Dar es Salaam. Former Prime Minister Joseph Warioba has advised the government to hold a referendum on a new constitution before the 2025 General Election.
He suggested the referendum to take place when Tanzanians elect the civil leaders in 2024.
Judge Warioba’s statement comes amid tension among politicians over the process, with others calling for reforms in the National Electoral Commission (NEC) before the new constitution.
Speaking during an exclusive interview with the Mwananchi newspaper yesterday, Judge (Rtd) Warioba said there was no reason for tensions because the constitutional process does not prevent other things being reformed.
Judge Warioba, who was the chairman of the Constitutional Review Commission that was set up by retired President Jakaya Kikwete in 2012, said the process was almost complete, after the endorsement of the Draft Constitution by the Constituent Assembly which accommodate public opinion.
“After the proposed constitution was passed, it was supposed to go to a referendum. But Judge (Damian) Lubuva (former chairman of the National Electoral Commission - NEC), said we were preparing for the general election,” he said.
“He said we could not able to do both the referendum and the general election, asking for the referendum to be postponed and that is how it was done. It was, therefore, expected that, after the 2015 elections, arrangements would be made to hold the referendum; but that was not the case,” he said.
He said in the current situation, it would be difficult to complete the referendum process due to Covid-19, as campaign rallies should be held, while also referring to the dire economic situation.
Judge Warioba advised that political party leaders should meet to discuss how to complete the process.
“In my opinion, I think the referendum can be done in 2024 because it is the year of local government elections. To reduce costs, we can combine local government elections with the referendums,” he said.
He said because time has passed the adoption of the proposed constitution, it should be reviewed and amended to accommodate some current needs, if any.
“For example if you read the proposed constitution it states: This is the Constitution of Tanzania for 2014; but it cannot be a Constitution until it is approved by the people,” he hinted.
He said under the current situation, there is no need to repeat the whole process as all the information was already collected.
Regarding the need for an independent electoral commission, he said there was no need to wait for the new constitution process to be completed.
“There is nothing wrong to go with both.
“We should also know that once the Constitution is passed, it does not come into force automatically. There will be a transitional period for certain issues to be amended,” he said.
“You can make changes to the electoral commission without waiting for the new constitution, because it is just a law amendment like others.”
“Since we started the new constitution process, so many laws have been passed and every law must have a base in the constitution. Why should the new independent electoral commission wait for the new constitution? Why are we making these other laws without waiting for the new constitution?” he questioned.
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