Katiba is a must, says Tanzania's Warioba

In this photo taken on January 3, 2014, Constitutional Review Commission (CRC) chairman Joseph Warioba displays a copy of the second draft of the new constitution during a meeting with Tanzania Editors Forum in Dar es Salaam. FILE PHOTO | THE CITIZEN | NMG

Tanzanian constitutional reformist judge Joseph Warioba, who on Monday night appeared on a TV talk show, said President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s government must implement changes in the law.

“A new constitution is a must,” he said. “The draft constitution reflected the citizens’ views and their recommendations of how this nation is supposed to be governed.”

Justice Warioba said the Sixth Phase government of President Suluhu has adopted dialogue, “which is healthy,” citing the recent presidential meetings first with elders in Dar es Salaam, women in Dodoma, and the youth in Mwanza before she met with the private sector.

Judge Warioba said the current administration has been fighting corruption, indiscipline and lawlessness which were covered in the constitution draft 2014 prepared by the presidential Constitutional Reform Commission, which he chaired.

“We ought not to ignore the constitutional will of the citizens,” he said.

He said that a three-tier government, which the citizens of Zanzibar recommended,  has to be considered to avert friction between the Union government and that of the semi-autonomous archipelago which, in the 1980s, drafted its own constitution to govern the non-Union matters, among other things.

Tanzania has a two-tier government -- a government which manages the Union and the mainland Tanzania affairs, and the Zanzibar Revolutionary Government.