Constituent Assembly members arrive in Dodoma yesterday. The Assembly
session is scheduled to start today.
The new constitution writing process records another milestone today with the onset of the Constituent Assembly.
All preparations have been accomplished to enable
Dodoma and the Parliament premises to accommodate the needs of 629
Constituent Assembly members and other interested stakeholders.
However, Tanzanians will have to wait for at least
a week before they start hearing the stand taken by the Assembly
members on various articles contained in the draft constitution. For the
better part of the first and second week the members will be engaged in
preparatory work.
According to preliminary timetable released
yesterday, the Assembly members will start debating the Draft
Constitution next week after it was presented to the President by the
Constitution Review Commission (CRC) chairman, Judge Joseph Warioba.
Among issues expected to raise heated debate is
the Union structure. As it stands, the public is divided on opinion on
which is the best Union structure which should be adopted. While one
group is backing the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) stand on the
current two governments system, another group, which is largely
supported by majority of opposition camp, supports proposals by the CRC
that the country should adopt a three-tier government system.
But, there are also two small groups, though they
might have strong arguments to support their course. There are those,
mainly from Zanzibar, who advocates for contractual-based Union
structure in which Tanganyika and Zanzibar will have autonomy powers as
sovereign states.
But, there is another group which argues that for
the country to live the true spirit of the Union, one government system
is the way forward. This group argues that even the founders of the
Union, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere and Mzee Abeid Amani Karume, started with
two governments with a view of forming a single government.
Another argument might emanate from the article 32
of the proposed Constitution which prescribes about freedom of worship.
Some people might want to use this article to push for the recognition
and establishment of state sponsored religious bodies, such as Kadhi
Courts.
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