Will Kikwete’s intervention save Katiba talks?

Members of Constituent Assembly consult after a session in Dodoma. FILE PHOTO 

By CHRISTOPHER KIDANKA The EastAfrican

In Summary

• With exception of UDP, CCM and TLP, the opposition form a coalition dubbed Ukawa, which has boycotted the CA sittings since April this year, citing violation of the law governing its activities.
• A proposal by the opposition to postpone the review until after the 2015 elections has received support from a cross section of experts who say the available time is inadequate.
• Observers say the process is doomed to fail because of the involvement of too many politicians in the Assembly.

• Katiba process dogged by lack of trust, boycotts

President Jakaya Kikwete was scheduled to meet members of the Tanzania Centre for Democracy (TCD) this weekend to discuss the fate of the Constituent Assembly, in a move that analysts say is unlikely to heal the rift between two opposing sides in the constitution review.

TCD comprises the ruling Chama cha Mapinduzi, opposition Chama cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo, Civic United Front, Tanzania Labour Party, United Democratic Party and NCCR-Mageuzi.

With exception of UDP, CCM and TLP, the opposition form a coalition dubbed Ukawa, which has boycotted the CA sittings since April this year, citing violation of the law governing its activities.

While CCM insists that the Constituent Assembly should go on without the opposition, analysts say the President’s intervention is unlikely to unlock the stalemate.

The chairman of NCCR-Mageuzi, a member of Ukawa, told The EastAfrican that reconciliation is key to the progress of the review.

The CA recently accepted fresh opinions from some groups such as pastoralists, religious groups and artistes, a move that chairman Samuel Sitta defended by saying the assembly is gathering views from people it had not heard yet.

The chairman of the Constitution Forum, Deus Kibamba, said the president was unlikely to save the constitution-making process because “he has lost his referee’s status and worn the jersey of one of the competing teams.”

A proposal by the opposition to postpone the review until after the 2015 elections has received support from a cross section of experts who say the available time is inadequate.

“The time between now and the next elections is too short, with too many issues to discuss. Tanzanian people must now agree to make minimal amendments for the sale of improving the electoral system because it is not going to be easy for the government to deliver a constitution in the remaining time,” said Kenya’s Prof Patrick Lumumba, who served as a consultant in the exercise.

READ: PLO picked to save Tanzania’s constitution review

He said Tanzania’s draft is more issue-oriented than Kenya’s in 2010 in which, he said, regional and personal interests took the centre stage.

“Tanzanians may have problems like any other country, but they debate more issues than any other country in the region,” he said.

Among the key issues under review is the state of the Union and the fundamental question of whether the country needs the Union between Tanganyika and Zanzibar that was crafted in 1964. Others are the land tenure system, and what structures of governance will help the two regions maximise the economic and political benefits.

While advocating the postponement of the process until after the elections, Mr Kibamba said there are too many things to be done in a short time, such as registration and issuance of national identity documents and registration of voters.

Too many politicians