This Is Why Tanzania Has Been Ahead of Other African Nations: Bravo Magufuli

Loathe or love him, Magufuli has proved to be extra innovative so as to add something to the solidarity of Tanzania. Those who wonder why and how Tanzania has been peaceful amidst turmoil and tumultuous Africa must see and view this. A Luta Continua. Bravo Magufuli.

When America Made Great Again by Donald Trump Leads the World in Brutality

When Donald Trump, US President, promise to make America again, we didn't rightly get it.
Now that Trump and his henchmen are at it, we need to take note.
Is this what we expected from this President?
What did his meme mean to the world that he is now  at it with  impunity and brutality?
What should we expect out of this regime that seems hell-bent to abuse human rights?
Though racism has been in America's DNA since its founder found it,
We need to understand that this has gone beyond anybody can make do with leave alone living it.
What are we going to do about this brutality as humanity?
Help me about this as you ponder on it.
Will the death of a black man, George Floyd help Trump to avert what he seeks to blot out
This is nothing but Americans' anguish on how Trump mishandled Covid-19, what criminality!
Will Trump's covert brutality save him from defeat?
Biden, you see everything as you prepare yourself to unseat the deliquent.

REORGANIZING PARLIAMENT TO REFLECT THE MULTI-PARTY ENVIRONMENT.

Last  week’s instalment  closed  at  the  point  when I  was  describing  my  good  luck  of  being  the leader  of  Parliament,  at  the  time  and  period  of  great  transformation  and  reconstruction;  when  that  Institution  was  called  upon   to  make  history  in  terms  of  enacting  new  Constitutions   to  accommodate   the  rapidly  changing  political  circumstances.   Today’s  article  will  first  complete  that  story,  and  then  move  on  to  other issues in  the  same  category  of creating history;  and,  specifically,  the  fundamental  transformation  that  was  required in  order  to  change  the  Institution  of  Parliament  itself,  from  its  30-years  operations  while   basking  in  the  glory  of  a  ‘single-party’  Parliament;  to  a  fundamentally  new,  properly  functioning  ‘multi-party’  Parliament .  We  will  return  to  the  story  of  Parliament’s fundamental  transformation  a  little  later,  after  we  have   completed  the  Constitution-making  aspect.  The  making  of  the  current  Constitution  of  the  United  Republic, 1977.

The  1965  One-party  Constitution  was  designated  as  an ‘Interim  Constitution’;  simply  because  it  was  not  enacted  in  accordance  with  the  procedures  prescribed  by  the  ‘Articles  of  Union’;  which  had  directed,  in  article (vii),  that:  “The  President  of  the  United  Republic,  in  agreement  with  the  Vice  President  who  is  Head  of  the  Executive  in  Zanzibar  shall:-   (a) Appoint  a  Commission  to  make  proposals  for  a  Constitution  of   the  United  Republic.  (b)  Summon  a  Constituent  Assembly  composed  of  representatives  from  Tanganyika  and  from  Zanzibar  to  meet  for  the  purpose  of  considering  the  proposals  of  the  Commission  aforesaid, and  to  adopt  a  Constitution  for  the United  Republic”.  However,  the  1977  was enacted  strictly  in  accordance  with  those  directives.

A  Commission  of  20  members, 10  from  Tanzania  Mainland  and  10  from  Zanzibar,  had  earlier  been  appointed for  the  task  of  preparing  proposals  for  the  merger  of  TANU  and  ASP.  This  assignment  had  apparently  been  accomplished  to  the  complete  satisfaction  of  the  two  Principals.;  because  the  decided  to  give it the  additional  task  of  making  proposals  for  a  permanent  Constitution  of  the  United  Republic.  And  since  I  was  the  Secretary  of  that  Commission,  it  became  my  responsibility  to  draft  proposal  for  discussion  by  the  Commission,  as  I  had been  doing  during  the  just-ended  exercise.                    

Eventually,  our  final  proposals  were  submitted  to  the  CCM  National  Executive  Committee  for  endorsement;  and, being  a  member  of  that  Committee  myself,  I  was  mandated  by  the  Commission  to  be  prepared  to  make  any  clarifications  that  might  be  required  by  NEC.                                  It  was  only  at  the  end  of  this process,  that   the  proposals  were  handed  over  to  the  Government,  for  the  Parliamentary  legislative  process  to  take  place.  My  contribution  in  the  making  of  this  Constitution  was  therefore  quite  substantial.

The  Constitutional  amendments.

