Sitta warned against Draft Katiba vote

Constituent Assembly (CA) Chairman Mr Samuel Sitta  

By Henry Mwangonde, The Citizen Correspondent

Posted  Thursday, September 18  2014 at  11:10

IN SUMMARY

Instead, they reiterated that Mr Sitta should suspend the CA to avoid a possible vote embarrassment and save the remaining funds in tax payers’ money.

Dar es Salaam. Constituent Assembly (CA) Chairman Mr Samuel Sitta should not subject the proposed Constitution to a vote by the MCAs next week, human rights activists said yesterday.

Instead, they reiterated that Mr Sitta should suspend the CA to avoid a possible vote embarrassment and save the remaining funds in tax payers’ money.

The director of empowerment and Accountability at the Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC) Ms Imelda Urio told reporters at a press conference that it is obvious that the proposed constitution is likely to run into a vote crisis and may not be accepted in Zanzibar in a referendum.

Ms Urio pointed out the cue was when the Zanzibar’s Attorney General Mr Othman Masoud Othman resigned from the all important draft committee of the CA over what he termed irreconcilable differences in the process. “It is obvious that the resignation of the AG as secretary of the draft committee was a clear indication that the draft constitution under discussion was not going to be accepted by the people of Zanzibar” she said. She said the Zanzibar AG was a great player in as far as writing the constitution is concerned and that his withdrawal was a big blow to the whole process.

The constitution review Act (26) of 2012 states that the proposed constitution must be accepted by at least 2/3 of MCAs from all sides of Tanzania.

On the planned demonstrations by Chadema Ms Urio said LHRC believes the police rushed into issuing a frightening statement to the political party saying they did not violate any law by voicing their plans.

“We see protesting as one way of pushing for change and that is what Chadema has done, the police could have stayed patient to see how they go with it” she said.

In a bid to solve ongoing conflicts between the Coalition of Defenders of People’s Constitution (Ukawa) and the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM), President Jakaya Kikwete met members of Tanzania Centre for Democracy (TCD) earlier last week and reportedly agreed to stop the constitution making process until next year after the General Election.

However Mr Sitta has continued to conduct business as usual while confusion arose whether the said agreement was indeed reache
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