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This article participates on the following special index pages:
New Constitution-making process - Index of articles
Statement on the state of the constitution making process in Zimbabwe
Movement
for Democratic Change (MDC)
May
23, 2012
The new democratic people driven constitution is one of the deliverables
of the Global
Political Agreement. For over three years Parliament
through the Parliamentary Select committee has been
working on this programme.
The Government
of Zimbabwe as well as the development partners have invested millions
of dollars into this process. Just a few weeks ago, Copac produced
its first draft
constitution and everyone was happy that the long awaited constitution
was slowly becoming a reality. Unfortunately Zanu PF and its military
junta have started making determined efforts to derail this program.
Methods employed
by Zanu PF to derail the program include massive propaganda against
the process channelled through the state media, unwarranted attacks
on the donor community and the intimidation of the Parliamentary
Select Committee members by some sections of the military.
Recently Zanu
PF brought to Copac what it termed its position paper in a bid to
drastically change not only agreed positions but the views of the
people. Zanu PF pretends as if it was not part and parcel of this
first draft constitution.
It is common
knowledge that Copac embarked on a comprehensive outreach program
in which it sought to solicit the views of the people of Zimbabwe.
At the end of that program Copac had national data comprising data
gathered at outreach meetings, views from all Zimbabweans at home
and abroad.
Views from the
outreach program were compiled by an inter party technical team
and that marked the drafting stage. The constitutional draft which
today, Zanu PF tries to disown is a product of the three GNU political
parties.
Below is a summary
of the outrageous demands by Zanu PF:
- That the
military should be allowed to play an active part in national
politics.
- That the
president should appoint commissions without parliamentary approval.
- That there
should not be a constitutional court as demanded by the people.
- That there
should not be devolution of power to the provinces.
- That executive
authority must only vest in the president as opposed to the president
and cabinet.
- That there
shall be no proscription of violence in elections.
- That the
president shall not be answerable to parliament on deploying troops
within and without Zimbabwe.
- That there
should not be any constitutional limit to the number of ministerial
posts a president can appoint.
These demands
run contrary to the wishes of the people of Zimbabwe.
The MDC applauds
the management committee's resolve to tackle this problem
next week.
The consequences
of Zanu PF's actions as follows:
1.) Zanu PF
is clear that the people of Zimbabwe will overwhelmingly vote for
the draft constitution.
2.) Continued use of the current Lancester House constitution
that has a bias towards Mugabe and Zanu PF.
3.) More political chaos as the people will reject the heavily patched
constitution.
As a people's
party, the MDC calls for the respect and fulfillment of the people's
aspirations as far as the constitution making process is concerned.
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