As the nation waits for the official announcement to begin civic education on the proposed constitution before a referendum slated for April 30, the Catholic Church has dismissed the draft law as “unacceptable.”

According to the resolutions of the Church’s Peace and Justice Commission, the constitution-making process has left the nation more divided than at any time in its history, as it lacked national consensus on controversial issues.

The resolutions will be circulated to the Church’s approximately 10 million faithful under the stewardship of Catholic Professionals of Tanzania (CPT).

In November last year, the Tanzania Episcopal Conference (TEC) co-president Bishop Severine NiweMugizi told The EastAfrican that the Church was unhappy with the constitution-making process and was going to deliberate on whether it will campaign for a Yes or No vote i the referendum.

The clergyman was speaking on his way to a meeting of the TEC called to deliberate on the issue, but two days later he told this paper that they had resolved to study the document first before making a decision.

The resolutions, which The EastAfrican has seen, identified seven weaknesses of the process and the proposed law, saying such a constitution is unacceptable and does not fit the requirements of modern Tanzania.

“The Union structure has fallen short of a strong organ to govern the State and respected by both parties to the Union. This privation would perpetuate the lack of transparency in managing matters of the Union,” reads the document.

The document also faults the proposed constitution for removing key issues from the second draft, which was presented to the Constituent Assembly such as civil servants’ ethics, transparency and integrity, saying, “This is dangerous for the prosperity of the nation because it will fuel corruption among civil servants.”

“Powers of the president have neither been reduced nor been subjected to checks and balances. This means excessive power to the presidency and hence the entire system,” adds the document.

The document, which will be circulated countrywide to inform the public decision during voting on the referendum, shows how key issues in the second draft of the constitution, which was a result of people’s opinion, has been ejected from the proposed construction that will be subjected to a referendum in April.

“The people wanted to have the power to take their leaders to task even before the end of their term. Such powers have been thrown out of the proposed constitution,” read the resolutions.

“If this situation is left as it is, it would lead to breaking of peace and the nation would land into unrest,” adds the resolutions.

The commission met again on Thursday last week in Dar es Salaam  to discuss how to sensitise members of the Church on the proposed constitution, but Bishop NiweMugizi could not be reached to say what exactly was resolved.

However, sources said the commission identified a further 21 important matters that have not been included in the proposed constitution and is set to call for a No vote during referendum.

“There will be another meeting in early March followed by a national level meeting… We are set to persuade the people to vote No, and if we win the referendum will be repeated when the people’s opinions have been included,” a source who attended the meeting said.

The Catholic Church is the first religious organisation that has opposed the constitution process, with other Christian denominations reportedly promising to rally behind the oldest Christian Church to make sure the country gets people’s constitution.

Although the official campaigning period for the referendum is yet to be announced, the government has already launched awareness campaigns through state television, which runs regular advertisements on the contents of the proposed constitution.

READ: Tanzania at a crossroads over referendum date