Maravi

(NEWZIMBABWE) Row erupts over 'Kariba Draft'

Row erupts over 'Kariba Draft'
by Lebo Nkatazo
25/06/2009 00:00:00

PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe says a new constitution for Zimbabwe should be drawn from the ‘Kariba Draft’ – putting him on a collision course with his Zanu PF party’s ruling coalition partners.

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said on Tuesday that it would “reject any attempts to have the ‘Kariba Draft’ … adopted as the Alpha and Omega of the constitution-making process”.

The so-called ‘Kariba Draft’ constitution was crafted by lawyers – including Tendai Biti, Welshman Ncube and Patrick Chinamasa -- from the three parties to the power sharing agreement in the picturesque town of Kariba in September 2007.

The document was made available to the public for the first time as Annexure B to the power-sharing agreement of September 15, 2008, signed by the two MDC formations and Zanu PF (see the ‘Kariba Draft’ in full).

Despite its initial support, Tsvangirai’s MDC has been retreating following opposition to the ‘Draft’ from constitutional reform campaign groups who say there should be no guiding document to a “people-driven” constitution.

Mugabe told the Zanu PF central committee on Wednesday: “We should accordingly educate ourselves about the contents of the Kariba Draft Constitution and explain it to our people as well as asking them their own views on it.

“We should properly educate our people so as to enable them to make informed decisions."

Mugabe comments will rile the MDC which fears Zanu PF wants the new constitutional reform process to be a referendum on the ‘Kariba Draft’.

“The MDC believes in a truly people-driven constitution-making process where the unfettered will of the people must be reflected,” the party’s national executive said in a statement on Tuesday.

Campaign group the National Constitutional Assembly says on its website that the writing of the ‘Kariba Draft’ “by a handful of political elites” without consulting the public is “an undemocratic usurpation of the right of Zimbabweans to write a constitution for themselves (read its analysis of Kariba Draft’.”

Zimbabwe began parliament-led constitutional hearings across the country’s five provinces on Wednesday which are expected to culminate in a new constitution by December next year.

Labels: AMAI MUGABE, CONSTITUTION, KARIBA

posted by MrK @ 5:36 PM