The  Tanganyika  Independence Constitution,  as  well  as  the  Tanganyika  Republican  Constitution,  were  so  short-lived  that  they  attracted  no  amendments  whatsoever.   But  two  amendments  were  made to  the  Interim  Constitution  of  the  United  Republic of  1965;  and  a  total  of  fourteen  amendments  have  been  made  to the  current  Constitution,  since  its  enactment  on 25th  April,  1977.

Amendments  to  the  Interim  Constitution.

The  two  amendments  to  the  1965  Interim  Constitution,  were  made  to  “Union  Matters”  listed  in  the First  Schedule  of  the  Constitution.  The  first  such  amendment  was  caused  by  the  break-up  of  the  East  African  Currency  Board  in  1965,  which  necessitated  the  transfer  of  all  matters  that  had  been  the  responsibility  of  that  Board  to  the  respective  partner  states.  The  said  matters  were  those  concerning  “coinage,  currency,  banks  and  all  banking  business,  foreign  exchange  and  exchange  control”,  It  was  therefore  necessary  to  make  amendments  to  the  Constitution,  in  order  to  add  these  matters  to  the  list  of  “Union Matters”  which  is  provided in  the  First  Schedule.  That  was  done  by  Parliament  on  10th  June,  1965. 

Similarly,  as  a  result  of  the  break-up  of  the  former  East  African  Community  in  1967,  it  became  necessary  to  transfer  all  matters  that  had  been  the  responsibility  of that  Institution  to  the  respective  partner  states.  This  necessitated  the  making  of  appropriate  amendments  to  the  Constitution,  in  order  to  add  them  to  the  list  of  “Union Matters”.  There  have  people  who  have    raised  queries  regarding  why  the  list  of  “Union Matters”  was  increased  from the  original  eleven  items,  to  the  current  twenty-two.  The  reasons  stated  above may help  to provide  part  of  the  answer.

Amendments   to   the  current  Constitution.

We  will deal  with  only  three  major  amendments,  which  are  directly  related  to  the  major  transformations  that  were  taking  place.  These  were  (a)  the  Fifth  Amendment  (1984);  (b)  the  Eighth  amendment (1992);   and (c)  the  Thirteenth  amendment (2000).

The  Fifth  Amendment,  1984.

The  1984  amendments  introduced  very  profound  changes relating  to  the  governance  system,  including:-                                                                                                                           

 (i)  Providing  for  the  proper  distribution  of  powers  between the  Executive;  the  Parliament;  and  the  Ruling  party.                                                                                    

(ii)   Enhancing  the  authority  of  Parliament,  and  emphasizing  its  representative  character.   

(iii)  Enhancing  ‘Peoples’  power  at  the grassroots.                                                              

(iv)  Consolidating  the  Union  between  Tanganyika  and  Zanzibar. (specifically,  through  the  introduction  of  the  Joint Finance  Commission).                                                               

(vii)  the  introduction  of  a  Bill  of  Rights   in  our  Constitution.

These  amendments  were a  direct  result  of  new  policies,  which  were  announced  by  the  Ruling  party  in  its  1981  Guidelines,  which  included  specific  directives  for  the  reform  of  the  country’s  Constitution.  Hence  for  that  purpose,  the  CCM  National  Executive  Committee  appointed  a  small  Task  Force,  which  was  given  the  task  of  initiating  and  coordinating  public  discussions,  with  a  view  to  making  appropriate  proposals  for  the  amendment  of  the  Union  Constitution  in  order  to  realign  it  with  the  new  party  guidelines.  I  was  lucky  to  be  appointed   member  of  that Task  Force.        

We  adopted  the  now  established  procedure  of preparing  the  equivalent  of  the  previous  Government  “White  Papers”  for  discussion  by  the  general  public  throughout  the  country;  which were  coordinated  at  every  level  by  the  party’s  Branch,  District  and  Regional  Political  Committees.  After  final  endorsement  by   the  National  Executive  Committee,  the  proposals  were  submitted  to  the  Government  for  the  normal  legislative  process  to  take  place;  as  was  done  earlier  in  the  Constitution-making  processes  already  discussed  above.

The  Eighth  Amendment (1992).

