mambo ya ukweli

TLS says petition on Katiba not likely

Constituent Assembly chairman Samuel Sitta answers journalists’ questions in Dodoma yesterday.  

Dar es Salaam. Intention by  the Tanganyika Law Society (TLS) to file a court petition to seek interpretation of the powers vested in the Constituent Assembly (CA) may not materialise as its members seem to be divided in opinion.

Speaking confidently to The Citizen on Saturday, some TLS members said although they embarked on meetings to draw the petition, the work stalled after some of them noted that the move could cost the TLS image in public.

“Some of us think that if this petition succeeds there is danger for TLS to be perceived as an institution with intent to block the ongoing constitution making process,” noted a source from within TLS, who declined to be named.

When asked for comment, TLS president Charles Rwechungura admitted there was such fear among the members, but he quickly dismissed it, saying what they wanted was to pursue a legal course, which would benefit the nation later.

When asked why they were yet to make the move more than a week since they announced it, Mr Rwechungura said they were still holding meetings to fine tune the petition.

“We will hold a press conference early next week to inform members of the public where we have reached and when we intend to file the petition,” he said.

But other sources said it was unlikely that TLS would fulfil its promise to intervene in the politically charged constitution making process for fear of potential repercussions. TLS said last week that it was contemplating a legal path to end the ongoing Katiba impasse, insisting that it wanted a legal interpretation of section 25 of the Constitutional Review Act with regard to the CA powers and responsibilities.

The section states that ‘the CA shall have and exercise powers to make  provisions for the new Constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania and to make consequential and transitional provisions to the enactment of such Constitution and to make such other provisions as the CA may find necessary’.

It goes on to add that the powers of the CA to make the provisions for the proposed Constitution shall be exercised on the Second Draft Constitution tabled by the chairman of the Constitutional Review Commission and passed by the CA.

This section has drawn heated debate. First, it was between Attorney General Frederick Werema and Judge Joseph Warioba, the chairman of the defunct CRC. While Judge Werema maintained that the section empowers CA to make any changes that it deemed necessary, including inserting a new Chapter in the Second Draft Constitution, Judge Warioba noted that given a system, which Tanzania decided to use in writing the new supreme law, the CA had limited powers, when it comes to the proposed content.

The same issue has become a bone of contention between Ukawa and the CA leadership. Ukawa walked out of the CA claiming, among other things, that CCM had engineered to influence its members in the CA to overturn all the proposals by Constitutional Review Commission, which did not fit the interests of the ruling party. However, some CA members, including its chairman, Mr Samuel Sitta, insist that it is the CA, which has been legally empowered to write a new Constitution for the nation.

They argue that the Second Draft Constitution presented by the CRC forms a basis for opinion expressed by Tanzanians, but it does not mean that it is a cardinal document, which should be adhered to -to the letter.