EMT , ningependa kusikia kutoka kwako kuhusu hoja ya mchakato wa katiba mpya/mabadiliko ya katiba kukosa uhalali wa kikatiba
Katiba nyingine ni ngumu kuzibadilisha au kuzifuta kabisa kwa kutengeneza katiba mpya. Katiba nyingi hazisemi chochote kuhusiana na mchakato wa kutengeneza katiba nyingine. Nyingi zinaghusia tuu kufanya marekebisho ya hapa na pale. Kwenye katiba nyingine mazingira yanaweza ku-dictate kufanyanika kwa marekebisho ya lazima au kutengenezwa kwa katiba mpya kabisa.
Baadhi ya mifano ambayo inaleta ugumu kubadilisha katiba ni Australia ambapo katiba ya sasa inataka kuwepo kwa referendum ambapo zaidi ya nusu ya Waustralia katika kila jimbo lazima wapige kura ya ndiyo ili kubadilisha katiba. Pili, bado kuna doubts kama mamlaka iliyopewa bunge na katiba kufanya mabadiliko kwenye katiba yanajumuisha pia kufanya mabadiliko ambayo ni radical au kutengeneza katiba na kufuta iliyopo. Mfano, ni hiyo Ibara ya 98 ya katiba ya sasa.
Tatu, mwaka 1990, Bunge chini ya serikali ya kibaguzi ya Afrika ya Kusini ilikuwa na mamlaka ya kubadilisha katiba, lakini weusi walikuwa hawaruhusiwi kupiga kura au hakuwa na wawakilishi kwenye bunge hilo. Nne, Nepal huwa inatumika sana kama mfano wa kutengeneza katiba mpya. Katiba yao ya mwaka 1990 ingeweza kubadilishwa tuu na sehemu mbili za bunge na kutiwa saini na King. Hata hivyo baada ya mwaka 2006 hakuna aliyetaka kumhusisha King katika kubadilisha katiba.
Kwa hapo kwetu, mchakato wa katiba mpya umekuja from nowhere. Katiba mpya haikuwa hata kwenye ilani ya chama tawala. Hata hivyo, kubwa zaidi hapa ni kuhusu hiyo Ibara ya 98 ya katiba na suala ni kama kweli ndiyo legal basis ya mchakato wa katiba mpya unaondelea hivi sasa. Umetumia version ya Kiswahili. Nitatumia version ya Kiingereza, with emphasis kwenye bold.
Heading ya kifungu hicho inasema "Procedure for
altering the Constitution and certain laws."
98.-(1) Parliament may enact law for
altering any provision of this Constitution in accordance with the following principles:
(a) a Bill for an Act
to alter any provisions of this Constitution, other than those relating to paragraph (b) of this sub-article or any provisions of any law specified in List One of the Second Schedule to this Constitution shall be supported by the votes of not less than two thirds of all the Members of Parliament; and
(b) a Bill for an Act to
alter any provisions of this Constitution or any provisions of any law relating to any of the matters specified in List 56 Two of the Second Schedule to this Constitution shall be passed only if it is supported by the votes of not less than two-thirds of all Members of Parliament from Mainland Tanzania and not less than two-thirds of all Members of Parliament from Tanzania Zanzibar.
(2) For the purpose of construing the provisions of sub-article (1),
alteration of provisions of this Constitution or the provisions of a law
shall be understood to include modification, or correction of those provisions or repeal and replacement of those provisions or the re-enactment or modification of the application of the provisions.
Ibara hiyo inaongelea zaidi kwenye alteration ya kifungu chochote cha katiba hiyo. Ibara haingelei juu ya ku-repeal katiba hiyo au kutengeneza katiba mpya kabisa. Katiba haijasema lolote kuhusiana na mchakato wa katiba mpya. Naweza kusema kuwa it is silient on this issue. Pia sidhani kama the Constitutional Review Act imefanya reference kwenye Ibaya 98. Hivyo, nafikiri kuna tofauti kati ya ku-alter vifungu vya katiba hiyo na ku-replace au ku-repeal katiba yote kwa ujumla.