The  1992  amendments  were  necessitated  by  the  introduction  of  the  multi-party  political  system;  because  new  provision  had  to  be  made  for:-                                   

(i)  the  removal  of  the  prohibition on  the  registration  of  other  political  parties;           

(ii)  the  appointment  of  a  Registrar  of  Political  parties;   and                                              

 (iii)  the  introduction  of Women’s  ‘Special  Seats’  in  Parliament,  starting  with  a  minimum  of  15%  of  all  the  Parliamentary  seats.  These  women  MPs  were  to  be  appointed  by  their  respective  political  parties,  on  the  basis  of  the  proportional  representation (PR)  system.

The  Thirteenth  Amendment (2000).

The  2000  amendments  were  the  result  of  the  work  done  by  the  Presidential  Commission  (the Kisanga  Commission)  which  was  appointed  in  1998  by  President  Mkapa,  in  response  to  increasing  demands  from  the  Opposition  parties  for  a  new  Constitution,  which  would  provide  changes  in the  following  areas:-                           

(i)   the  two-government  structure  of  the  Union;                                                          

(ii)  the extensive  powers  of  the  President;                                                                               

(iii)  the  “simple  majority’  win  in  Presidential  elections;                                                 

(iv)  the  prohibition  of  private  candidates’  participation  in  elections;                                 

 (v)   the  “first-past-the-post”  electoral  system;                                                                    

 (vi)  the  need to  give  powers  to  the  voters  to  recall  their  MPs  who  fail  to  deliver;  and 

(vii)  the  need  for  an  independent  Electoral  Commission.

This  Commission,  also  adopted  the  methodology  which  had been  used  by  the   previous  Nyalali  Commission  in  1991,  of  consulting  the  people  in  meetings  held  throughout  the  country,  and  eventually  producing  their   Report  based  on  the  views  of  the  people;  which  they  submitted  to   President  Mkapa.   The  proposals  that  had  been  accepted by  the  Government  were  subsequently put  in  a  Bill  for  the  consequential  amendment  of  the  Constitution,  which  was  submitted  to  Parliament.   The  Bill’s  salient  features  were  the  following:-                                               

(i)  It  retained  the  existing  provision  for  the  two-government  Union  structure;  as  well  as that  of the  President  being  elected  on  a  simple  majority  of  all the  valid  votes  cast;             

(ii)   It  made  provision  for  a  progressive  increase  in  the  percentage  of  the  Women’s  special  seats,  starting  from  30%  of  all  the  available  parliamentary  seats;                         

(iii)  It  introduced  the  ‘Human  Rights  and  Good  Governance  Commission’;  which  combined  the  dual  mandates  of  a  ‘Human  Rights  Commission’,  and  of  an  ‘Ombudsman’.

The  fundamental  transformation  of  the  institution  of  Parliament.

The  period  that  followed  after  the  inauguration  of  the first  multi-party  Parliament  was  a busy  period  of  reconstruction,  in  terms  of  reorganizing  the  institution  of  Parliament  to  reflect  the  new  multi-party  political  environment.  Thus,  apart  from  my  presiding  over  the  core  function  of  Constitution-making  and  Constitution  amendments  discussed  above;  I  also  had  to  preside  over  the  even  more  urgent  task  of  transforming  the  Institution  of  Parliament  itself,  in  order  to  change  it   from  its  long entrenched  habits  and  practices  of  over  thirty  years  as  a  ‘One-party’  Parliament;  to  a  new,  vibrant,  ‘multi-party’  Parliament.                                       

The  major  areas  involved  in  that  transformation  were  the  following:-                             

(i)  the  need  for  a  permanent  building  for  the  carrying  out  of  the  Parliamentary  functions;                       

(ii)  the  reorganization  of  Parliament’s  internal  procedures  and  processes,  including  the  establishment  of  new  administration  structures,  which  would  be  suitable  and  more  appropriate  for  the  new  political  environment,  and  the  vastly  changed  circumstances.

In  addition,  the  opportunity  also  arose  during  that  period,  purely  coincidentally,  for the  need  to  form  new Pan-African  Parliamentary  organizations,  in  the  making  of  which  I  was  very  closely  involved.  These  were: (i)  the  SADC  Parliamentary  Forum  in  1997;  and  (ii)  the  Pan  African  Parliament  in 2000.  We  will  return  to  this  aspect  in  the  next  instalment.

Parliament’s  new  home  in  Dodoma  and  Zanzibar.

