Politicians call on government to act on task force report

Dar es Salaam. Political stakeholders yesterday reacted by challenging the government to immediately work on proposals collected by the presidential special task force formed to coordinate views on the best way of doing multiparty politics in Tanzania as time was running out.

The reaction came shortly after the task force had handed over its report to President Samia Suluhu Hassan after 10 months of coordinating views by stakeholders from different groups across Tanzania Mainland and Zanzibar.

Tabling the collected proposals, the task force under the chairmanship of former University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) don Rwekaza Mukandala outlined 11 key issues that dominated citizens’ views.

They included: objecting to presidential results before the proposed supreme court, reviving the new constitution writing process, formation of an independent electoral commission, reinstating banned political rallies and promoting the use of Information Communication Technology (ICT) in the electoral processes.

Others are promoting media self-regulation, improving involvement of gender and people with disabilities (PwDs) in political parties’ decision making, broadening subsidy disbursement to political parties lacking representatives in the councils and Parliament and introducing the national platform for Tanzanians to hold dialogue annually of contentious issues that have happened in the country.

But, speaking after receiving the documents, President Hassan said the report was appealing, adding, however, that proposals have nothing to command the government.

“The task force has provided us with useful inputs. However, we will execute the proposals depending on the government’s financial status,” she said.

The Head of State said the government will form other task forces that would be entrusted to work on specific proposals and respectively advise the government on the modes of implementation.

“It is not an overnight thing to implement all the proposals. Those that are within our powers will be implemented immediately,” she said, noting that those requiring funding and change of laws will have to wait.

She said the government had to look into the country’s laws, identify their shortcomings and see how it could address the same.

But, yesterday, embattled NCCR-Mageuzi chairman James Mbatia challenged the government to expedite the implementation of the proposals, especially providing the country with a new Katiba.

“There’s no time to wait,” he said, querying: “Why don’t we pick one of the proposals, which is the new constitution, and come up with a strong system that will make things move?”

The new constitution, said the NCCR-Mageuzi chairman--whose party has plunged into a leadership dispute--would be a game changer for the country’s development.

He said it was of no point to waste time discussing challenges that Tanzanians were grappling with than addressing them.

“It is over 30 years down the line since we started talking about positive changes that would shape the country’s politics. We now need to walk the talk,” stressed Mr Mbatia.

He said the journey of bringing positive changes in the country’s politics started way back in 1991, noting that President Ali Hassan Mwinyi formed a special commission to collect people’s views on the political system they wanted.

The commission – popularly known as the Nyalali Commission -- proposed, among other things, reintroduction of the multiparty politics and repealed 40 laws that were considered to be draconian.

Mr Mbatia was seconded by University of Dodoma’s (Udom) political science lecturer Paul Loisulie who said the government should speed up execution of proposals carried in the task force’s report.

“The important thing here is the presence of political will to implement what has been suggested in the report. Otherwise, the report will remain on the shelves,” he said.

“This doesn’t have to be implemented immediately, but rather progressively. Some issues don’t need a very long process. What we just need to do is to establish a mechanism and how to work on the proposals,” he said.

“Some of these issues need immediate action, while others need more consultation,” Dr Loisulie added.

He cited some of the issues that needed immediate actions like the formation of an independent electoral commission and lifting restrictions on political activities.

However, he cautioned that for issues requiring enough consultation time like providing the country with a new constitution, the government should take its time, or else, the failure would have disastrous outcomes.

He commended the task force for trying their level best to reach out to as many stakeholders as possible and for efficiently accommodating the views in the report handed over to the President.

For his part, Chadema’s secretary general John Mnyika said there was nothing to wait for when it comes to allowing political rallies, which is a right guaranteed by the Constitution.

“Political rallies are a legal matter. The government needs to get rid of illegal prohibition,” he said, asking: “What are we waiting for?”

He criticized the task force’s proposal that the Proposed Constitution should be discussed and deliberated upon, saying the document wasn’t appealing at all.

“It does not click in the right mind to let CCM dominate Parliament to discuss the document and make decisions over it,” said Mr Mnyika.

“Allowing this, could mean the document was being established in favour of the ruling CCM instead of the wide interests of citizens,” he noted.

He was of the view that the government should come up with a good mechanism that will enhance the establishment of a people-centred constitution.

Task force

Reading the task force’s recommendations, Prof Mukandala said the document should be tabled in Parliament for discussion and deliberation.

His team also suggested the establishment of the national dialogue that would be a platform for discussing important issues of national interests.

Regarding the independent electoral commission, the ex-UDSM don said the commission should not be forced to follow directives from any person, institution or department.

On the same note, he said, for the commission to be independent, there should be an independent appointing committee and that members’ positions should be advertised for eligible candidates to apply.

Again, he was of the view that, in a bid to enhance the commission’s accountability, its performance should be tried by the Supreme Court to be formed.

On the other hand, he said, there should be room for people to object to the presidential results declared after a general election.

Currently, Article 41(7) of the United Republic of Tanzania Constitution states: “When a candidate is declared by the Electoral Commission to have been duly elected in accordance with this Article, then no court of law shall have any jurisdiction to inquire into the election of that candidate.”

Regarding political rallies, Prof Mukandala said the stakeholders suggested immediate lift of the ban imposed by President John Magufuli’s regime in 2016.

“Political Parties Act and the Police Force and Auxiliary Services Act should be amended with a view to increasing efficiency when it comes to political rallies,” said Prof Mukandala.

He said 10 percent of the budget should be set aside for provision of subsidy to political parties which should be equally distributed among those lacking representatives in councils and parliaments.

However, the distribution should be on conditions that the said political parties should have participated in the General Election at least twice and had not received a qualified audit report from the Controller and Auditor General (CAG) in a previous year.

The task force report also expressed the need for considering improved gender equality in decision making among political parties in the country.

Regarding the media, the team’s report said members of the press should be allowed to form a body that would oversee ethics of journalists and media in the fraternity.

“We need the media to regulate itself,” concluded Prof Mukandala.

The task force chair said the proposed platform for political dialogue aims to address political challenges in order to reduce political tension in the country, heal political wounds and arrive at the much needed political reconciliation for the country to move forward in harmony.