KATIBA MPYA:Journalists barred from Dar CRC meetings

BY WARYOBA YANKAMI

8th January 2013

  CUF for three governments

Constitutional Review Commission deputy chairman, former Chief Justice Augustino Ramadhani, briefs the media in Dar es Salaam yesterday after the commission’s first meeting with special groups. (Photo: Khalfan Said)

 Journalists were yesterday barred from Constitutional Review Commission (CRC) sessions attended by representatives of political parties in Dar es Salaam, being told that the meetings were not meant for public consumption.

The CRC chairman Judge (retired) Joseph Warioba had earlier said that the meeting room was too small to accommodate the journalists, members of the meeting as well as commission members.

But reacting to reporters’ pressure to attend the proceedings, CRC Deputy Secretary General, Casmir Kyuki said the commission had only arranged to meet with political parties in a move to get some inputs from them for incorporation in the new constitution writing process, forcing the journalists to leave.

Meanwhile; the Civic United Front National Chairman Prof Ibrahim Lipumba said in a press conference that his party had proposed three governments; comprising Zanzibar, Tanganyika and the Union in the new constitution.

He said they had also proposed to the commission that the president must secure over 50 percent of the cast votes.

Prof Lipumba said each government should deal with issues within its jurisdiction, unlike the current system whereby all issues concerning the Union and non-Union matters were being dealt with by the Union government which was unfair to Zanzibaris.

According to Prof Lipumba, Union institutions such as the Bank of Tanzania (BoT), international aid are considered and used to serve the Union government while isolating the Zanzibar government.

He clarified that when international aid is given to Tanzania, Zanzibar is not counted as an independent government and it has no right to identify itself internationally in looking for help thus denying Zanzibaris their rights.

He further said that Zanzibar lacked representation in the international fora like in the East Africa Community (EAC), The Southern African Development Community (SADC), and United Nations (UN).

“Demands of Zanzibaris on Union matters are reasonable. It is unfair and unacceptable to unite Tanganyika and Zanzibar under one government. Let the proposed constitution allow three governments” said Prof Lipumba.

CUF claimed that the new constitution should downsize the president’s powers such directing cabinet appointments and those ministers to be approved by the Parliamentary Assembly.

He added that the president in the new constitution should be given power to appoint Chief of Defense Forces (CDF), Chief Justice, Controller and Auditor General (CAG) and Attorney General (AG) but after being appointed they should be approved by the parliament.

CUF also proposed that human rights should be mentioned and stated clearly in the new constitution and it should be that whenever a person missed the rights, he or she be able to demand for them in the court of law.

Furthermore, CUF proposed that there should be an independent National Electoral Commission (NEC) which will be appointed by the president after getting views from all civil societies in the country.

Prof Lipumba said NEC should comprise at least one member from each political party, religions both Christian and Islamic, political parties registrar’s office, representatives of youths, elders, and people with disability.

He stressed that the new constitution must state and limit the number of permanent ministries to not exceed 15.

In the coming new constitution independent candidates is unavoidable, said Prof. Lipumba clarifying that if there will be any political parties which want to unite there should be no need to register, but only inform the political registrar’s office six months before the elections.

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN