The Citizen (Dar es Salaam)
Frank Kimboy
29 November 2011
President Jakaya Kikwete yesterday signed the Constitutional Review Bill into law, according to a State House statement.President Kikwete assented to the contentious Bill after Parliament recently passed it in Dodoma.The signing of the Bill paves the way for the formation of the Constitutional Review Commission, which will collect views on the envisaged constitution.
The statement said, however, that although the President had signed the Bill into law, the government would continue to receive views from various stakeholders.
President Kikwete said anyone who wanted to comment on the new law was free to do so.
The signing came after President Kikwete held talks with senior officials of the opposition Chadema, whose MPs boycotted debate and vote on the Bill in Parliament.
Earlier, the Tanzania Constitution Forum (TCF) expressed strong misgivings over the recent agreement between the government and opposition Chadema party on the Constitutional Review Act 2011 Bill.
TCF reiterated its appeal to President Kikwete not to sign the Bill which was passed recently by the Parliament, arguing that wider consultations were needed to make the new law accommodative. However, President Kikwete signed the Bill into law yesterday.
Speaking to The Citizen yesterday, TCF chairperson Mr Deus Kibamba, said the forum was against the agreement between the two sides because what they have publicly said after their two-day talks “leave a lot of unanswered questions.”
“For instance, we are not told if the two sides have agreed that the President should sign the Bill or not,” he said, noting that their acceptance that the Bill needs improvement, proves TCF’s demand for wider consultations on the proposed law.He wondered how President Kikwete would sign a bill which he conceded needed improvements.
“Let them not think politically because it is not necessary that everything regarding the country will be solved politically,” he said. He said TFC were still preparing for countrywide demonstrations to contest the Bill and he had directed its secretariat to contact the Inspector General of Police’s office on a timetable for public demonstrations.
On Monday, the government and Chadema agreed in principle that the newly passed Constitutional Review Act 2011 Bill needs major amendments.
They agreed that the Bill should be improved so as to bring it to the requirements of building a national consensus as well as cohesion. In the agreement, the two sides decided that there was a need for the government and other stakeholders to hold constant meetings and consultations, for the purpose of building and strengthening national consensus during the process of crafting a new Constitution.
Various wananchi who spoke to The Citizen in random interviews commended the two parts for reaching the agreement over the issue which has put the nation at a crossroads.But others expressed misgivings over the decision, arguing that under the new agreement, wananchi will continue to be sidelined.
Commenting on the development, Justice (rtd) John Mkwawa, University of Dodoma lecturer, Mr Paul Loisulie and his Mzumbe counterpart, Dr Elisante Gabriel, lauded the decision by the two parties. Justice Mkwawa, who is also a member of Tanzania Retired Judges Association (Tarja), said the move was very crucial as the country could not afford to craft a constitution without national consensus. However, Mr Mkwawa faulted the legislators from both camps for “dragging the issue this far.”
“First the MPs from the opposition shouldn’t have walked out of the Parliament, secondly the MPs from ruling party should rather have concentrated on discussing the Bill and not people and their parties,” he said.
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