Parliament  formally  moved  to  Dodoma,  starting  from  its  first  meeting  following  the  1995  first  multi-party  general  elections.  But  it  also  moved  out  of  the  CCM  Assembly  Hall,  and  started  holding  all  its sessions  in  a  new  conference  center  owned  by  the  Local  Authorities Provident  Fund (LAPF);  which  was  bought  by  the  Central  Government  for  use  by  Parliament.  But  I  still  considered  it  necessary to  have Parliament’s   own,  purpose-built  Parliament  House.  I  therefore  initiated  and  executed  plans  for  its  construction  in  an  adjacent  plot  of  land.  At  the  same  time,  I  also   executed  similar  plans   for  the  construction  of  new  Parliament   buildings  at  Tunguu   in  Zanzibar,  and  in  Dar es Salaam,  mainly  for  Committee  meetings.   All  this  was  intended  to  mark  the  fundamental  change  from  Parliament’s  past  of  total  dependence  on  the Government.

The  reorganization  of  Parliament’s  internal  procedures  and  processes.

In  January  1966,  I tasked  the  Bunge  Standing  Committee  on  Parliamentary  Privileges  and  Human  Rights,  to  “investigate,  consider,  and  later submit,  recommendations  for  an  appropriate  structure  for  the  operations  of  our  new  multi-party  Parliament”.   The  Committee  duly  submitted  its  Report  in  April, 1996;  and  we   immediately  started  working  on  its  recommendations.       
Their  main  recommendation  was  that  Parliament  should  be  re-established,  in  its  operations, as  an  independent  Institution  whose  Administration  and  Management  will  be  separated  from  the  Government.   This  was  readily  accepted,  and  was  quickly  implemented,  when  the  Government  presented  a  ‘Bill  for  an  Act   to   provide   for  the  Administration  of  Parliament’  which  provided  for   the  establishment  of  a  ‘Parliamentary  Service  Commission’  that  would  take  care  of  all  matters  relating  to the  employment  of  the  Staff  of  Parliament  (with  the  exception  of  the  Clerk  of  the  National  Assembly,  who  would  continue  to  be  appointed  by  the  President).  This  legislation  came  into  force  on  1st  July,  1997. 

(will  be  continued  next  week)

piomsekwa@gmail.com/0754767576. 

Source: Daily News and Cde Msekwa.                                                                                                                                             

Fare thee well Mory Kanté

It is official that the legendary Guinean Musician Mory Kanté (29 March 1950––22 May 2020) left us at a young age of 7o. Those who remember how his hit Yeke yeke propelled him to stardom, will still miss him as the person who contributed hugely to the branding of African Music. RIP Mory Kanté.

Uhuru and Ruto's Political Divorce

Currently, in Kenya and partly the region, Covid-19 pandemic and the so-called political divorce involving UhuRuto marriage are the more prominently talked about things than anything else because of their effects and impacts on the politics of the country. When it comes to Covid-19 pandemic, there’s nothing new despite all warnings and heads-up on it. What’s new is the way[s] we’re going to pull all the stops and make do with it sensibly and scientifically––shall we aspire and want to survive it as an able and sane people.  Denialism and hoo-has that we’ve already experienced in some quarters won’t help anybody. As well, neither bravery nor fear will help us but our levelheadedness.

However, on the daunting divorce menace that’s currently buffeting the UhuRuto political marriage, which shocked many­­––after former two suspects secured victory in the 2012 Kenyan general elections and formed the government––seems to attract many. It’s now an open secret that two Kenyan politicians that once enjoyed curt political and power coquetry, after escaping the fangs of the International Criminal Court in the Hague, namely President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy, William Ruto, no longer see eye to eye or enjoy their bromance-cum-dalliance. What went terribly wrong?  To know what went wrong, today, we’re taking a break from Covid-19 after being told that it’s here to dauntingly stay. We’re addressing the divorce because it’s here to pass just soon after the political showdown is over between the two. Before going further, please don’t say that there are some handshake, or headshake, that seem to have shaken the marriage. What’s certainly clear is that the shakeup is inevitable between the two big cheeses.

            Those who know how UhuRuto chimeric and mule-like marriage came into being will agree with us that it’s a marriage of handiness whose one and only reason was to circumvent ICC encumbrance resulting from the cases instituted against Uhuru and Ruto as the kingpins of the Post-Election Violence of 2007. That’s because the duo’s in two antagonistic sides of Kenya political divide. This shows us how there’s no love between the couple but necessity, mere and sheer necessity but not love or anything close to. Nonetheless, after being in bed for over almost eight years without any more taste except veiled con and machinations, the duo is no longer interested in marriage or anything close to or like it. Thus, they seem hell-bent to sever everything that brought them together. First of all, the danger that the ICC posed are long gone. Thus, believe you me; the die had to be cast to end the marriage. Secondly, the duo has two conflictual and divergent agenda while the former works for a good legacy that’ll outlive his power while the latter has been nursing his presidential ambitions that seem to be cut short soon.

