We live in a surreal country where politicians’ private and partisan interests have taken precedence over national issues and social development.
NewsDay Comment
Zimbabwe has become a theatre of political demagoguery and ineptitude as the political gladiators tenaciously cling to power at all cost.
That the Copac management committee met on Monday evening and failed to agree on the process to resolve disputed issues of the draft constitution is not only laughable, but downright stupid on the part of our rulers. The constitution-making process is clearly tabulated in the Global Political Agreement (GPA) and we are gobsmacked why there should be disagreement on what should be done to move the matter forward.
Zanu PF remains adamant that the disputed issues, among them the retention of an imperial presidency, devolution, dual citizenship, constitutional court and national prosecuting authority, should be resolved by the principals of the GPA, while the MDC formations rightly insist that President Robert Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara and Industry minister Welshman Ncube have no business in writing the new charter.
Copac has the sole mandate to come up with a new constitution for the country.
It’s common cause that Zanu PF is once again keen on frustrating the constitution-making process in the feign hope that the two MDC formations would capitulate to its demand for major amendments of the draft constitution to maintain the equilibrium. The two MDC formations should remain steadfast and stop Zanu PF and Mugabe from stealing a people’s project and process.
The GPA is unequivocal that after the Second All-Stakeholders’ Conference, the constitution-making process should be fowarded to Parliament before going for a referendum for the electorate to decide its fate. There is no room for principals to tinker with the draft constitution or structure deals.
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In the GPA, the parties agreed to set up Copac, whose terms of reference included to table the draft constitution for presentation a Second All-Stakeholders’ Conference and “report to Parliament on its recommendations over the content” of the new draft charter.
The parties in the GPA agreed “that the draft constitution recommended by the select committee (Copac) shall be submitted to a referendum”. No room was given in the GPA allowing principals to decide the fate of the new supreme law.
It would not only be a serious shirking of responsibility on the part of Copac and its management committee to surrender its responsibility to the principals, but a flagrant violation of the GPA.
The people should never allow Copac or the principals to hijack the constitution-making process.
