(NEWZIMBABWE) MDC-T left in the lurch over 'Kariba Draft'

MDC-T left in the lurch over 'Kariba Draft'
by Staff Reporters
28/07/2009 00:00:00

ALL three political parties in Zimbabwe’s power sharing government AGREED to use the ‘Kariba Draft’ constitution as the basis of a new constitution, the pact’s negotiators have said.

Five of the six negotiators to the September 15 ‘Global Political Agreement’ (GPA) released a statement on Tuesday “to clarify and explain what the three parties to the GPA agreed to be the place and role of the Kariba Draft Constitution within the constitution making process”.

Welshman Ncube, Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga (MDC-M), Nicholas Goche, Patrick Chinamasa (Zanu PF), Elton Mangoma and Tendai Biti (MDC-T) were the six negotiators who secured agreement on the terms of a power sharing pact which gave birth to a unity government in February.

All but Biti signed the statement dated July 23, but made available to New Zimbabwe.com on Tuesday, in order to “restore, reaffirm and defend the co-operative spirit among the parties to the agreement, which co-operative spirit is absolutely essential and indeed is a pre-condition for a successful conclusion to the agreed constitution-making process”.

The statement added: “We hereby place it on record that the Agreement of the parties was that the Kariba Draft which was negotiated, agreed to and initiated by all three parties to the GPA would be used by the parties through the Parliamentary Select Committee to consult people on the new content of a new constitution of Zimbabwe.

“The agreement being that the Select Committee would take the Kariba Draft to the people and consult them on which provisions of the draft they agreed with and accepted; and which ones they did not agree with.

“In respect of those they did not agree with, the people would be asked what alternative provisions they wanted in their place.”

The statement is a dagger in the political strategy of the MDC formation led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai which has been trying to repudiate the Kariba Draft. In a June 23 statement, the party accused President Robert Mugabe and Zanu PF of "trying to foist ... the Kariba Draft on the people of Zimbabwe".