Duble Chris
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- May 28, 2011
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| Tuesday, 07 February 2012 23:2 |
President Jakaya Kikwete By Lucas LigangaThe Citizen Chief Reporter Dodoma. The Constitutional Review Act 2011 Amendment Bill will be tabled in Parliament tomorrow amid reports that President Jakaya Kikwete has told CCM legislators to either contribute to the proposals or reject them. The Bill was earlier expected to be tabled today, but the presentation was pushed to tomorrow to allow MPs to attend a Bank of Tanzania seminar on the state of the economy. Parliamentary sources told The Citizen here yesterday that the President met with seven CCM MPs at Dodoma State Lodge on Monday and held talks on the Bill, but no consensus was reached after the one-hour meeting. At the end of the meeting the President told them to either debate the Bill or turn it down, said the sources, adding that President Kikwete left Dodoma for Dar es Salaam yesterday morning. The sources said during the talks that began at around 5pm, the MPs from the ruling party presented their case, saying they were dissatisfied with the way the Constitutional Review Act 2011 Amendment Bill had been handled by the government. CCM MPs were last night expected to hold a party caucus after the House ended its business for the day.Earlier reports on Monday had it that the meeting between CCM legislators and President Kikwete was scheduled to take place at the Msekwa Hall where all protocol arrangements were made. Before adjourning the House after the morning questions and answers session on Monday, Deputy Speaker Job Ndugai relayed a message from the chairperson of CCM legislators, Ms Jenista Mhagama, to ruling party MPs asking them not to switch off their phones because they could be notified anytime to attend a party caucus. Asked whether they intended to reject the Bill today, several CCM MPs said that would be known after the proposals are tabled. Other unconfirmed reports said the ruling party MPs were likely to shoot down the Bill after President Kikwete decided not to authorise payment of new daily sitting allowances that was increased by Parliament from Sh70,000 to Sh200,000. There are indications that CCM legislators are divided. One CCM camp is said to be aggrieved because it feels that President Kikwete did not consult his party on the amendment of the Constitutional Review Act 2011. But other sources said over the weekend that the CCM legislators wanted to blackmail the President in retaliation for publicly denying he ever sanctioned the increase in MPs sitting allowances. Apparently, the MPs have not started to pocket the new perks, despite an assurance by Speaker Anne Makinda that Bunge started paying the new allowances in the last sitting. President Kikwete assured the nation on Sunday that the amendments of the Act did not come solely from Chadema. Addressing a public rally during the occasion to mark the 35th anniversary of CCM at Kirumba Stadium in Mwanza, Mr Kikwete said the amendments were prepared on the basis of proposals from various stakeholders, including the government itself, political parties and civil societies. Yes, I met with Chadema and other political parties so the proposals are not from Chadema alone. For your information, CCM also fronted eight recommendations on the changes they want in the new law, he said. Commenting on the dropping of the Bill, the Deputy Leader of the Official Opposition in Parliament, Mr Zitto Kabwe, said: I dont think this is about sitting allowances, but if it is true then these people are blackmailing the President. He said it was better to disband Parliament and go for fresh elections, adding that Chadema had planned their meeting on Sunday but postponed it following the withdrawal of the Bill. Meanwhile, MPs have been urged to stop playing party politics with an important and delicate issue like the Constitution. The call was made yesterday by political analysts, activists as well as ordinary people in interviews with The Citizen. Many of them criticised legislators from both camps for embracing inter-party politics, saying MPs needed to soberly debate the Constitution Review Act Amendment Bill. They also cautioned that if MPs would continue to conduct themselves along party politics when debating the Bill, Tanzanians should not expect any meaningful changes to the controversial Constitution Review Act 2011. Mr Deus Kibamba, the chairperson of the Constitution Forum, said the legislators should remember that the Constitution was not the property of any one party. MPs should remember that we have only given them the power to lead us in the way where we can design a mechanism which will help us to acquire a good constitution, he said. Additional reporting by Frank Kimboy in Dar |
