Maravi

(TALKZIMBABWE) Constitutional conference kicks off

Constitutional conference kicks off
Ralph Mutema
Mon, 13 Jul 2009 10:11:00 +0000

Hundreds of elegates mill around a desk hoping to get accredited at the Harare International Conference Centre yesterday for the all-stakeholders conference that starts in the city today. Source: Herald

SEVERAL thousand politicians and civic leaders are expected to attend a Stakeholders' Conference in Harare today setting the stage for the designing of a new people driven Constitution for Zimbabwe..

A new Constitution will pave the way for fresh elections Zimbabwe effectively ending the life of the inclusive Government which was formed by the main political parties in February this year.

After a public consultation, the new constitution will be put to a referendum, according to the country's power-sharing Global Political Agreement.

Once a charter is in place Zimbabwe is expected to hold a general election.

Thousands of representatives from civil society are expected to meet with politicians in Harare to plot the way forward.

President Mugabe will officially open the two-day conference today.

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and deputy PM Arthur Mutambara are also expected to address the conference.

Speaker of House of Assembly, Lovemore Moyo, will deliver the welcome speech while Parliamentary Select Committee co-chairperson Paul Mangwana is expected to give an overview of the conference as well as outline its objectives.

Women, Gender and Community Development Minister Dr Olivia Muchena will also give a comparative analysis of the constitutions of various countries. while select committee co-chairperson Douglas Mwonzora will give an interpretive analysis of Article VI of the Global Political Agreement that mandates the Parliamentary Select Committee to complete the drafting of a new constitution within 18 months.

Closing remarks and Vote of Thanks will be given by Senate President, Hon Edna Madzongwe.

There will be presentations on various countries, on best practice. There are no guest speakers although slots were reserved for them.

A new election will be conducted 20 months to 24 months from now, depending on the pace of the constitution- making process.

The stakeholders conference will also determine the way the constitution-making process will take, and the mood, especially after earlier discord about the consultative process.

President Robert Mugabe and Zanu PF are insisting that the new constitution should be hinged on the Kariba draft constitution.

The Kariba draft was produced by the three parties in September 2007, ahead of the 2008 harmonized Presidential, Parliamentary and Senatorial elections.

The larger MDC formation led by PM Tsvangirai has rejected the use of the Kariba draft as the sole reference, arguing that the process should be taken to the people, and any other draft constitution should be considered. It has also argued that the Kariba draft was a compromise document done to avoid a crisis in the event of a contested election result.

The constitution-making process kicked off in all the country’s provinces towards the end of June.

Registration for today's conference had a few logistical problems. The organisers did not budget for the overwhelming response they got from the civil society and members of the public. Various people from different organisations were turned away yesterday without registration.

Various organizations and members responded overwhelmingly and positively to the constitution-making process. Some have since presented their own drafts of a new constitution. Apart from the contentious Kariba draft, churches and other organizations have also come up with their own drafts.

Besides these drafts, there have been indications that the process could also borrow from the constitution of 2000 which was rejected in a referendum and the parallel one that had been drafted by the National Constitutional Assembly.

According to the GPA, the convening of an all-stakeholders conference is the final stage in the first phase of the constitution-making process.

After the conference, various thematic committees will move around the country to collate public views on what should go into the new constitution.

Labels: CONSTITUTION

posted by MrK @ 4:26 PM