Aim for consensus, assembly urged

“I want to declare that I am a supporter of a single tier government union system but after negotiation with other CRC members we reached consensus,” said Prof Baregu.PHOTO|FILE

By  Frank Kimboy ,The Citizen Reporter


IN SUMMARY

“I can assure you that if decisions are made through voting we will never have a good constitution...they should borrow a leaf from CRC,”


Dar es Salaam. Members of the Constituent Assembly were urged yesterday to aim for a national consensus when discussing the draft constitution.

Participants in a one-day workshop themed Building a National Consensus for the Constitution said it would be impossible for the country to get a good constitution if Constituent Assembly members would not put national interests ahead of those of groups they were representing. Prof Mwesiga Baregu, who represented the Constitutional Review Commission (CRC), said the assembly’s chairperson should make sure every member was heard regardless of his or her affiliation.

He advised members to start discussing non-contentious sections of the draft in order to build trust and confidence among themselves before moving to contentious issues like the Union.

“I want to declare that I am a supporter of a single tier government union system but after negotiation with other CRC members we reached consensus,” said Prof Baregu.

He said decision in the assembly regarding the new constitution should be reached through consensus rather than voting.

“I can assure you that if decisions are made through voting we will never have a good constitution...they should borrow a leaf from CRC,” he said.

Mr John Mallya, executive secretary of the Tanzania Development Initiative Programme, which hosted the workshop in collaboration with Germany’s Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, said politicians and other groups should become negotiators rather than people seeking to control the process if the country is to get a good constitution.

Tanganyika Law Society President Francis Stolla urged assembly members to make sure that the final document reflected the will of the people. “The constituent assembly’s work isn’t to disregard the people’s views which are contained in the second draft, but to improve on them. If the people’s views are disregarded, they will reject the final draft in the referendum,” he said.

Katiba Forum representative Hebron Mwakagenda said even if the country would get a good new constitution, the challenge would be how to implement it.

“The main problem with African countries has been on how to implement their constitutions...the current constitution states that there should a supreme court but where is it?” he asked.