President of Tanzania, Jakaya Kikwete
By The Citizen Reporter
Posted Saturday, October 5 2013 at 07:17
Posted Saturday, October 5 2013 at 07:17
In Summary
In his end of the month address to the nation, the
President told political parties to drop their threats of taking to the
streets in protest of an issue he said could have been resolved in
Parliament.
Dar es Salaam. President Jakaya Kikwete
yesterday extended an olive branch to the opposition, offering
negotiations on a controversial Bill to end a stalemate that threatens
to derail the new constitution-making process.
In his end of the month address to the nation, the
President told political parties to drop their threats of taking to the
streets in protest of an issue he said could have been resolved in
Parliament.
In the same address, President Kikwete touched on
diplomatic tensions between Dar and Kigali and on his talks with
President Paul Kagame in Kampala last month.
As far as he was concerned, he said, the spat
between the two countries was over and the two leaders had agreed to
open a new chapter in their relations. “I urge civil servants, the media
and politicians to be careful not to escalate tensions between Tanzania
and Rwanda,” Mr Kikwete added.
The President also expounded on the operation to
repatriate undocumented migrants, the Westgate attack in Nairobi and his
tour of the US and Canada.
Half of his speech was on trying to dissolve the
constitution review stalemate and dissuade the opposition--Chadema, CUF
and NCCR-Mageuzi--from mobilising the people to oppose the Constitution
Review (Amendments) Bill 2013, which Parliament passed last month.
The three parties oppose the Bill on grounds that
some of its clauses give the President too much leeway on the
appointment of members of the Constituent Assembly.
The opposition also claims that Zanzibaris were
not fully consulted on the Bill, which was tabled in Parliament in the
form of amendments to the Constitution Review Act, 2011. They also want
the life of the Constitution Review Commission extended to the day the
new constitution is promulgated.
According to the Act, the Commission will cease to
exist after the second draft is finalised. It is this draft that will
be tabled in the Constituent Assembly for debate. The Commission is busy
preparing the second draft after collecting views from Constitution
Councils.
“We passed through a similar situation in 2012
when the opposition and civil society successfully engaged the
government after disagreement in Parliament over some clauses in the
Constitution Amendment Act 2011,” said President Kikwete, who returned
home early this week from a tour of the US and Canada. “Why, then, can’t
we do the same now to avert unnecessary confrontations and wasted
energy?”
The opposition’s protests against the Bill started
in Parliament. They moved a motion to stop debate on the Bill until the
amendments they wanted were made. When the Chair ruled them out after a
vote for continuation of the debates was cast, they stormed out of the
debating chamber.
The next day, renewed efforts by the leader of the
opposition in Parliament, Mr Freeman Mbowe, to stop debates on the Bill
took a nasty turn. Deputy Speaker Job Ndugai ordered Mr Mbowe out after
he flouted parliamentary regulations.
This led to an exchange of blows between opposition legislators
and Parliament’s security personnel as the former were trying to shield
Mr Mbowe from officials who wanted to throw him out of the Chamber.
As he urged the opposition to go to the
negotiation table yesterday, President Kikwete chided them for failing
to effectively use legislative procedures to get the changes they want.
“By storming out of the debating chamber, the opposition denied
themselves the opportunity to get their message across, and to get the
amendments they wanted,” Mr Kikwete added.
The President appeared stung by criticism directed
at him personally by a Chadema MP to the effect that he disregarded
recommendations by the Tanzania Episcopal Conference, the Christian
Council of Tanzania (CCT) and the disabled.
Mr Kikwete said the allegations levelled against
him by opposition Chief Whip Tundu Lissu were “malicious, pure lies,
hypocritical, agitating and highly divisive”. While it was difficult to
accommodate recommendations from all groups, he added, great care was
taken to appoint representatives of many groups.
“It is hard to believe that Mr Lissu failed to
appreciate the tough task that I had of choosing 30 members out of more
than 700 names sent to me,” President Kikwete noted.
The making of the new constitution started in
earnest when Parliament enacted the Constitutional Review Act in 2011.
The Constitutional Review Commission was appointed in May 2012. In July
2012, it started collecting views that led to the first draft that was
unveiled in June this year.
The first draft was later sent to Constitutional
Fora where it was further reviewed. The second draft, that is being
awaited, will be sent to the Constituent Assembly.
The President expressed his sympathy over the
Nairobi attacks and urged Tanzanians to be careful. He advised owners of
key business facilities to boost security and take preventive measures
lest similar attacks take place on Tanzanian soil.
On the exercise to remove undocumented immigrants,
Mr Kikwete took aim at the foreign media, accusing them of misreporting
and peddling lies to the effect that registered refugees were being
driven back to their countries.
The government’s intention in removing
undocumented immigrants, he explained, was to reduce crime, which has
been rife in periphery regions.
SOURCE: THE CITIZEN
SOURCE: THE CITIZEN