Thirdly, those who know how such tenuously tricky nuptials are entered will agree with us that UhuRuto posed to hit a snag even rock-bottom, soon the ICC failed to convict all or any of them. After freeing themselves from the fangs of the ICC, everybody started to think how to free himself from another and go back to normalcy. At this point and time, Ruto’s geese were to be roasted. This is normal for humans, especially the antagonistic ones. Who wants to always sleep in the same bed with his or her nemesis? Even a chippie wouldn’t regale such a peril.

            Before proceeding with the proceedings of the nastiest and noisiest divorce, it’s important to mention that the likely loser in this tussle seems to have not learned from Kenya’s political narration and narrative. I once heard him saying that subjects such as history need not to be taught in universities. Thanks to his ignorance of history, now he needs it to help him swim this muddier water is in. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel once put it, “we learn from history that we do not learn from history.” Kenya’s political history shows that no VP’s ever made it to the Presidency except by way of accident as it happened for former President Daniel arap Moi who took office after the death of his boss Jomo Kenyatta. What’d have happened hadn’t Kenyatta died; nobody knows. The second VP to become president is Mwai Kibaki whose way to power also has something to do with an accident. This accident was Moi’s arrogance that sowed the seed of destruction within his party after deceiving many politicos in his party and settled for a rookie, current president to inherit his office. Tired of Moi and his manipulations, Kenyans decided to punish him by refusing his protegee to become their president for fear that Moi would still rule and run Kenya by proxy.

            Kenya has had ten VPs since independence; and its only two who were able to become presidents. The rest were betrayed by their bosses namely Kenyatta, Moi and Kibaki.  Who knew that Kenyatta would roast Jaramogi who forsook his chance of becoming Kenya’s first president and offered it to Kenyatta to end up being betrayed?  Who thought that Moi would betray George Saitoti the man who’d never raised voice to his boss despite being highly educated than him? Who think Kibaki would prefer Uhuru––the person he beat in the 2002 elections, became the third president of Kenya thereof––to Kalonzo––whom he abandoned? Who’d think that Kibaki tosha––the mantra-cum-meme Odinga used to propel Kibaki to power––would be turned into Raila toka or Raila out? When it comes to trust, you can take tis to the bank. For, on earth, you can trust everybody except a politician and prostitute. Can Uhuru gambol Ruto and support Raila Odinga the person he ‘conquered’ in the last elections as was the case in the Kibaki and Kalonzo? Deeply ensnared, twosome’s rolling antics, gambits and theatrics speak volume that that’s what’s going to happen come Kenya’s 2022 elections. What’s obvious is that if Uhuru successfully used Ruto to become president is a reality while, to the contrary, Ruto seems to have had failed to use Uhuru to become president. he underestimated him for his peril and the fact that Uhuru is Moi’s mentee. However, the duo must congratulate themselves for using one another to avoid decaying behind ingots vis-à-vis the PEV case[s] they faced before the ICC.

            In a nutshell, for Ruto to make it  to presidency, he needs to go to the drawing board and wait for the 2027 elections. More importantly, there are three things Ruto can cash on or be cagey about. One, he must wish he’d be alive physically and politically that time. Two, he must still be politically germane at that time. And thirdly, like was in the case of Kibaki and his ascend to presidency, he’d take it easy. This isn’t the end of the world. More blessed are those who listen than those who talk. Listen to and seriously take this for your survival––and ignore it for your peril.

Source: African Executive Magazine.

Oh Poor UhuRuto Marriage

When Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto entered in the marriage of convenience after miraculously escaped the International Criminal Court's fangs, many did not know that thereafter the duo would part ways bitterly and brutally. Soon after everybody settling down after  surviving, there came UhuRaila under what is known as Handshake that resulted to the Headshake. The rest is history. Oh poor UhuRuto. Who used whom? Who knows?

MY 15- YEARS TENURE IN THE SPEAKER’S OFFICE.

