By Dailynews Reporter
ELEVEN political parties with no representation in Parliament have backed President Samia Suluhu Hassan for prioritising economic growth rather than dwelling on constitutional reform.
The parties said that they see no reasons for the country to start afresh constitution rewriting, and urged Tanzanians to support the president's plea for enough time to build the country's economy.
Tanzania's bid to rewrite a new constitution stalled back in 2014, after some political parties boycotted the process ahead of the referendum.
In a joint statement issued yesterday, the eleven parties without MPs suggested that, if after all there is a need for rewriting the constitution, then the process should start from where it ended, using a referendum drafted by the Special Constitutional Assembly in 2014.
The parties stressed that President Samia should be given time to build the economy which has been affected by the global Covid-19 pandemic.
"We are not supporting the process of rewriting a new constitution; the country will incur a lot of unnecessary costs. We support President Samia on her move to build the national economy," said Mr Abdul Mluya, the Secretary General for Democratic Party (DP).
"However, we suggest that if there will be a need for a new constitution, then we should go for the referendum to approve or disapprove the document that had already been written," he added.
According to the DP Secretary General, the government dished out 200bn/- to draft the constitution whose process was annulled before the referendum.
"Some members of the constitutional assembly boycotted the new constitution before the referendum, surprisingly, the same people are demanding a new constitution today... they are pressing that all the process should start afresh," he explained.
His remarks were seconded by the Secretary General of Alliance for Democratic Change (ADC) Mr Doyo Hassan Doyo, who said they would support finalisation of the constitution draft written in 2014.
"If they want a new constitution then they should support the one which has already been written since a lot of money was spent in the process, we can't support their demand to start everything afresh," he insisted.
Going forward, Mr Doyo said their parties would not support any plan aimed at destabilising the country; instead, they would support President Samia on her efforts to build the economy
Speaking to editors at the Dar es Salaam State House in June, this year, President Samia put to rest the debate on a new constitution, saying her priority was to stabilise the country's economy.
"Let's give ourselves more time, as we continue building up our economy. I don't say that (the call for) constitution is less important but we still have a lot of things to do, as we strive to strengthen our economy," she said.
The president was responding to a question from the media over her position regarding the shelved new constitution writing process, which kicked off during the fourth-phase government under former President Jakaya Kikwete.
The proposed new constitution was to replace the current 1977 document. President Samia explained that currently her focus is to unlock the country's economic potential, to raise individual and national income for improving the livelihood.
"I can assure you that during the past three months the results have been immense, for instance, in terms of attracting more investors the number of investments registered from March to June, this year has almost doubled compared to the corresponding period last year," President Samia said.
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