Constitutional Review: Warioba ties up first phase

BabuK · 2013-01-06T21:03:35+00:00

The Constitutional Review Commission is on course with the review process and the Commission now says the Constitutional Councils could be formed mid-this year. The Councils are expected to be actively involved in deliberating and scrutinizing, including giving out views, on a draft document soon to be made available, a task that is expected to be carried out between June 6 and August this year, CRC Chairman Judge Joseph Warioba has said. Judge Warioba told reporters yesterday that the Constitutional Councils would be conducting such reviews at public meetings convened expressly for such reviews. He said the CRC would prepare procedures and guidelines on how the members forming the councils could be appointed in a democratic process. To effectively deliberate on the draft, members of the councils would be required to represent public views on how to improve the document, a process that would enable the final draft to be prepared ready for submission to the Constituent Assembly at the end of this year. The draft would then be taken to CRC for various processes before tabling it before a Constituent assembly, possibly at the end of this year. The CRC will publish the draft in newspapers so that members of the public could read and get their views heard through the Constitutional Councils. Members who will form the Constitutional Councils will be appointed by their respective communities starting at village level. President Jakaya Kikwete has often stressed that the new Constitution could be inaugurated on April 24, 2014 when the nation will be marking 50 years of the Union between Tanganyika and Zanzibar. His views are shared by most members of his cabinet. At the news conference yesterday, Judge Warioba said his Commission had closed the first phase of collecting views from individual persons and that second starts tomorrow and would now involve gathering views from various groups within Tanzanian society, including political parties. This phase will take up to January 25. As it stands now, the Commission has since gathered opinion from all 30 regions across the country, during which some 1,365,337 people are on record top have attended the constitutional review meetings at which 64,737 individuals made verbal contributions and 253,846 made written representations. Tanzanias population, according to the 2912 national census, now stands at 44.9 million. We do not care much about the numbers we are not voting, only gathering opinion, he said. Even then, he said the number was comparatively huge if rated against the number of people who participated in other commissions such as the one under the late Chief Justice Francis Nyarali which at the end of the day come out with a landmark decision. Warioba said. Judge Warioba said his Commission had since made great strides, saying all meetings at constitutional review sessions took place as planned -- 1,776 meetings in all during four rounds in 30 regions. The new rounds that begin tomorrow will be open to all political parties, NGOs, the Media, professional affiliations, religious groups, farmers groups, traders, workers unions and other groups. After this exercise the commission will start preparing the draft constitution which will then be published in various newspapers before submitting it to the constitutional council as directed in Act No 83, he elaborated. After the draft passes through Parliament the public will finally vote on it. The Commission started its on July 2, and have wound up by November last year having traversed across the country through the following regions: Kigoma, Lindi, Mwanza, Morogoro,Mbeya, Katavi, Ruvuma,Rukwa, Njombe, Iringa, Singida, Tabora, Mtwara , Kilimanjaro, Nothern Unguja and Northen Pemba The Tanzanian Constitutional Review Commission is the national commission established as per the Constitutional Review Act of 2011 for the collection of public opinion on the review of the Constitution of Tanzania and its validation via a referendum. On April 6, 2012 President Jakaya Kikwete appointed the former Attorney General and Prime Minister Joseph Warioba as its Chairman and the former Chief Justice Augustino Ramadhani as its Vice Chairman. The Commission is expected to complete its task by October 2013.[2] It will cost the taxpayers TZS 40 billion during the 2012/13 fiscal year. Members forming the Commission are Mwesiga Baregu, Dr Salim Ahmed Salim, Riziki Shahari Mngwali, Fatma Said Ali, Dr Edmund Sengondo Mvungi, Omar Sheha Mussa, Richard Shadrack Lyimo, Raya Salim Hamad, John Nkolo, Awadh Ali Said, Alhaj Said Hamad El-Maamry, Ussi Khamis Haji. Others are Jesca Mkuchu, Salma Maoulidi, Prof. Palamagamba Kabudi, Nassor Khamis Mohamed, Humphrey Polepole, Simai Mohamed Said, Yahya Msulwa, Mohamed Yusuph Mshamba, Esther Mkwizu, Kibibi Mwinyi Hassan, Maria Malingumu Kashonda, Suleiman Omar Ali, Al-Shaymaa Kwegyir, Salama Kombo Ahmed, Mwantumu Malale, Abubakar Mohamed Ali, Joseph Butiku and Ally Abdullah Ally. SOURCE: GUARDIAN ON SUNDAY

Thread starter BabuK
Start date Jan 7, 2013

BabuK

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Constitutional Review: Warioba ties up first phase

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