Maravi

rejects Zimbabwe's Constitution amendment Bill

Tsvangirai rejects Zimbabwe's Constitution amendment Bill
By George Chellah and Chansa Kabwela in Harare, Zimbabwe
Sunday June 17, 2007 [04:00]

OPPOSITION Move-ment for Democratic Change (MDC) president Morgan Tsva-ngirai has rejected the Constitution of Zimbabwe amendment Bill, which was gazetted last Friday. And Tsvangirai has called on the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to remain focused on its resolution and ensure that parties to the mediation process remain committed.

The Constitution bill, which needs two-thirds approval of the membership of both the House of Assembly and the Senate to become law was gazetted last Friday and could be debated in Parliament next month after members have had time to study the proposals.
Addressing journalists at Harvest House on Tuesday, Tsvangirai explained that the Zimbabwe Constitution Amendment Bill No. 18 among other things sought to shorten the term of office of the President and make it run concurrently with Parliament.

"The Bill seeks to increase the number of the House of Assembly from the present 150 to 210, 200 of which will be directly elected and 10 of these will be presidential appointees. In addition, it seeks to increase the composition of the Senate from 66 to 84 members. Of those 84, 10 will be provincial governors, 16 chiefs and six will be presidential appointees," Tsvangirai said.

"Over and above, the bill seeks to create and establish a human rights commission and also establish the office of the deputy Chief Justice. A minor amendment is an alteration of the Commissioner of Police and Ombudsman to that of Commissioner General of the police and the Public Prosecutor respectively."

He said the bill was being gazetted in the background of an unprecedented economic meltdown. Tsvangirai said regrettably, the constitution amendment bill No. 18 was not about food, jobs or drugs.

"It is about power, its maintenance, reproduction and reconsolidation by Zanu-PF. The national project of Zanu-PF is the power equation. In our view, rearranging the dynamics of power in the Senate is thoroughly grievous and lamentable," Tsvangirai said. "Besides, this country is tired of unilateral piecemeal constitutional amendments. Having 18 constitutional amendments in 27 years reflects great contempt to the sacrosanctity and universality of a national constitution.

"As far as we are concerned, Zimbabwe needs a new holistic constitution that is people driven and people owned. Without this there will be no solution to the burning national question of the day. We thus reject this Bill."
He accused the ruling Zanu-PF of not being ready for genuine dialogue.

"Over and above this, given that the issue of a new constitution and its contents thereof, are some of the things that will be clearly covered in the SADC negotiations currently underway, pursuant to the resolution of the SADC heads of states in their meeting in Dar-e-salaam on 29 March, 2007. Constitution amendment No. 18 becomes both preemptive and contemptuous of that dialogue," Tsvangirai said. "The message Zanu-PF is sending out is loud and clear. It is oblivious and blind to the SADC negotiations. It is simply not ready for genuine dialogue."

Tsvangirai said the preparations for the 2008 elections were on auto-cruise in spite of the SADC dialogue.
"On our part, we remain committed fully to this dialogue. We remain faithfully committed to that dialogue. We call on SADC to remain focused on the 29th March, 2007 resolution and to ensure that every party to the process remains committed and bonafide," Tsvangirai said. "The crisis in Zimbabwe requires a sober understanding and not political grandstanding. SADC must thus be vigilant."

Major constitutional changes were formally proposed last Friday to harmonise Presidential and Parliamentary terms, expand the House of Assembly with all chiefs and provincial governors shifted to the Senate and establish an independent human rights commission.

The Bill expands the size of both Houses of Parliament. It also proposes making the delimitation commission the sole body that decides constituency boundaries with the President's power limited to just asking it to reconsider.

The first key change is to harmonise the terms of the President and Parliament and reduce the maximum length of a Presidential term to five years.
When the President dissolves Parliament, which he can do at any time within its five-year term, he automatically triggers a new Presidential election on the same day as the Parliamentary election.

The only two provisions are that the President remains in office until a successor is sworn in and that if the President dies, resigns or is removed from office in terms of the constitution, the members of the House of Assembly and Senate, sitting as a joint electoral college, shall elect a successor to hold office until the next Parliamentary election.

At present, a vacancy in the Presidential office has to be filled with a full Presidential election within 90 days.

Labels: MDC, ZIMBABWE

posted by MrK @ 5:07 AM