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| Introduced executive powers-The late Edison Zvogbo |
By Blessing Vava
Now that COPAC has officially released its first draft constitution
exactly 24 months after its inception in April 2009, the bickering and the hide
and seek game has finally come to an end. They can no longer hide anymore.
After failing to produce a draft after the stipulated 18 months in the GPA, and
stretching this far, the people of Zimbabwe have now seen for themselves what
the select committee was doing for the past 24 months in coming out with an
incomplete draft. Notwithstanding the 45million dollars wasted by COPAC, in
hotel accommodation, allowances, and various other processes undertaken by
COPAC, the 161 paged draft is nothing but just a replica of the Kariba draft
with a few changes here and there. The negotiated document authored by
the three political parties and bearing no views from the people should never
be accepted by the people of Zimbabwe because it does not contain their views.
It boggles my mind why the select committee even wasted time in collecting the
views of the people while they knew already that those views would be thrown by
the wayside.
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| Morgan Tsvangirai- eyeing to enjoy the executive powers |
One section which has already raised the ire of most Zimbabweans is
Chapter 6, were COPAC has once again retained the all-powerful president with
his executive powers. Like the present constitution the president is still the Head of State and Government and the Commander-in-Chief of the
Defence Forces, a president which many Zimbabweans will surely not accept. It
was rejected in the 2000 draft and it will be rejected again this time around.
Zimbabweans have learnt a lesson in what it means to have an executive
president, again this is one of the many reasons why this draft will not
be accepted should the referendum be held. By agreeing to include such a
dangerous clause it also means that even the MDC would also want Tsvangirai to
enjoy the same powers once he becomes president. That is why those
who opposed the process did not want to have politicians driving the process,
for politicians it is for their political power and nothing else.
Interestingly
there has been spirited attacks on COPAC and the draft constitution
mainly by the hardliners in ZANU PF and recently we heard the military voicing
their anger on the draft constitution. Of course ZANU PF never wanted a new
constitution period! They are very much comfortable with the Lancaster
House peace charter that they have been abusing to remain in power and they are
even pushing for elections to be held under the flawed amended 1979 cease fire
agreement. Therefore, their participation in COPAC should be interrogated.
There are three questions which I think form the basis for their decision to
agreeing to have the process in the first place.
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| Paul Mangwana COPAC CO-Chairperson |
Firstly, Did
ZANU PF enter the process to fulfil the requirements of the GPA? Article Six of
the GPA gives a provision for the writing of a new constitution to be
spearheaded by a select committee of parliament.
Secondly,
was it just to buy time
knowing fully well that somewhere in the middle of the park they were going to
frustrate the process so that we remain with the Lancaster House constitution
and go for elections with that document, a chorus that is now being amplified
in ZANU PF’ s circles? We should not forget that the GPA was a life saver to
ZANU PF. In the early stages of the new government they pretended to be fully
committed to it, but tactfully buying time to re-organise their camp that had
been disintegrated by the shock of the March 2008 election. This is the
same tactic they employed on the constitution making.
Thirdly they
might have genuinely entered the process thinking that they were going to
influence the outcomes from the outreach meetings. This they based on the
assumption that they have a more organised and coherent membership than the
MDC. However think that all the parties
were not happy about some of the issues raised by Zimbabweans during the
outreach process, this might be the reason why the parties ended up
negotiating positions and dumping the views of the people.
As for ZANU
PF’s spirited attacks on COPAC might not necessarily be genuine; it might be a
calculated move to deceive the MDC. Simply putting it, the MDC thinks that what
ZANU PF is against is therefore good, just because ZANU PF will be saying no to
it. ZANU PF is part of COPAC, they had their representatives, who are still
part and parcel of the same process but today they act as if that draft is a
product of the two MDC formations. The COPAC draft is a collective document of
the three parties and I am really surprised
by the discord coming from the parties. Whilst there are some elements within
the MDC who foolishly think that the COPAC draft is a good document simply
because ZANU PF is attacking it, my advice to such elements is to re-think
before celebrating half time oranges before the trophy.
A
closer look at the draft one will notice that the MDC lost it on some of the
important issues that they were pushing for. On the core issues parked
excluding devolution which has been rejected the issue of the diaspora vote and
dual citizenship are seemingly heading the same drain. Why is it in all the
negotiations done so far between the parties, the MDC are always tricked? The
MDC’s failure to defend their initial positions in the negotiations is very much regrettable. They are being
tricked once again, ZANU PF is scared of devolution mainly because
of its unpopularity in Matabeleland. And by doing away with it in the
constitution they are aware and scared to the reality of that Diaspora vote as
many Zimbabweans who are in the diaspora left either because of political
persecution or economic hardships caused by the ZANU PF regime.
So as the
circus continues, again Zimbabweans will be relegated to the peripheries as
politicians continue panel beating the document to suit their political needs
and not the needs of the Zimbabwean. This constitution making process has been
one hell of a process that has failed to meet any standards of constitution
making. Rather it has been more of a comical show than constitution writing.
ZANU PF’s strategy now seems to be carrying the day. And now that the process
is coming to an end we expect COPAC to publish
the national report and a detailed audit report on the finances used
since the process started. COPAC should account for every dollar that they used
since constitution making process was not their private affair but rather
a national process that affect 13 million Zimbabweans. The audit results
should be made public because it is the right for every Zimbabwean to know how
the funds were used. Zvazviri!
Nb; should you
wish to reproduce this article please attribute to www.blevava.blogspot.com
