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(NEWZIMBABWE) Devolution 'dear to MDC' - Minister

Devolution 'dear to MDC' - Minister
08/06/2009 00:00:00
by Lebo Nkatazo

DEVOLUTION “is an issue which is dear to the MDC’s philosophy”, Constitutional Affairs Minister Eric Matinenga has said. Matinenga said devolution was in the MDC’s manifesto and the party intended to see power decentralised when a new constitution is enacted, possibly in two years.

“It has always been a position of the MDC that power has unfortunately been concentrated in one person and we need to make people feel that they are part of Zimbabwe and that they are exercising some power,” Matinenga said in a radio interview on Friday.

He said devolution was “an issue which is very much alive in the constitution making process and I’m sure that this issue will thoroughly be debated, canvassed and addressed in our new constitution. ”

His comments follow a statement by Water Resources Minister Samuel Sipepa Nkomo who said the MDC led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai would back devolution plans which could see the country divided into five regions, each with a parliament of its own as well as a prime minister.

But Lovemore Madhuku, chairman of the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) pressure group, warns devolution may fail to be adopted in the constitution if the current parliament-led constitution making process is not abandoned.

The NCA favours a “people-driven” constitution making process, free from political interference.

Madhuku said: “Good things in a constitution like devolution only come out of a good process. The current process is not a good one. So I don’t have to wait for … the draft to know that under the current process, Zanu PF will not accept devolution, they will shoot it down, the MDC will be forced to accept it if they go with that process. ”

Madhuku warned the MDC may be left fighting for its political future if devolution was not adopted.

“If we don’t get devolution in the constitution that Minister Matinenga is presiding over, then obviously, Sam Sipepa Nkomo and all those people who have put across that proposal will campaign for a ‘NO’ vote because I don’t see why they would accept a constitution without devolution. ”

Calls for devolution are particularly strong in the Matabeleland region where there is a perception that the Zanu PF government has deliberately sidelined the region.

But Madhuku insists calls for devolution are a national sentiment, as demonstrated by the MDC’s manifesto.

“I think Zimbabweans across the various ethnic divides here appreciate devolution. Devolution is not for Matabeleland; it’s devolution for the rest of the country so it is wrong for those … of course in this case Sipepa Nkomo announcing it might have served the impression that it’s a Matabeleland thing.

It’s not a Matabeleland thing. Devolution is an aspect of what we would want to see our country develop into, and this is why it is in the MDC manifesto, it’s a progressive thing. ”

He said the NCA’s draft produced in 2000 when Zimbabweans voted to reject a government-led constitutional reform process “is the best document on devolution that you can come across”.

He added: “The NCA draft came out from the input of the people so I’ve no doubt that if there’s a genuine constitution making process in this country, devolution would end up in the constitution in the manner close to what the MDC-T say.

“The unfortunate thing about the MDC-T’s position is that they will not get devolution from this process that they have embarked on. ”

Matinenga told SW Radio Africa’s Violet Gonda that a new constitution may be in place as early as the end of 2010.

He revealed: “The first step was the establishment of the (parliamentary) Select Committee which was done on April 12. In terms of the GPA (power sharing agreement), we must then hold the First All Stakeholders Conference within three months of April 12, which takes us to about 12/13 July.

“After that, we have four months of formal consultations which will take us to about mid-November. Then after that we have the time to do the real writing of the constitution, another three months which takes us to mid-February 2010.

“Then thereafter we go to a second All Stakeholders Conference which looks at the draft against what the people have said. Thereafter we take that draft to parliament and we go to a referendum. That is roughly the timeframe. ”

Labels: DECENTRALIZATION, DEVOLUTION, ERIC MATINENGA, LOVEMORE MADHUKU, NCA

posted by MrK @ 2:20 PM