Our  article  of  last  week,  terminated  at  the  point  when  I  was discussing  my  reminiscences  of  my  second  tenure  in  the  Speaker’s  office  which  commenced  in  1990;  when  I  was  elected  Deputy  Speaker, and  later as  Speaker  of  the  National  Assembly  until  2005.  But,  because  of  strict  limitations  of  editorial  space,  some  important  aspects  were  not  covered,  a  deficiency  which  will  be  partly  remedied  in  today’s  article.                                                            

One  of  my  published  books  is  titled “The  Story  of  the  Tanzania  Parliament”  (Nyambari  Nyangwine  Publishers,  Dar es  Salaam,  2013);  in  which  I  have  also  told  part  of  the   story  of  my  experiences during  that  period;  but  even  that  still  does  not  cover  the  whole  range  of  experiences  which   I  gained  there from;  that  could  usefully  be  shared  with  others;  particularly  in  the  leadership  area  of  decision-making.  

The  main  function  of  any  Speaker,  is  to  preside  over  the proceedings  of  Parliament;  a  function  which  is  commonly compared  with  that  of  a  referee, or that  official  who  controls  the  game  in  some  of  the  sports;  whose  primary  responsibility  is  to  ensure  that  the  rules  of  the  game  are  strictly  observed  by  the  players;  and  who  has  adequate  power  and  authority  to  punish  anyone  who  dares  violate  those  rules.                                              

 But  the  books  of  authority  on  Parliamentary  practice  and  procedure,  also  provide  that   in  carrying  out  his  responsibilities,  the  Speaker  is  also expected  “to  maintain the  high  standards  of  dignity  and  impartiality  which  that  office  demands”;  and  also    “ to  act  wisely  and  firmly,  preferably  with  a  small  dose  of  humour,  when  tempers  in  the House  are  on  edge”.  

 These  are  some  of  the  basic  tenets  that  I  constantly  endeavoured  to  observe,   throughout  the  15-years  of  my  tenancy  of  the  Speaker’s  Chair.

The  Speaker’s  Rulings.

 Decisions  which  are  made  by  the  Speaker (or any other person  presiding) from  the  dignity of  Speaker’s  Chair,  are  called  “Speaker’s  Rulings”.  They  carry  the  same  legal  status  as  ‘Court  Rulings”,  in  the  sense  that  they  can  indeed  be  challenged,  but  only  through  special  procedures  that    are  laid  down  for  that  purpose. (on  Monday of  last  week, I  received  telephone calls  from  some  journalists   who  were  seemingly  challenging  Speaker   Job  Ndugai’s  recent  ruling relating  to  certain  CHADEMA  MPs.  But  being  mindful  of  this  fact,  I  restrained  myself  accordingly  from  making  any comments). 

My  extraordinary  good  leadership  fortune.

In  last  week’s article,  I  referred  to  what is  said  in  the  Books  of Authority  on  the  subject  of  ‘leadership’  regarding  how  people  become  leaders;  namely  that  there  are  those  “who  stumble  into  leadership  because  of  the  times  they  live  in,  or  the  circumstances  in  which  they  find  themselves”;  and  I  wholeheartedly  placed  myself  in  this  category;   simply  because  I  happened  to  be  there  in  Parliament  just  at  the  right  time;  when    great  and  fundamental  political  transformation  and   reconstruction  changes  were  taking  place  in  our  country;  in  which  Parliament  had  a  big  historical  role  to  play,  in  legislating  for  these  fundamental,  non-recurring,  major  historical  changes.                                                                                           

In  this  article,   will  refer  specifically  to  the  Parliament’s   most   core  functions  of  Constitution-making  and  Constitutional  amendment,  wherein  I  found  myself  in  the  happy  position  of  being   a  very  close  eye-witness of  these  historic  processes  in  the  earlier ones, but  a  very  active  player in  the  case  of  the  current  Constitution.  The  relevant Constitutions  are:                 

 (i)the  Tanganyika  Independence  Constitution  of  1961;                                      

   (ii)  the   Tanganyika  Republican  Constitution,  1962;                                                             

(iii)  the  interim  Constitution  of  the United  Republic,  1964;   

 (iv) the  ‘One-party’  Constitution,  1965,  and  finally   (v)  the (permanent)  Constitution  of  the  United  Republic  of  Tanzania,  1977.                 

I  will  assume  that  the  importance  of the  country’s  Constitution  needs  no  greater  emphasis,  or  even  more  detailed  elaboration,  beyond  what  is  said  in  the  paragraph   which  follows  below.

The  raison  d’etre  for having  a  country’s  Constitution.   

