on this: this
Second Draft Constitution
was tabled by the CRC
appointed by the
President. It was not
CUF’s, Chadema’s or NCCR’s
commission. It was the
President’s commission;
not any Wapemba’s
commission; why then are
some MCAs segregating and
blaming Wapemba over it?”
he asked.
The Ukawa have also been
angered by CCM’s stance
that it would never accept
the proposal of the three-
tire government system as
proposed in the draft
constitution. The ruling
party stands for the
continuation of the
current two tier
government structure with
substantial increase in
the autonomy of Zanzibar.
The walk-out by the
opposition created
tensions in the Zanzibar’s
government of national
unity that is made up of
the CUF and CCM. CCM
members see the
opposition’s demands of
three governments within
the union as a ploy to
break the union. The
opposition denies this
fact.
Following the stalemate in
the constitutional making
process both the
opposition and CCM have
been touring the country
to try to get sympathy and
support from the people.
In February when
addressing the political
parties’ council in Dar es
Salaam, President Jakaya
Kikwete urged politicians
and the 201 appointed
members to ensure that
they put the interests of
the country first and
leave their affiliations
aside.
“Members of the
Constituent Assembly
should know that they have
the responsibility to give
Tanzanians a constitution
that will exist for more
than 50 years, strengthen
unity, peace and ensure
that our union remains
intact,’’ he said adding:
“Success of the
Constituent Assembly
depends on your conducts
and utterances. If you
leave here with one common
voice before you go for
the assembly meetings, I
am sure that we will have
a constitution that our
people are eagerly waiting
for,’’ President Kikwete
was quoted
United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP)
coordinator Ms Hellen
Clark was quoted urging
the Coalition of the
Defenders of the People’s
Constitution (Ukawa) group
to return to the
Constituent Assembly.
Ms Clark advised Members
of Constituent Assembly
from Ukawa to go back and
engage in debate to end
the current stand-off when
the sitting resumes in
August. She said the CA
was the only practical
platform to seek a
consensus.
But Chadema national
chairman Freeman Mbowe has
reiterated that Ukawa will
not return to the CA when
it resumes in August if
the debate in the CA won’t
focus on people’s view as
presented in the Second
Draft Constitution.
The Constituent Assembly
was adjourned in April to
pave the way for the budge
session. It is set to
resume in August. The
process of writing the new
constitution started in
2011 after the passing of
the Constitutional Review
Act in Parliament.
The Constitutional Review
Commission was
subsequently formed with
the mandate to collect
people’s views and prepare
a draft. The commission
submitted its second draft
in December 2013.
Source:thecitizen
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