Kwa mfano, tofautisha na katiba ya Kenya ambapo Ibara ya 155(1)(a) inasema kuwa "A proposed amendment to this Constitution shall be enacted in accordance with Article 256 or 257, and approved in accordance with clause (2) by a referendum, if the amendment relates to... (a) the supremacy of this Constitution. Tofauti na Ibara ya 98, Ibara hii ya 155(1)(a) inaongelea mabadiliko juu ya supremacy ya katiba nzima kwa ujumla.
Hata hivyo, kwanza kabisa basis ya mchakato wa katiba mpya inaweza kuwepo siyo tuu kwenye kwenye katiba, bali pia kwenye vifungu vingine vya sheria. Hivyo katika kutafuta legal basis ya mchakato unaondelea wa katiba mpya ni vizuri zaidi kuangalia vifungu vingi vya sheria kama ilivyofanyika Nepal.
In deed, katiba yetu huwa inatumika, subject to other provisions of the law. Pia "Ifahamike kwamba masharti yaliyomo katika Sehemu hii ya Katiba hii, yanayofafanua misingi ya haki, uhuru na wajibu wa binadamu, hayaharamishi sheria yoyote iliyotungwa wala kuzuia sheria yoyote kutungwa au jambo lolote halali kufanywa kwa mujibu wa sheria hiyo, kwa ajili ya kuwezesha jambo jingine lolote kufanyika ambalo linastawisha au kuhifadhi maslahi ya taifa kwa jumla." Mchakato wa katiba mpya hauwezi kuwa jambo lolote ambalo linastawisha au kuhifadhi maslahi ya taifa kwa jumla?
Pili, machakato wa katiba mpya unaweza kuwepo kwa kutumia njia nyingine zilizopo hata kama zitakuwa kinyume na maslahi ya wanaotakiwa kuchukua hatua muafaka inayotetea maslahi ya wananchi wote kama ilivyokuwa Afrika Kusini. Suala la katiba mpya halikuletwa na serikali iliyo madarakani bali kupitia vyama vya upinzani. Tatu ni kukubali kuwa katiba yetu ya sasa ni mbovu sana kiasi kwamba haisemi hata jinsi ya kuifuta kwa kutengeneza katiba mpya.
Nne, ni kuendesha mchakato wa katiba mpya nje ya katiba ya sasa. Provided that the people have decided to make a new constitution, it is in itself a basis for a new constitution. If the will of the people is to have a new constitution, then that will be the basis for the new constitution. Maana katiba ingeweza kusema wazi kuwa hakuna mtu yoyote mwenye mamlaka ya kuifuta na kutengeneza katiba mpya, na hapo kusingekuwa na legal basis ya kuifuta, even if the will of the people demands so.
Baada ya kusema hayo yote, nadhani sehemu muhimu sana kwenye utengenezaji wa katiba mpya siyo kwenye application ya mchakato bali jinsi mchakato mzima unavyokuwa designed. Rais Kikwete alipotangaza mchakato wa katiba mpya watu wengi walifurahi sana. Kwa wengi it was the moment of greatest optimism. Vyama vya upinzani vilikubali kufanya concessions nyingi tuu. Watu waliipa jukumu Tume iliyoteuliwa na Rais kuendesha mchakato huo. Lakini wengi hawakuangalia kabisa design ya mchakato mzima. Ndiyo maana mpaka sasa kuna malalamiko mengi kutoka pande mabalimbali.
Tokea mwanzo nimepinga design ya mchakato mzima wa katiba mpya. We, the people of the United Republic of Tanzania, had two options in the making of the new Constitution. The first option, which is already in the pipeline, was that at the non-democratic extreme of the spectrum, we could have a sovereign lawgiver or intermediaries laying down the new constitution for all future generations. The second option, which many Tanzanians have never thought of it, was that at the democratic extreme, we could have a Constituent Assembly elected by universal suffrage for the sole task of writing the new constitution.