 A  country’s  Constitution  is  the  basic,  or  fundamental  law,  of  every  country.  It is  what  lays  down  the  country’s   governance  Organs,  namely   the  Executive,  the  Legislature,  and  the  Judiciary;  and describes  their  separate  functions.  It  also  provides  for  the  distribution  of  powers  among  them,  as  well  as  the  working  relationships  between  them.                     

The  need  for  “Constitutions”  arises from  the  fact  that,  in  order  for  human  beings  to  be  able  to provide  for  their  material  needs  more  easily,  and  to  develop  their  cultural  aspirations  more  richly;   they  need  to  associate  closely  with   each  other.  But  once  this  association  is  achieved,  the  resulting  community  needs  to  be  organized  in  some  definite  way,  by  providing  for  specific  leadership  organs  which  will   generally  coordinate  the  work  of  its  members,  and  reconcile  their  often  conflicting  interests.  This  is  true  even  of  social  clubs,  associations,  cooperative  enterprises,  and  other  registered  groups.                                                           

But  the  wider  association  of  people  within  a  nation  state,  or  country,  also  needs  to be  similarly  organized.    This  is  what  explains  the  need  for  every  country  to  have  its  own Constitution.

Constitution-making  in  Tanganyika/Tanzania.

In  this  context,  the  expression  “Constitution-making”  includes  its  associated  process  of  “Constitutional  amendments”  which,  in  our  case,  has  been  an  on-going  process.  Thus,  over  the  years  since  independence, the  country’s  Parliament  has  enacted  the  variety of  Constitutions  listed  above;  plus  not  less  than  fourteen  amendments  to  the  permanent 1977  Constitution, since  its  enactment  on  25^th  April,  1977.                       

The  paragraphs  that  follow  below,  are  intended  to  throw  some  light  on how  the  exercise  was  conducted in  each  of  the relevant  cases.    But  the  process  of  constitutional  amendments  only  started  with the  Interim  Union  Constitution  of  1965,  for  the  simple  reason  that  the  Tanganyika  independence  and  Republican  Constitutions  were  so  short-lived,  that  they  attracted  no  amendments  whatsoever!  We  will start  with  Constitution-making, and  come  back to  the  Constitutional  amendments  a  little  later  

The  Tanganyika  Independence  Constitution,  1961.                                                      

  I  was a  close  witness  of  only  the  commencement part  of  the  process  of making  this  Constitution,    which  was  the  Constitutional  conference  that  was  held  in  Dares Salaam  from  27^th  to  29^th  March,  1961;  (which  I  had  been  assigned  to  service  as  an  official  from  the  Speaker’s  Office).  But  even  at  that  conference,  it  is  only  the  proposals  for  the  contents  of  the  proposed  independence Constitution  that  were  discussed  and  agreed  upon.  The  remainder  of  the  process  for  enacting this  Constitution,  took  place  in  the  British  Parliament  in  London.                                                                                      This  was  the  common  practice which  the  British  colonial  Government  applied  to  all  their  Territories  at  the  time  when  they  were  being  granted  independence.  Thus, it  was  premised  on  a    ‘standard  model  Constitution’  based  on  the  constitutional  structure  of  the  United  Kingdom. This  made  it  fundamentally  defective  in  a  significant  number  of  areas.

 The Tanganyika  Republican  Constitution, 1962.  

I  was  again  only  a  close  witness  in  the  making of  this  Constitution,  when the  relevant  Bill  was  presented  to  Parliament  for  its  enactment.                                                          

The  Republican  Constitution  was  completely  “homemade”,  and  largely  benefitted  from  the  application  of  the  principle  of “peoples’  participation  in  decision  making”;  in  the  sense that  the Government  first  prepared  and  published its  proposals  for  the  envisaged  Constitution in  May 1962,  which  were  published  in  ‘Government  White  Paper  no, 1 of  1962’,  titled  “Proposals  of  the  Tanganyika  Government  for  a  Republic”.  (The  term  “white  Paper” was  a  reflection  of  the  British  Government  practice  of  so  naming   all  ‘discussion  papers’  issued  by  the  Government).                                 

  This  white  Paper  was  crafted  in  simple,  non-legal  language,  in  order  to  make  the  proposals  easy  for  everybody  to  understand;  and  members  of  the  public  were  invited  to  submit  their  views  and  comments on  those  proposals.                                         

It  is  only  after  the  peoples’  views  had  been  collected  and  analysed,  that  the  Government  introduced,  on  23^rd  November, 1962,    the  “Bill for an Act to  declare  the  Constitution  of  Tanganyika”  in  the  National  Assembly,  which  had  first  converted  itself  into  a  “Constituent  Assembly”  for  that  purpose.  In  his  speech  introducing  that  Bill,   Prime  Minister  Rashidi  Kawawa  disclosed  that:  “although  the  Government  White  Paper  referred  to the  making  of amendments  to  the  existing  Constitution,  we  have  thought  it  best  to  substitute  a  completely  new  and  self-contained  document,  to  mark  such  a  fundamental  change”.

