Vituko Mitaani

The Chairperson of the Constitutional Review Commission (CRC) Judge Joseph Sinde Warioba has warned that clinging to the current governance system for the sake of saving costs might see the Union breaking up in the near future.

He said Tanzanians ought to decide whether they want to opt for lower costs by rejecting the proposed three-government system and see the Union disintegrate or accept the proposed changes and ensure that costs are minimised to preserve it.

Justice Warioba made the remarks in Dar es Salaam on Monday in the weekly ITV programme “Dakika 45” in which he highlighted the recently launched constitution draft.

“Our colleagues in Zanzibar had a lot of reservations on the Union and most of them dwelt on that compared to their counterparts on the Mainland.

We need to find a way to mitigate the costs rather than avoid forming the three-tier government. We have taken heed of what majority of Tanzanians want,” Warioba cautioned.

On the vision of the country, Judge Warioba said the commission had clearly stated in the document that the United Republic of Tanzania will have to be governed on the principles of democracy and good governance, stressing that its foundations will be self reliance.

“The government will be required to give an annual feedback to wananchi through the Parliament on how it has worked on the vision regardless of political ideologies,” Warioba said.

Commenting on the most raised issue during the collection of views for the rewriting of the constitution, Warioba mentioned land, education and health as some of them.

“Land has a lot of problems especially its ownership and uses as there are a lot of controversies over who should own it. There is also the issue of uses between investors and the people. Nevertheless land is not a Union matter,” Warioba said.

His remarks come days after several academicians and politicians raised concern on the proposal for a three-government structure on grounds that doing so would be tantamount to increasing the burden on tax payers’ shoulders.

Ardent advocates of freedom of the media have however hailed the document in that it incorporates the draft something which the current Constitution does not have.
This is the first time that Tanzanians have been fully involved into the writing of their Constitution.

Meanwhile, Tanzania Media Women’s Association (Tamwa) has called on the Constitutional councils to fight for the enhancement of the rights of women and children in order to bring about more justice, equality and development.

Tamwa Chairperson Valerie Msoka said in a statement unveiled yesterday that contribution of the people -- men and women -- is combined power that needs elimination of sexual abuse and repressive laws against women and the girl child.

It applauded the CRC for providing a draft stage that will offer an opportunity for women and men to discuss their country's democracy.

However, she noted that the draft remains silent on how the rights of women and the girl child are going to be safeguarded against violence, including rape, early marriages and female genital mutilation.

Although the draft cites in particular respect for international treaties on human rights, she said, it does not state clearly how the signed agreements are going to be implemented to safeguard the rights of women and girl children.

While the draft explains the rights of girls, it is not clear on elements of child protection in accessing social services including education and in protection against sexual violence, she says.

There is also disquiet about the age of marriage, which leads to a female child under the age of 18 being married off on the approval of her parents or guardians, she added.

Early this month CRC launched the first draft of the Constitution whereby among issues that were in the draft was the shift from a two-tier to a three-tier government, reduction in number of Union matters to seven from 22 and choice of Speaker of the National Assembly and deputy from no political affiliation.

Sylivester Domasa, reports from Dodoma that the ruling Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM) has said that the decisions on whether to adopt a three-tier-government proposed in the first constitution draft or continue with the current structure, remained with its members.

CCM Secretary for Ideology and Publicity Nape Nnauye gave the Party’s stance while briefing reporters on the resolutions reached by the Central Committee (CC) during its meeting held in Dodoma on Monday night chaired by its national chairman, President Jakaya Kikwete.

He said CC has directed the Party to organise itself to discuss the draft within the party, calling upon their members to participate fully in giving out their views.

Among other things, CCM members are expected to give their views that will later be approved by the party’s CC on whether to adopt the three structure government or continue with the present structure of two governments.

“Once the views are approved by the party’s Central Committee, that will be the official stand of CCM as an institution and a political party,” Nnauye said.

Nnauye said CC commended the good job done by the Constitution Review Commission (CRC) by writing the draft within the given time frame.

“CC commends the CRC for the good work they have done, however, I would urge them to educate the public on the steps of writing the constitution to clear worries that have started amongst the citizens,” he said.

According to Nnauye, as of now most of the people who were not aware of the steps taken to get a new constitution, believe that the first drafted constitution was the final one.

He said some people are confused about the proposed supreme laws, which calls for well-designed information to educate them (people).

He said the CC has urged members of the ruling party to participate in giving out their views on the constitution councils with a view of attaining a precedent constitution.

But in a surprising scenario, the secretary said members of CCM are required to air their suggestions with regards to previous suggestions which were offered by the party during the initial stage of the constitution writing process.

Among its recommendations, CCM had proposed the continuation of two-governments contrary to the three-tier-government proposed in the first draft of the constitution.

Nnauye said members of CCM will have to meet for at least one week at each branch to peruse through the first constitution draft and offer their recommendations, which they will forward to the district councils and later to the regional level before it is forwarded to the national council for approval.

He said all the decisions (with regards to the proposed draft) need to be decided and approved before August this year to pave way for the constitution councils to offer their opinions, which will be used by CRC to develop the second constitution draft.