Treacherous JOMIC co-chairmen Prof Welshman Ncube-MDC M, Patrick Chinamasa Zanu PF and Elton Mangoma attempting to foist Kariba Draft Constitution in our country under Article VI of the GPA. They must be resisted at all cost.
The discredited and directionless Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee (JOMIC) attempt to foist the Kariba draft constitution as the centrepiece of the Parliamentary Select Committee spearheading the country’s constitutional reform initiative is not only provocative but an extension of the impunity slowly but surely being galvanised by the coalition government.
Just in case JOMIC and the Parliament Select Committee on Constitutional reforms have not yet grasped the national mood on constitution making, the reform initiative is not a government wish but a commonly shared desire of the people of Zimbabwe to dispense with the heavily patched Lancaster House constitution and replace it with a home grown constitution.
The motive behind this is simply that the Lancaster House Constitution (LHC) was never a product of the people of Zimbabwe’s directives on how they want to be ruled but rather a tripartite treaty between Liberation War fighters, Zimbabwe Rhodesia rebels and British Government imperialists on ending armed hostilities and unwelcome occupation of our country by the imperialists.
The Lancaster House treaty that has outlived its usefulness has now been superseded by yet another tripartite agreement between Zanu PF, MDC-T and MDC-M- the Global Political Agreement (GPA) of 15 September 2008- as the principal transitional management document to the final democratisation of our national politics and governance.
The GPA triple entente resembles the LHC triple entente dubbed the Zimbabwe Constitution in both intent and purport except that the subscribers are different in that the imperialists and renegades at the LCH signing have been replaced by legitimate Zimbabwean political formations with representation in the country’s legislative assemblies.
It is the Legislators who were elected on the strength of promises that they will address the long overdue national concerns about procrastination on constitutional reforms by the then ruling Zanu PF that must hold sway in pushing for the promised reforms and certainly not an imposed JOMIC that has absolutely no mandate to direct the process from anyone.
JOMIC’s involvement must start and end with ensuring that parties to the GPA adhere to the provisions of Article VI of the GPA in so far as implementation of the constitutional reforms are concerned.
Nowhere in that Article is it tacitly or impliedly made mandatory for the reforms to be modelled around the Kariba draft as the numerous attempts to ram this falsehood down our reluctant throats from Zanu PF and now JOMIC would seem to imply.
For the avoidance of doubt that both Zanu PF and JOMIC are concocting the purport of Article VI of the GPA for a yet to be disclosed intention, we have to reproduce that Article in its entirety and show cause why we are at variance with the Zanu PF/JOMIC interpretation of the Article.
“6. Constitution
Acknowledging that it is the fundamental right and duty of the Zimbabwean people to make a constitution by themselves and for themselves;
Aware that the process of making this constitution must be owned and driven by the people and must be inclusive and democratic;
Recognising that the current Constitution of Zimbabwe made at the Lancaster House Conference, London (1979) was primarily to transfer power from the colonial authority to the people of Zimbabwe;
Acknowledging the draft Constitution that the Parties signed and agreed to in Kariba on the 30th of September 2007, annexed hereto as Annexure "B";
Determined to create conditions for our people to write a constitution for themselves; and
Mindful of the need to ensure that the new Constitution deepens our democratic values and principles and the protection of the equality of all citizens, particularly the enhancement of full citizenship and equality of women.
6.1 The Parties hereby agree:
(a) that they shall set up a Select Committee of Parliament composed of representatives of the Parties whose terms of reference shall be as follows:
(i) to set up such subcommittees chaired by a member of Parliament and composed of members of Parliament and representatives of Civil Society as may be necessary to assist the Select Committee in performing its mandate herein;
(ii) to hold such public hearings and such consultations as it may deem necessary in the process of public consultation over the making of a new constitution for Zimbabwe;
(iii) to convene an All Stakeholders Conference to consult stakeholders on their representation in the sub-committees referred to above and such related matters as may assist the committee in its work;
(iv) to table its draft Constitution to a 2nd All Stakeholders Conference; and
(v) to report to Parliament on its recommendations over the content of a New Constitution for Zimbabwe
(b) that the draft Constitution recommended by the Select Committee shall be submitted to a referendum;
(c) that, in implementing the above, the following time frames shall apply:
(i) the Select Committee shall be set up within two months of inception of a new government;
(ii) the convening of the first All Stakeholders Conference shall be within 3 months of the date of the appointment of the Select Committee;
(iii) the public consultation process shall be completed no later than 4 months of the date of the first All Stakeholders Conference;
(iv) the draft Constitution shall be tabled within 3 months of completion of the public consultation process to a second All Stakeholders Conference;
(v) the draft Constitution and the accompanying Report shall be tabled before Parliament within 1 month of the second All Stakeholders Conference;
(vi) the draft Constitution and the accompanying Report shall be debated in Parliament and the debate concluded within one month;
(vii) the draft Constitution emerging from Parliament shall be gazetted before the holding of a referendum;
(viii) a referendum on the new draft Constitution shall be held within 3 months of the conclusion of the debate;
(ix) in the event of the draft Constitution being approved in the referendum it shall be gazetted within 1 month of the date of the referendum; and
(x) the draft Constitution shall be introduced in Parliament no later than 1 month after the expiration of the period of 30 days from the date of its gazetting.”It is common cause that Article VI acknowledges the existence of not just the Kariba draft Constitution but also the Lancaster House Constitution.
Our point of departure with the Zanu PF/JOMIC interpretation is over the purpose that these particular “Constitutions” were singled out for mention in Article VI.
We contend that the LHC was singled out for special mention in the article not only because it is the prevailing constitution of the country but also because its primary purpose had to be put in the context that justifies the need to review and replace it.
“Recognising that the current Constitution of Zimbabwe made at the Lancaster House Conference, London (1979) was primarily to transfer power from the colonial authority to the people of Zimbabwe;”
We are further guided by the statement below from the preamble to Article VI that acknowledgement of the Kariba draft was not for the purport that is now assigned by Zanu PF and JOMIC but rather for the purpose of including certain sections and or chapters in that draft in the GPA without having to reproduce them but by merely annexing them through the acknowledgement.
“Acknowledging the draft Constitution that the Parties signed and agreed to in Kariba on the 30th of September 2007, annexed hereto as Annexure "B";”
We are convinced beyond any shred of doubt that JOMIC has overstepped its mandate as the legitimate superintendent of the implementation processes of GPA clauses.
The JOMIC misdirection is of such a material and fundamental nature that it has the greatest potential to stymie independent thinking so vitally important in constitution making processes.
The only way left to restore people’s rights to come up with a constitution that is free of Zanu PF/MDC-T/MDC-M political entrapments is for legal action to be taken now to compel JOMIC to retract its misguided statement about the Kariba draft forming the basis of any constitution making process and for individuals on that committee to be interdicted against any collective or individual attempt to foist any constitutional provision or document on the Parliamentary Select Committee.
We are prepared to coordinate such class action to ensure the right of every Zimbabwean to input into the process independent of any political compulsion is respected and upheld throughout the process.
The legitimacy of the current government is intricately linked to its adherence to the GPA provisions and none of the clauses is more important than the programme steps in Article VI in so far as restoration of our rights to choose a government of our choice is concerned.
The reason why reference to the Kariba draft was made in Article VI of the GPA was to give rational meaning to Articles 24.1 and 2 of the GPA and nothing else.
“The Parties hereby agree:
24.1 that the constitutional amendments which are necessary for the implementation of this agreement shall be passed by parliament and assented to by the President as Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment Act No 19. The Parties undertake to unconditionally support the enactment of the said Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment No 19;
24.2 to include in Constitutional Amendment No19 the provisions contained in Chapters 4 and 13, and section 121 of the draft Constitution that the Parties executed at Kariba on 30 September 2007 (Kariba draft).”
If there was agreement between the parties to the GPA that they will support the Kariba draft as the basis of Constitution reforms they should submit that draft to the Parliamentary Select Committee as their collective input and desist from barring other interest groups in the initiative to equally input their thinking into the draft that will be produced by the Parliamentary Select Committee through the improper use of JOMIC.
If JOMIC and Zanu PF believe in the Kariba draft they should simply fast track it through parliament as they did with Constitutional Amendments No 18 and 19 rather than waste time pretending that they are going to write a people driven constitution.
They should not even waste precious little time on the outreach programme to collect ideas that are not going to be incorporated in the final draft constitution and should just table the Kariba draft for parliamentary debate after which they can enact the Kariba draft as the new constitution and then we will decide in the “free and fair” elections enabled by that to decide whether or not any or all of the three parties should continue governing us with that constitution.
No comments:
Post a Comment