The  Interim  Constitution  of  the  United  Republic.

My  involvement  in  the  making  of  this  Constitution  was again  only  during  the  final  stages,  when  the  “Acts  of  Union  were  brought  to  Parliament  for  ratification.  This  interim  Constitution  was  initially  declared  in  the  “Articles  of Union”;  whose  relevant  articles  read  as follows:-

  (iii)  During  the interim  period, the  Constitution  of  the  United  Republic  shall  be  the  Constitution  of  Tanganyika,  so  modified  as  to  provide  for: -   

a  separate  Executive  and  Legislature  for  Zanzibar,  from time  to  time  constituted in  accordance  with  the  existing  laws  of  Zanzibar, and  having  exclusive  authority  within  Zanzibar  for  matters  other  than  those  reserved  to  the Parliament and  the  Executive  of  the  United  Republic;                                                                                                          

 (b)  the  appointment  of  two  Vice-Presidents,  one  of  whom (being a  person normally  resident  in  Zanzibar)  shall  be  the  Head  of  the aforesaid  Executive  in  and  for Zanzibar,  and  shall  be the  principal  assistant  of  the  President  of  the  United  Republic  in  the  discharge  of  his  executive  functions  in  relation  to  Zanzibar.                                      

(c)  the  representation  of  Zanzibar  in  the  Parliament  of  the  United  Republic.             

(d)  such  other  matters as  may be expedient  or  desirable,  to  give  effect  to  the  United  Republic,  and  to  these  articles.”

The  “articles  of  Union”  also  provided  that  “the  first  President of  the  United  Republic  shall  be  Mwalimu  Julius  K.  Nyerere”;  and  that  within  a  period  of  one  year,  “the  President  of  the United  Republic,  in  agreement with  the  Vice-President  who  is  also  the  Head  of  the  Executive  in  Zanzibar,  shall  appoint a  Commission  to  make  proposals  for  a  (permanent)  Constitution  of  the  United  Republic”.   However, before  the  end  of  that  year,  the  two  Principals  agreed  to  postpone that  exercise  to  a  later  date.

The ‘one-party’  Constitution, 1965.

My  involvement  in  the  making  of  this  Constitution  was  again  peripheral,  commencing  only  when  the  Bill  for  its  enactment  was  submitted  to  Parliament  at  the  end  of a lengthy  process  of  “peoples’  participation”;  which  was  applied  also  in  the  making  of  this  Constitution, for  the  same  purpose of  ensuring  that the contents  of  this  Constitution  would  reflect  the  widest  consensus  of  peoples’ views  and  preferences.   For  that  purpose,  President  Nyerere  had,  in  January 1964,   appointed  a  Commission  to  undertake  that  task,  of  obtaining  the views  of  the people  throughout  the  country,  and  subsequently,  to making  its  recommendations  for  “a  suitable  constitutional  framework,  which  would  guarantee  the  proper  functioning  of  democratic  principles  within  a  one-party  state”.                                                                   

After  the  Commission had  completed  its work  and  submitted  its  final Report  to  the  President;  the  Government  again  issued  a  ‘White  Paper”,  which  was  submitted  to  Parliament  for  consideration  at  its  April  1965  session.  And  thereafter,  the  Government  prepared  the  “Interim Constitution  of  Tanzania  Bill”  which  was   submitted  to  the  Union  Parliament on  5^th  July  1965.  The  “Interim  One-party  Constitution”  of  the  United  Republic,  was  enacted  on  10^th  July,  1965. The  next  in  line  was  the  making  of  the  (permanent)  current  “Constitution  of  the  United  Republic”. 

This  was  the  Constitution in  whose  making  I  participated   most  directly;  right  from   when  the  idea  of  its  making  was  conceived  by  the  CCM  National  Executive  Committee, and  through  its  implementation  up  to  the  stage  when  the  draft  proposals  were  handed  over  to  the  Government  for  its  enactment  by  Parliament.    (Will  be  continued  next week).

 piomsekwa@gmail.com / 0754767576.

Source: Daily News and Cde Msekwa Himself.