Tanzania needs a much more determined leader with the will to carry on with the pending referendum process and other unfinished businesses, including review of the Access to Information Bill, 2015.
Upon taking over government after the General Election this month, what will be required of the new administration is the political will to re-examine the works which were started by President Jakaya Kikwete, but could not see the light of the day, legal experts say.
The referendum on the Union Constitution was scheduled for April 30, this year but could not be implemented since voters’ registration remained pending until late August.
The Media Bill which has been for a long time in the wait was dropped by the National Assembly late June this year followed by queries from stakeholders with the government promising that it would table it in the next Parliament.
There are great worries by members of the public that these laws, and many more, might continue to hang in balance after President Jakaya Kikwete complete his tenure this year. Tanzania will hold its General Election on October 25, this year.Interviewed by ‘The Guardian’ in Dar es Salaam yesterday, Vice President of the East Africa (EAC) Law Society, Francis Tola said the laws require both the National Assembly and the President to start working on the pending issues.
Tola, who is the immediate past president of the Tanganyika Law Society (TLS) said the National Assembly had to start where it ended regardless of the views of the new President.
“It is the role of the lawmakers to continue to work on the pending bills. The President shall then decide on whether or not to accent to them. But he has all the powers to initiate the suspended process,” he noted.
Elaborating on the referendum, he said, there must be a review of The Referendum Act and the Constitutional Review Act to allow a new process of writing the country’s fundamental law.
Tola insisted that it is not possible for the President to ignore such crucial pending matters regardless of his/her position and feelings on the bills.
Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC) Executive Director Dr Helen Kijo-Bisimba said: “What matters is the willingness of the coming president to restart the ‘Katiba’ writing process”.
Dr Kijo-Bisimba insisted that her organisation will to continue to push for the writing of the new Constitution because the current document doesn’t suit today’s life. She said getting a new constitution is a must and that it is the organisation’s top priority.
“Getting a new Constitution was the top agenda since the inception of our organisation … no leader should ignore it,” she said.
Announcing postponement of the referendum, National Electoral Commission (NEC) Chairman (rtd) Judge Damian Lubuva said the referendum will now be held on a date to be announced by NEC.
Some of the bills that were passed in the last parliamentary session include the Tanzania Postal Bank (Repeal and Transitional Provisions) Bill, 2015, The Oil and Gas Bill, 2015, The Tanzania Extractive Industry (Transparency and Accountability) Bill, 2015 and The Teachers’ Service Commission Bill, 2015.
Others were the Oil and Gas Revenues Management Act, 2015 and the Statistics and Cyber Crimes Bill.
Efforts to get the Attorney General, George Masaju, and Minister for Constitutional and Legal Affairs Dr Asha-Rose Migiro and her Deputy Ummy Mwalimu couldn’t bear fruits as their mobile phones were switched off.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
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