THINKING ALOUD: Is it time to restart the constitution review process? 1

A decade ago the world experienced the tumultuous changes in North Africa and the Middle East collectively known as the Arab spring. It was initially ignited by public outrage over the self-immolation of a street vendor, Mohamed Bouazizi on December 17 2010.

By January 14, 2011, President Zain El Abidine who had ruled Tunisia since 1987 had stepped down. This revolution against the rule of privileged elites spread to the rest of North Africa and the Middle East. The late Hosni Mubarak of Egypt who had ruled for almost 30 years was removed from power on February 11 2011.

This wave spread to Bahrain, Libya, Syria and Yemen shaking the very core of their political establishments. More recently, Omar Hassan Al-Bashir of Sudan was ousted, one can still argue that the seeds of this ouster were planted during the Arab spring.

The root of discontent in these countries lie in their poverty. To the Egyptians, the things that have held them back include an ineffective and corrupt state and society where they cannot use their talent, ambition and ingenuity and what education they can get. They clearly recognised that the root of these problems were political. All the economic impediments they faced stem from the way political power in Egypt was exercised and monopolised by a narrow elite. This they understood, was the first thing that had to change.

History has taught us that countries such as the United States and France are rich because their citizens overthrew the elites who controlled power and created a society where political rights were much more broadly distributed, where the government was accountable and responsive to citizens and where a great mass of people could take advantage of economic opportunities.

Much like the changes that took place in Egypt seemed ‘cosmetic’ and did not cause fundamental changes to Egyptian society, one could argue on similar grounds for Sub-Saharan countries in Africa post colonialism.

With few exceptions, the new elites of independent African countries assumed and adopted the powers of the colonial governors. In many places power was centred on tribal grounds or amongst family and friends. The powers and constitutions of the previous colonial governors became the powers of the independent Heads of State, with few exceptions there was no fundamental change other than the complexions of the rulers.

Post-Colonial Tanganyika and later Tanzania, had the good fortune of being led by a truly unique and exceptional statesman in Julius Nyerere. President Nyerere was faced with a monumental challenge of developing Tanzania. He led a huge country, with minimal infrastructure, diverse cultures, with an uneducated population majority of whom were living below the poverty line. His first priority was to create a nation state, and in this endeavor he succeeded. Nyerere’s personal qualities of integrity, honesty, true patriotism was beyond reproach to such an extent that even his failures as a leader were never questioned.

Commentators say that his greatest failure was economic policies that brought the country to its knees, in the late seventies to early eighties, but to me perhaps his greatest oversight was not dealing with the Tanzanian Constitution comprehensively with the view to transforming our country.

For any country to develop, it requires a transformative constitution that imbeds real political power to its citizens. The first head of State in any developing country is exceedingly important. Their leadership in office creates a political culture of a nation. The ideal time for such a change would have been prior to President Nyerere passing the baton to his successor. The Tanzanian constitution has been amended and reviewed piecemeal to deal with certain political exigencies but there hasn’t been a comprehensive review. There have been a number of commissions that attempted to do so, The Nyalali Commission under the 2nd phase government, which was partially implemented, The Kisanga Commission under 3rd phased and perhaps the most comprehensive of all the Warioba Commission under the Fourth Phase Government.

History teaches us that great constitutions are created after great upheavals. This rule is universal. The events in England in 1688, the French revolution of 1789 closer to home the South African Constitution after years of Apartheid rule, post-genocide constitution in Rwanda and the Kenyan constitution after electoral violence. Leadership is about anticipating and managing change to adapt with the changing world before being overtaken by events. We in Tanzania have succeeded on this once. We foresaw the changes to the global order in the early 1990s and their potential impact on Tanzania. The era of Glasnost and Perestroika that prompted the fall of the USSR in the 1990s influenced the thinking of those in authority in our country.

As a result a clear plan was put in place to manage them on our terms, the inevitability of multi-party democracy in Tanzania. In conjunction with this process we made further amendment of limiting the term of office of the President to two five-year terms. This was leadership.

These changes were made despite the fact the majority of the country were not in favor of them. Those in position of authority took it upon themselves to educate the masses and convince them of their necessity for our social development and led the changes. Leadership is certainly required. The fundamental question that we need to ask ourselves is: is it time to restart the constitution-making process in Tanzania?