Ukawa appeals to JK not to assent to bills

kIKWETE SAYING BYE BYE!

The coalition of defenders of people’s constitution (Ukawa) has appealed to President Jakaya Kikwete should not give his assent to the  petrol and gas bills.

The opposition MPs had also insisted not to attend the Thursdays’ meeting of which President Jakaya Kikwete is expected to dissolve the 10th Parliament.

 

The bills were endorsed by the National Assembly on Sunday and yesterday afternoon in absence of Members of Parliament from the opposition camp.

 

In his meeting with journalists in Dodoma yesterday which was also attended by opposition legislators from Chama Cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo (Chadema) and Civic United Front (CUF) the coalition’s chairman, Freeman Mbowe said they had agreed to leave the matter to the citizens.

 

According to Mbowe the party’s Executive Committee meets in Dar es Salaam today and that other parties had also convened similar meetings. He said the coalition would hold the conference in the city tomorrow.

 

“We cannot go back to the House. We are taking the matter to Tanzanians since they are the owners of the natural resources,” he said, adding the resources don’t belong to either the government or the MPs.Mbowe who doubles as Chadema national chairman, said the decision to boycott the remaining parliamentary proceedings was wisely reached after realizing that the tabled bills would not benefit Tanzanians as it gears to protect the mining contracts that were signed previously.

 

According to him, the opposition is not against the oil and gas becoming laws but   wanted enough time forthe MPs and the public to read and debate them.

 

He said: “We cannot rush into this matter because of its necessity…we are talking of the benefits for the future generation. We wanted the bills to be tabled in the next meeting later in November this year”.

 

He warned that signing of the bills may result into a resource curse like other African countries such as Angola, Senegal, Nigeria and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

 

“The President should not allow the country to enter into a resources curse,” he noted.

 

Meanwhile, the Opposition’s Chief Whip, Tundu Lissu cited some of the violated parliamentary standing orders. He  mentioned section 80 (1) of the regulations which requires the bills to be announced twice in the government gazette before they are tabled in the National Assembly.

 

Lissu said the bills were only announced in the gazette once on May 29th,

2015. He said the bills were to be announced for second time on June 6th, 2015.

 

 In total there are 90 opposition MPs in the National Assembly. Among them 45 were expelled from attending the parliament proceeding over violation of rules and regulations.

 

 On July 3, 2015 Speaker Anne Makinda resolved to order the MPs out of the House after they opted to make noise and keep on standing during tabling of the bills.

 

The legislators were pushing for the House to suspend the tabling of bills on petrol and gas, namely The Petroleum Bill 2015, Oil and Gas Revenue Management Bill 2015 as well as the Tanzania Extractive Industry

(Transparency and Accountability) Bill 2015.

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN