The Chant of Savant

Wednesday 26 August 2020

TOWARDS THE 2020 GENERAL ELECTIONS : A contribution to voters’ education.

Dailynews

The  National  Electoral  Commission  has  already  approved  a  long  list  of  Institutions  that  will  be  allowed  to  participate  in  the  exercise  of  proving  what  is  described  as  “vote  education”  to  the  prospective  voters  for  the  October  2020  general  elections.   I  am  personally  not  aware  of  the  topics  that  are  taught   in   such   voter  education  classes;  but   I  would  like  to  make  a  small  contribution  in  connection  therewith;   for  whatever   little  value  it  may  add. What  the  voters  must  know:   The   President  needs a  majority  in  Parliament.

In order  to  achieve  smooth  and  conflict-free  operations of our  ‘Parliamentary system’   of government;   the   relevant  general  election  must   give  the  elected   President  a  clear  majority  of   MPS  in the National Assembly.   Thus,  it  is  my  humble  submission, that   this point   should constitute  a  significant  part of the ‘voter education’ programmes  that  are   being  offered  to   our voters,   in preparation for the  forthcoming    October 28th  general  elections.

‘Voter education’   is primarily intended  to enhance  the voter’s   awareness   of  the  true  meaning  of  the  outcomes   which may result from his vote,   so   that  it  may enable him to vote wisely, and  in a way   that will enable him to achieve the kind of outcome which will be of maximum benefit to the country’s governance system.                                    

 Unfortunately  however,     in  the  past  general  elections,   some of those  who  participated in providing  ‘voter education’   were  not  very   helpful  to  the  voters   in  respect  of   the  need to  enhance   their  understanding  of  this  important  aspect  of  multi-party  elections,  because  the most  common  message  that  was  being  delivered  to  the  voters , was  typically  telling  them :    “ to  listen carefully to the candidates’ campaign speeches, and then vote for  the candidate  of your choice”.   This,  indeed,    is   good and  correct   advise,  and  that  was  the  message  that  was  being  delivered  to  the  voters  during  the  by-gone  days  of   the   ‘one-party  State  elections.    However,  it  is  wholly  unsuitable  for  the  multi-party  elections,  and  can  even   be   totally  misleading,  for  the  following  reasons:-

 In   the   multi-party   political  dispensation,   the purpose   of  a  general  election  is to enable the voters to select what will become the country’s  Ruling  party  for the following five years.   In other words, voters are expected to make a choice between   the   competing   political parties,   and  certainly  NOT  between  the  individual   the  candidates.  This is  so   because  the Westminster Parliamentary   system  of government  which we inherited  from  Britain,  is  known  as   “Government   by  political party”.     This  means  that  it  is  the  political  party  that  wins  the   general  election,  which  forms   the  country’s  Government  and  not  the  persons  who   won   the election  in  their  individual  capacities. 

Thus,   it  would  be   much more  accurate  for  the  voter  education  providers,   to  urge the voters  “to vote for “ the political party of his choice”,  rather  than   for  “the candidate of his choice”.                                            

That  is  the  reason  why  political  parties  produce   their  election  manifestos,  in  which  they  outline  their  policy  options  and  programmes,   in  order  to  persuade   voters  to  vote  for  the  party  with  the  best  policies    

Hence,  in  this  article,  we  will  endeavour  to  explain   a  very   fundamental  Constitutional point,  which is  that   for the smooth operation of our parliamentary system of government  , the  newly  elected  President   needs to have a majority  of  MPS  in the National Assembly.    Any  other  election  outcome,   is bound to  create  difficult   problems   in  the  operations   of   the  parliamentary  governance system.                                                                           

 For  that  reason,  that   the  voters   should  be  made  to  understand,   that  if  they   decide  to vote for the Presidential   candidate of any   given political party,  they  should  also vote for the parliamentary candidate of that same party;   in order to avoid a situation in which  the President faces  an  Opposition-dominated   National Assembly,  that  is to say,   in  which the majority of its members  belong  to  a political party or parties,  other than that of the President himself.

This is important,   and   necessary,  just   because if the President does not have a majority in the National Assembly, there are several provisions in the Constitution of the United Republic,   which have the capacity to generate conflict,  and could therefore give rise to instability,  in the process of the  country’s  governance;  such  as  the following:-

(i)  The appointment of the Prime Minister.

Article 5i(2) of the Constitution provides as follows:

 “As  soon  as  possible,  and  in  any  case  within  fourteen  days  after  assuming  office,  the President shall appoint a member of Parliament elected from a constituency, and from a political party having a majority of members in the National Assembly,  or, if no political party has a majority, a person who appears to have the support of the majority of the members, to be Prime Minister of the United Republic”.

Thus,  because  the   President  is  obliged to appoint  the Prime Minister from the majority party  in  Parliament,   if  such  party  is  not   his own party,  he will be  obliged to negotiate with the leaders of that majority party,   in order to agree on a candidate for this appointment.   Two possible  problems  may arise.  One  is  that   in  the  event  that such negotiations will take longer than the mandatory 14 days,  there will have occurred a breach of the Constitution,   and  this   is clearly against the principles of good governance.                                                   

The other   problem   is   that   the  Constitution  requires  the  Prime  Minister’s  appointment  to  be  ratified  by  the  National  Assembly.  Thus,   if  the  President  attempts to appoint a Prime Minister who has not been approved by  the  relevant  Opposition  leaders,  his appointment  will  obviously   not be ratified by the National Assembly,  a  situation  which  will  create be  conflict between the President and the National Assembly,  which  is   definitely  undesirable,   for  the  country’s  management  and   good governance.

(ii) The functions of the Prime Minister.

The functions of the Prime Minister are specified   in articles 52 and 53 of  the Constitution of the United Republic;  which   require the Prime Minister “ to perform or cause to be performed any matter or matters which the President directs to be done”;  and  further   that the Prime Minister “shall be accountable to the President for the exercise of his authority”.

I   should  perhaps  point  out,  that  these provisions were made during the period of the  ‘One-Party’ system of government,   in which case they could not create any such problems.   But under  the  present  multi-party system,  in  any   cases  where the President and the Prime Minister happen to belong to different ideological camps, and therefore  will   have been elected on the basis of different election manifestos;   these are obviously potential areas of conflict, which  can  be avoided  by  the voters giving the elected President   a comfortable majority in the National Assembly.

(iii) The Legislative functions of Parliament.

The process of enacting laws involves both the President and the National Assembly, for it provides that No  Bill which is passed by the National Assembly can become law  without the President’s assent.                 

In enacting this provision, the Constitution makers appear to have foreseen the possibility where the President would be unwilling to give his assent to a certain Bill, that is  presumably why they made provision (in article 97 thereof) for dealing with such a situation, if  and  when  it  occurs.   Article 97  provides   that  the President must return  such   Bill to the National Assembly,  together with a statement  of his reasons for withholding assent.   And if the National Assembly, after considering the President’s reasons, again adopts the Bill with a two-thirds majority, the President,  in that case,  must give his assent to the Bill, or if he still withholds his assent, he must dissolve Parliament in order to pave the way for new elections to be held.

Under normal circumstances, no one expects such a major conflict to arise, and this would appear to be a purely hypothetical provision.  But  still,  it  is a potential  area for conflict between the President and the National Assembly, which could best be avoided at the time of voting,  by giving the President  a comfortable majority in the National Assembly.

(iv) The provisions relating to the quorum in the House.

 Article 94 of the Constitution provides that the quorum at every sitting of the National Assembly shall be  ‘half of all the members of the House’;   and further that every question which is proposed for decision in the National Assembly  ‘shall be determined by a majority of the members present and voting’, except where it is provided otherwise.

These  provisions,  perhaps   unwittingly,  create an opportunity for  a  National Assembly  whose majority is in opposition to the President   to  embarrass him,  for example,   by  instructing  a  number of  their members to absent themselves  from a sitting of the House,  when an important government business, such as the annual government budget,  is  due to be approved.  This would make the ensuing   decision illegal, for having  been  adopted  in the absence of a quorum;   and  could  be  successfully  challenged  in  a  court  of  law.  Hence, Voter  education  should  also  address  this  problem,  which  can  be  avoided  by  the  voters  giving  the  Presidential  candidate  of  their  choice,  a comfortable majority of  MPS   in the National Assembly  at the time of voting.

Learning  from  history:   the  Presidential Elections  Bill  of 1962.

Our legislative history shows  that  the  1962 Presidential  Elections Act,  was specifically designed to achieve this particular objective of giving the President a guaranteed majority in the National Assembly;  for   it  had  included  an innovative provision  of pairing the Presidential  candidate with the Parliamentary candidates.   The procedure to be used was a kind of indirect election, whereby every candidate who stood   for election to Parliament,   was   required   to make a statutory declaration,   indicating  the name  of  the Presidential candidate whom  he supports.   Thus, under  this  arrangement, when  the results of the Parliamentary elections   are announced,  the Presidential candidate who secures  the  support  of  more than half of all the members  who  were  elected  to  Parliament,   is declared   to have been elected President.   

This   meant,  in  effect,    that   while voting for the Parliamentary candidate, the voters  would,  at the same time,   be voting for the President.   This  arrangement   was   obviously  intended  to ensure that   the person who was elected President,   was  guaranteed  to  have majority support  among  the  MPs   in the National Assembly,   in order  to secure the   desired  smooth  operations   of the government   machinery.

 However,   this   innovative  system   was  never used,  as  it  was  rejected   during   debate  in  the  National  Assembly,   and  had  to  be  replaced  with  the   more   popular   method   of electing  the President    directly   by  all  the  registered  voters.    

We  said  at  the  beginning  of  this  article,  that  voter  education  is  intended  to  enhance  the  voters’  general   awareness  of  the  outcomes  that  may  result  from  his  vote. Our  electoral  history  has   shown  that   the   voters’   tendency  is  to  vote  for  the  individual  candidate,  regardless  of  his  political  party.                                                                     

Thus,  in  the  particular  circumstances  of  this  year’s  general  election,  wherein    the  factor  of   President  Magufuli’s  popularity  will  most  likely  dominate,   some  voters  may  be  ready  to  vote  for  President  Magufuli,  but   be  tempted  to  vote  for  a candidate  “of  his  choice”  who  happens  to  belong  to  an  Opposition  party. This  presentation   will,  hopefully,   be  of  some  help  to  them.

 (will  continue  next  week)

piomsekwa@gmail.com /0754767576

Source: Daily News and Cde Msekwa.

No comments: