A GRUELLING JOURNEY TO THE CONSTITUTION

MAKING IN TANZANIA: PROSPECTS AND

CHALLENGES, BUT WHOSE CONSTITUTION?

On November 02, 2014 democracy went on trial in Tanzania, as the highly respected
Former Premier Joseph Warioba is being whisked away for his own rescue before he
was almost dimmed by political hooligans whose stance to protect the two-tier
government structure was their sole justification to do whatever they wanted. The
Constitutional Review Commission (CRC) under Judge Warioba had suggested for a
three-tier government structure in order to get rid of the Union nuisances but this had
been flattery rejected by the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi.

Summary prepared by

ELIAS MHEGERA

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Retired Judge Joseph Warioba, chairman of the Constitutional Review Commission
(CRC) a necessary evil?

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By Elias Mhegera

Analysts have called for the President of the United Republic of Tanzania, H.E. Jakaya
Kikwete to call off the ongoing Constituent Assembly (CA), on grounds of legitimacy and
cost consciousness.

The argument is, even if it were to pass through the manipulation of the ruling Chama Cha
Mapinduzi (CCM), but it will face opposition immediately, much to the detriment of peace
and national unity.

A prominent researcher and lecturer at the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM), Dr Haji
Semboja says it is worthless spending millions of coffers money to the constitution process
which do not respect mutual censuses, which is a very crucial element in preparation of the
mother law.

In quite a contrary stance the don was the only one at the Hill as UDSM is popularly known.
Please go on and put down my name my argument is quite objective, but do not take
advantage of that and misquote Me. he opened a long discussion with this precaution.

However this does not mean that he sees all the negatives through the Government
command to continue with the CA. Neither he does see no sense by the Coalition of the
People s Constitution UKAWA’s boycott.

The Executive Director of the Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC), Dr Helen Kijo-
Bisimba on behalf of the CSOs called the process to be called off, because there is no hurry
to get a mother law.

This process should be called off because the constitution which will come out will not
reflect the will of the majority. This is because those who have boycotted under UKAWA
should not be counted on their number but for the fact that they represent a cross section
of many unheard voices. she remarked.

Implicitly she was saying if the document will come out through this system it will not
reflect the mutual consensus which many stakeholders and in the name of the citizenry in
general have called for.

The long term consequences according to Prof. Abdallah Saffari, a law lecturer and
prominent advocate, could be a production of a document that is doomed to failure. ) am
pretty sure that even this process itself will collapse somewhere that much I can
predict. …says Saffari.

Prof Saffari is one of members of the CA who boycotted under the UKAWA umbrella but he
says that even within the CCM itself there are fundamental differences on whether to
continue or not if the boycotting team will not come back.
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The Coalition of the People's Constitution (UKAWA), boycotting the Constitution
making process on grounds of being bulldozed by the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi
through its dominance of members tyranny of numbers in the Constitutional
Assembly (CA), April 17, 2014

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 Those who are suggesting for continued sessions in our absence are not serious, but they
are just driven by greedy for allowances… that is why they have changed regulations twice;
when we boycotted and when they resumed the sessions, this is a serious joke! he
retorted.

A lecturer at the UDSM, political science department who preferred anonymity, says it is
very difficult to predict what might befall this nation given the ongoing trends whereby the
CCM bulldozes many issues in its favour disregarding many of the political and social
developments which seeks for a new approach.

(e denotes that discussing the peoples constitution is not an easy task; he criticizes the
rush like what is happening, lest Tanzania gets a short living mother law which will face
opposition from every angle immediately after its enactment.

You cannot take this matter that cheaply, based on sheer hypocrisy and fanaticism, but it
needs many elements to be taken care of, due to the sensitivity that surrounds it. The
formulation of the new constitution has a lot of dimensions within it, historical, political,
social and psychological he commented.

When he was asked whether this could be a source of fuelling chaos later, particularly
during elections time, the don said that the signs of chaos and violence are already there
with a new constitution or not.

And this is, with the three-tier government structure or not, as long as it is the CCM that
remains in power conducting the same old fashioned campaigns and containment
strategies to the youth population.

He elaborates that since when Tanzania re-introduced the multiparty system in 1992, after
it was quashed by Mwalimu Julius Nyerere the founding father of this nation, the
youngsters have been facing a lot of problems which remains unanswered to date.

The market forces economy has had a formidable command as was enshrined through the
structural adjustment programmes (SAPs).

This brought fundamental changes whereby now, profit has been given more importance
through the commercialization of the economy, whereby other essential social elements
that were enshrined by the ujamaa policy of Nyerere started to disappear.

The communitarian spirit that was the trade mark of socialism disappeared leading to the
crumble of the family unit as it used to be previously in this country.

Implicitly the lecturer wanted to say that the psychology element comes from the promises
of the new constitution because it was seen as a political vehicle for the opposition and
other groups sharing this philosophy.
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Prof. Abdallah Saffari defending UKAWA s position

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Opposition parties have to a large extent invested in the disgruntled youths. Their plain
language for their campaigns has always been that the CCM has neglected them.

So when the Constitutional Review Commission (CRC) under retired judge Joseph Warioba
came up with a Draft Constitution it was cherished to be more democratic than the current
one, hence an assumption that it will open more opportunities to the sidelined and
marginalized groups in this country.

Efforts to suppress the citizenry views through their Draft Constitution have just proved
that theory. For instance, disbanding the CRC even before the document has not been
finalized. This has been seen by many analysts as an attempt to hijack the process itself and
this was even noted by none other than Prof Patrick Loch Otiendo.

Well known as PLO-Lumumba, the don said that he was surprised to note that the website
of the CRC was shut down along with disbandment of the Commission itself. Although he
was careful in choice of his words, the message of this Kenyan intellectual was louder than
words, that this was a big sign of dictatorial tendencies.

Why was Judge Warioba s team disbanded? ) was involved in the process of formulating
the Kenyan Constitution and our team was retained to the end. The Constituent Assembly
cannot change the draft but it can just improve that draft. remarked the don much to the
arousal welcome at the Blue Pearl Ubungo Plaza Hall on August 02, this year.

Further, the don who came in Tanzania at the invitation of the co-organizers, Tanganyika
Law Society, and Jukwaa la Katiba, Constitutional Forum critiqued the happenings in
Tanzania with a strong warning; Tanzanians should not imitate stupidity of tribalism in
Kenya, but you should move forward through a good way. There should be respect of
mutual consensus, and voting. he added.

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 From Kenya was Prof. PLO Lumumba giving a comrade advice to Tanzanians on the
intricacies in the constitution making process

The don said that the CA should see what Tanzanians want in resources, in the Union, and
power devolution and that in order to move forward all Members of the Constituent
Assembly (MCA) should surrender their party interest and uphold national ones.

So the psychology part of the constitution problem is well answered in this dimensions and
as it has been well said, if these warnings will not be taken into serious consideration this
country could soon be plunged into chaos.

But answering the historical and social part of it, is another lecturer from UDSM again at
the department of political science who says good as he was; Nyerere had cemented a
strong legacy which is now being abused in the name of honouring the Father of the
Nation .

He criticizes this in strong terms that one could just brand them as mere political gimmicks
and rotten sycophantism. ) do not see any adherers to Nyerere s values in many of the
current generation of politicians, I just see a bunch of power and money mongers misusing
his name. he remarked.

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 Wananchi (citizens) eagerly waiting for a New Constitution

He reminds that the call for Tanganyika is not new and he therefore quickly refers to the
G55 group in early and mid-90s when President Ali Hassan Mwinyi was the Head of State of
the United Republic of Tanzania.

He says by then there was no single member of parliament from opposition parties, yet the
call from the CCM legislators, prominently among them Njelu Kasaka, Philip Marmo,
Jenerali Ulimwengu and many others had an agenda which wanted to respond to Zanzibar s
call for autonomy.

It was Nyerere who suppressed this movement using the party machinery even though he
was already in retirement. This don admirers the strong vision of this father of the nation
whose legacy unfortunately, now is used for individual benefits of some well positioned
politicians within the power fabric.

(e Nyerere was so smart…he had foreseen what might happen after his retirement, no
wonder he engineered for the unification of the two parties, CCM and Afro-Shiraz Party

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from Zanzibar side in 1977, this was to ensure that the mainland remains with a firm
control of affairs in the isles through the party machinery. he reveals.

The don revisits few scenarios to justify his stance, the eviction of Mr. Aboud Jumbe from
power being the Vice President of the Union Government and Zanzibar s President at the
same time in 1984. (e also refers to the eviction of the current Zanzibar s First Vice
President, Maalim Seif Shariff (amad in the same year.

He goes further to remind how Nyerere used his strong party influence to impose the
resignation of John Malecela then Premier, and the late Horace Kolimba then CCM- Party
Secretary General.

He reminds further how the party organ had used twice to suppress attempts by two
Zanzibar retired presidents namely Dr Salmin Amour in the year 2000, and Aman Abeid
Karume in 2010, to extend terms after their two terms of five years had expired.

(e therefore reminds that the party supremacy zeal that was so imminent during the
single party era is still in operation, and this is a history that cannot be undermine when
one talks of power politics in Tanzania.

Therefore to conclude his assessment of historical factors that should inform the present,
he says that Zanzibar s call for autonomy is always suppressed through the party and this is
the dominant one, the CCM.

He also attributes other elements like the intelligence department and the Tanzania
People s Defense Forces TPDF , reminding that on the whole brigade from Nachingwea
was shifted to Zanzibar and this swapping saw the one from Zanzibar going to Nachingwea.

On the social side there are elements which will never be spoken in public, and those are
historical as well, but at the same time they are the ones which bring the notion of
sensitivity when discussing religious matter in particular.

In this aspect there are many websites which have discussed this matter in relation to the
Union, vis a vis religion. It has been claimed in some circles that the Union, and even the
revolution itself are supplants from either the Tanganyika itself, or even from other hidden
forces Nyerere being used just as agent to fulfill this motive.

In this angle now enter international forces whether through diplomacy or through any
other forms. For instance, it has been argued, and this don supports this notion, that there
were many secret agreements between Nyerere and Abeid Karume, prior and after the
revolution of 1964, on how to handle religious matters.

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These sensitive matters which are perceived in various forms of mistrust , new threats
and containment will never be discussed openly, what come may because they are
indeed sensitive!.

In many Islamist articles it is argued that the Union was an imposition of the US, on two
aspects; to contain the possibility of a new Cuba in Africa in one front, given the nature of
the Cold War , at that particular moment, but also to contain the spread of )slamic
Civilization on the other.

The friendly relations between Christians and Muslims in Tanzania, and probably
elsewhere else, have never ceased to uphold the mutual mistrust, and these are deeply
embedded within the faiths, and at times, faiths can easily blind people, at a slight
provocation!

Now this probably can lead one to pick just one item of perceived new threats . At least in
this aspect now one can quote Prof. Palamagamba Kabudi who was speaking at a recent
constitutional debate.

The debate which was organized by the Mwalimu Nyerere Foundation on 4th August, at
the Blue Pearl, Ubungo Plaza when he said that Zanzibar has one comparative advantage,
that people are open and transparent on what they want while their colleagues in Mainland
Tanzania Tanganyika are not.

In this aspect, what is seen as sensitive to many others is seen as a matter of simple
discussion, that the Union is suppressing Islam as a religion. There have been incidents of
torching churches, and attacking clerics form the Christian denominations and even from
the Islamic side, the sheikhs for those are purported to be sale outs to western values.

Therefore the don suggests that there must be a mechanism to discuss these issues
thoroughly and soberly without any kind of reservations, once and for all. Otherwise they
will continue to torment those who feel that they are aggrieved due to the nature of the
Union as it is.

He reminds that there have never been any Tanzanian from the Mainland who has ever
rose to the high rank in Zanzibar, and even those who were sent there in appointments
which fall in the Union ministries like Edington Kisasi were seen with a hostile eye, that
they are just agents of Christianity.

Now this answers outbursts by William Lukuvi, Minister of State in the Prime Minister s
Office (Policy, Coordination and Parliament)when he was speaking in one church platform
and made utterances which were condemned as fueling religious sentiments.

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 Prof. Palamagamba Kabudi, resilience to protect Judge Warioba s Commission
presentation amid a hidden agenda by the political oligarchy to hijack the process in
favour of the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi

He had had said that the three-tier structure of the union could lead to Zanzibar becoming
an Islamic State much to the detriment of the Christian population in the Isles.

Now in regard to what might be the possible outcome given the stalemate which gives the
CCM an overwhelming hold of affairs in the constitution making, a senior law lecturer at
the UDSM who preferred anonymity as well, said that the outcome will be a continuation of
power politics in Tanzania which has justified a lot of corruption scandals.

All the big scandals like EPA, Tegeta Escrow and many of their like are centred on power
politics, because these are monies which are used to further political competitions by
power mongers, the CCM government will never deal with the culprits appropriately
because the culprits are part and parcel of the power fabric in this nation. he remarked.

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 Dr Haji Semboja whose constitution? A fundamental challenge

therefore predicts that there will be a lot of misuse of public funds during the referendum
in order to make the document which has been already been rejected by the opposition
through UKAWA and the CSOs through the recent statement at the LHRC, and at the
Tanzania Human Rights Defenders Coalition (THRDC) by its National Coordinator, Onesmo
Olengurumwa.

Commenting on the sociological aspect, a senior lecturer from the UDSM, Department of
Sociology, predicts that given the hopelessness of the youngsters continued suppression by
the political oligarchy, as it has been witnessed in this process, will just increase a number
of criminals and psychiatric cases.

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About the author of this summary,

Mr. Elias Mhegera, is a seasoned journalist and editor,

Political scientist and private media consultant

Background:

BA-Political Science-University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM)

PGD-International Relations & Diplomacy –Centre for Foreign Relations (CFR)

MA-Mass Communications –St. Augustine University of Tanzania (SAUT)

LLB student –Open University of Tanzania (OUT)

For contacts: mhegera@gmail.com Tel: 0754-826272

Also see his other stories at mfafanuzi@blogspot.com and

mhegeraelias@blogspot.com he also publishes regularly in the Facebook and LinkedIn

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