CA stalemate demands national debate and referendum on Union
What you need to know:
The law governing the constitution-making process (Article 26 (2) of the Constitutional Review Act as passed in February 2012), read together with the Standing Orders of the CA (Article 37 (1) of the Standing Orders as adopted in February 2014),...
The current session of the Constituency Assembly (CA) is in a stalemate and ought to be scrapped to pave the way for national debate on the structure of the union that will then be followed by a referendum to give an opportunity to the people of Tanzania to decide once and for all what structure of the union they would want in the next 50 to 100 years.
The law governing the constitution-making process (Article 26 (2) of the Constitutional Review Act as passed in February 2012), read together with the Standing Orders of the CA (Article 37 (1) of the Standing Orders as adopted in February 2014), demand that for the CA to adopt amendments to the Second Draft Constitution presented by the Constitutional Review Commission or the final draft of the new constitution to be proposed by CA, the adoption of the relevant provision would require the support, separately, of a two-thirds majority of ALL CA members drawn from Zanzibar and a two thirds majority of ALL CA members drawn from Tanzania Mainland.
The impasse that the CA is facing arises from the fact that members from Zanzibar who are drawn from the opposition CUF joined members of the assembly who have formed a group known as Ukawa (Kiswahili acronym for the Coalition of the Defenders of the People’s Constitution) in walking out and boycotting the current sitting.
By walking out, it is clear that there is no way the CA can garner two thirds of ALL members drawn from Zanzibar. Debate in the CA strictly requires a quorum of a simple overall half of members.
Passing and adopting a decision requires a quorum of half of the members, separately, from Zanzibar and Tanzania mainland. The CA can continue debating but it will never pass a decision until at least a significant number of CA delegates who are CUF members from Zanzibar decide to cease to be part of the Ukawa boycott.
But the possibility of a significant number of CA members from CUF deciding to cease to be part of the Ukawa boycott of the current CA sessions would seem to be unlikely, at least in the short term, unless CCM makes further concessions on the structure of the Union. This is because the arguments Ukawa has advanced to support its decision to boycott the CA sessions last week seem to be watertight.
Ukawa says the Second Draft Constitution presented to the CA by the CRC proposes a three-tier government union structure and provides very strong reasons for proposing such a structure as the only way to strengthen the union, which the now-disbanded commission seems to suggest is already under serious strain. Furthermore, Ukawa argues that members of the CRC, led by Judge Joseph Warioba, could not have proposed a three-tier government union structure if they thought its adoption would lead to the break-up of the United Republic of Tanzania.
Ukawa further claims that deliberations on CA committee reports on chapters One and Six have become divisive and it was a waste of time continuing to be part of these deliberations. Ukawa claims that CCM members in the CA no longer care to use logical arguments to support their desire to shoot down the three-government proposal in favour of the status quo.
Instead, Ukawa members claim that their fellow CA delegates from CCM seem to be bent on using deceitful political machinations, such as threats of a military coup and the return of an Arab sultanate in Zanzibar accompanied by the establishment of an extremist Islamic state in Zanzibar, if, apparently, a three-tier government union structure is adopted. Using such underhand tactics could very well lead to a breach of peace in Zanzibar.
Critical thinking suggests that the only amicable way out of this impasse is to call off indefinitely the ongoing CA sitting and go back to Parliament and amend the Constitutional Review Act so as to provide for vigorous civic education by all stakeholders on the union issue, followed by the updating of the Voters Register and a referendum on the structure of the Union.
This should be followed by the preparation, by another CRC, of a first draft constitution and its subjection to public discussion, followed by the second draft and, finally, its discussion by a reconstituted CA.
