Advertisement

Can Dar get new law and hold elections this year?

Saturday March 07 2015
kiks

President Jakaya Kikwete at a CCM delegates conference in Dodoma. The government is hopeful of having a new constitution before the October general election. PHOTO | FILE

Opposition parties in Tanzania are crying foul over the government’s refusal to shelve the constitution-making process and instead make minimal reforms ahead of the upcoming general election scheduled for October.

The parties argue that this is the only way to ensure a free and fair process. Some of the reforms they have been advocating for include the winner of the presidential seat garnering at least 50 per cent of all the votes cast and for any disputes arising from the presidential election results to be taken to court.

Last year, in September, President Jakaya Kikwete met political parties under the auspices of the Tanzania Centre for Democracy (TCD) and agreed in principle that the disputed constitution-making process should be shelved and the current Constitution amended to accommodate private candidacy and a free electoral commission.

But the process continued and in October, the Constituent Assembly, which was boycotted by the opposition, agreed on a proposed constitution, which will be subjected to a referendum on April 30.

CUF chairman and co-chairman of the coalition for a people’s constitution (Ukawa) Ibrahim Lipumba, told The EastAfrican that there is no time to amend the current Constitution let alone prepare a new one before the general election is held.

“The government has continued with the referendum for the proposed constitution despite time not being on their side,” he said.

Advertisement

Prof Lipumba added that it is not possible to even overhaul the NEC, because it would involve many legal procedures. He cited the issue of independent candidates as challenging, especially for the ruling party, which fears that the CCM presidential aspirants who lose in the nominations will opt to run independently.

Meanwhile, CCM deputy secretary-general (Zanzibar) Vuai Ali Vuai said there was no possibility of amending the present Constitution if the referendum fails. He said that at present all preparations leading to the referendum are going on and the government is hopeful of having a new Constitution before the general election.

Mr Vuai said that if the referendum slated for April gets a majority no vote then another date will be set in order to increase the chances of it sailing through to ensure the country gets a new constitution.

“By that time parliament will have been disbanded to pave the way for the general election,” said Mr Vuai. According to the current Constitution, parliament should be disbanded two months before the polls are held.

The government has been requested to postpone the referendum because the preparation time is not adequate.

READ: Kikwete declares 30-day campaign period ahead of referendum

Campaigns

So far, the referendum campaigns, which are supposed to start one month before the vote, are yet to start, with only a month and a few weeks remaining.

The issue of registration is also another major concern, especially considering that NEC has only just started on the pilot areas, with more than 4,000 wards countrywide yet to be attended to.

Other hindrances include carrying out civic education; dividing the constituencies and NEC centres after taking into consideration geographical areas and population.

Political analyst and lecturer at the University of Bagamoyo Mwesiga Baregu warned against forcing a referendum when it was clear that the preparations were stalling. He said that the government had failed to register voters for the referendum and if it rushed through the process, many people would remain unregistered.

READ: UNDP offers Tanzania biometric kits for polls

ALSO READ: Tanzania’s Young Turks take on the Old Guard

Advertisement