Constituent Assembly chairman Samuel Sitta during a ceremony to present copies of the Proposed Constitution to presidents Jakaya Kikwete and Ali Mohammed Shein in October 2014. PHOTO|FILE
By Samuel Kamndaya, BusinessWeek Reporter
IN SUMMARY
IN SUMMARY
Farmers have not yet received the Proposed Constitution, a situation that forces them to rely on the ‘goodwill’ of the few experts who happen to have read the document, small-scale farmers noted here at the weekend.
Morogoro. The proposed Constitution is still a new topic to small-scale farmers, pastoralists and fishermen despite the fact that the document contains some specific provisions that directly touch on lives of people in that category.
Farmers have not yet received the Proposed Constitution, a situation that forces them to rely on the ‘goodwill’ of the few experts who happen to have read the document, small-scale farmers noted here at the weekend.
Unfortunately, the experts can only analyse the Proposed Constitution – slated to be voted for or against during a referendum in April 2015 – in line with their existing beliefs, traditions as well as political, social and educational leanings.
“As an institution, we have only two Proposed Constitution documents which are basically for official use only. They are not meant for distribution to our members,” the Network of Farmers Groups in Tanzania (Mviwata) executive director, Mr Stephen Ruvuga, told BusinessWeek.
Mviwata has over 100,000 individual small-scale farmers countrywide.
The Proposed Constitution – put together by the Samuel Sitta-led Constituent Assembly – has introduced an entirely new chapter on land, natural resources and the environment.
But the government’s failure to deliver the documentsto wananchi so they can read, understand and analyse it creates space for analysts from civil society organisations (CSOs), academic institutions and political parties to feed the electorates with critical aspects of the document in a manner that resonates with their own perceptions.
This is happening at a time when the country is already divided into two groups – one supporting the document in its entirety and the other opposing every bit of it.
In an apparent reference to Ukawa - a political grouping that brings together Chadema, the Civic United Front, NCCR-Mageuzi and NLD - President Jakaya Kikwete cautioned wananchi during his October 2014 tour of Mwanza against people who he said would try to persuade them that the proposed constitution did not make the grade. He urged the people to listen to them but make up their mind under their own steam.
Speaking to BusinessWeek on the sidelines of a symposium on: ‘The Proposed Constitution: Have the needs of small-scale producers been recognised’, some farmers said delays to furnish them with the document might be a move by the government to deliberately orchestrate it to make sure that the electorates go to the polls without understanding what to do.
“With our immature democracy, the rulers always bank on electorate’s ignorance since an ignorant person can only vote blindly,” said Mr Charles Ndugulire, a Mviwata member from Shinyanga Rural.
He found no reason why the document should not be delivered to the public so they can understand it before politicians start campaigning for and against it.
“The government does not necessarily need to deploy hundreds of people across the country on a public awareness campaign….it can simply send the message to us via newspapers,” he said.
His counterpart from Mara Region, Mr Abdi Gasaya echoed same sentiments: “It is only when we get exposed to seminars such as this one that we are able to understand what the document carries….It is important that we read the Proposed Constitution and understand it so we can ask intelligent questions when politicians come to campaign for or against the document,” he said.
A Mviwata member from Kizimbani Village in Zanzibar, Tuwenao Ali Salum and her counterpart from Gwanseri Ward in Kagera, Jovita Banyenza said having participated in the symposium, they came to realise that there were a number of issues that the Proposed Constitution did not clarify.
Presenting a paper on how issues pertaining to small-scale producers were addressed in the Proposed Constitution, HakiArdhi Executive Director Yefred Myenzi, said the document remained quiet on issues pertaining to land ownership.
“Of course we have a complete chapter on issues pertaining to land, natural resources and environment, but the Constitution is non-committal on the enforceability of the issues….instead of coming up with an enforceable statement, the Constitution gives space to other organs to arrange how the land issue should be addressed,” he said.
According to him, the Constitution should clearly state who owns the land in Tanzania and for which use as well as for how long.
While noting that there were a lot of good things in the Proposed Constitution, Tanzania Constitution Forum chairman Deus Kibamba, said it was important for farmers to note the claw back clauses in the proposed Mother Law.
A claw back clause is a special provision that has been given out in one chapter only to be taken back/returned in other chapters.
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