More queries as ‘best Katiba’ divides nation

By  Mwassa Jingi

In Summary

How can the Proposed Constitution be among the best Constitutions, while we all know how manipulatively it was passed by the CA? These are the questions, which we all know the answers.

Dar es Salaam. On October 8, 2014, in Dodoma, President Jakaya Kikwete and his counterpart Dr Ali Mohamed Shein officially received the Proposed Constitution from the then chairman of the Constituent Assembly (CA), Mr Samuel Sitta, and in their addresses declared that it was the “best Constitution’ in Africa”.

While in Mwanza a day after, Kikwete went further in hailing the Proposed Constitution by posing a question that those, who were saying it was not the best, where was a good one?

Another big shot in CCM, who also was a member of the CA, Mr. Kingunge Ngombale Mwiru commended it, saying it was the best in Africa. But which factors and tenets do our leaders use in comparing our Proposed Constitution and other Constitutions in Africa or the world at large? What makes the CCM -based Proposed Constitution the best, while the entire team of the then Constitutional Review Commission (CRC) did not attend the handing over ceremony in Dodoma?

How can the Proposed Constitution be the best in Africa, while it has already divided our nation even before it becomes a legal document? Why did the so-called best Proposed Constitution leave out the ethics and code of conduct, which are essential for preventing and checking corruption in our society? Can we really compare and contrast our Proposed Constitution with that of Kenya? I think our leaders are mocking Tanzanians!

How can the Proposed Constitution be among the best Constitutions, while we all know how manipulatively it was passed by the CA? These are the questions, which we all know the answers. The source of the Proposed Constitution was the Draft Constitution prepared and submitted to the CA by the CRC chairperson, Judge Joseph Warioba.

But CCM and its government rejected basic tenets of the Draft Constitution from the beginning and only went into the CA just to confirm their rejection of the basic structure of what is supposed to be called a new Constitution.

For a democratic country, which respects the rule of law and the principle of good governance, not any document, including the Proposed Constitution can be called a Constitution.

A quick speculation may tell us why our president, the CA, and some people argue that the Proposed Constitution is the best and thus deserves a YES vote during a referendum. This is because the Proposed Constitution has disregarded the interests of various groups in our society. Unfortunately, this does not make a better Constitution either.

The goodness and suitability of a Constitution is not measured in its length, the number of Chapters, Articles or pages. If that could be the case, then the Constitution of the United States of America, which is the oldest Written Constitution in existence and the shortest Constitution of any nation could not deserve the name of Constitution.

The best Constitution can be likened to a building. The strength of any building is not determined by the number of bricks and the way it has been well-finished. A strong building is determined by strong foundation and if it is a storey, strong pillars. Our Proposed Constitution lacks strong foundation, which is determined by the Union structure, a clear separation of powers that limits and subjects the powers of the president to the control of other state organs. The theory of limited government, which forms the basis of political thought, presupposes a clear separation of powers to prevent tyranny and absolutism.

This is the foundation the CCM-based Proposed Constitution lacks although our leaders are telling us that it is the best Constitution. In answering the question posed to us by our president, I could say the best Constitution for us would be the Draft Constitution prepared by the Constitutional Review Commission, one with popular sovereignty from the citizenry itself.

Our need as Tanzanians since 1991, when the idea of writing a new Constitution emerged from the then Presidential Commission (the Nyalali Commission), which was commissioned to find out whether Tanzania was eligible for multiparty democracy or continue with a single party system was not to rewrite the current Constitution and fill it with needs and wants of all social groups in our society to make it big enough, but write a new Constitution in a real sense.