The opposition in Tanzania remains very corrupt and led by scatterbrained power mongers and we know them by their deeds: Weirdly, they preach good governance and the rule of law as their motto but they despise internal democracy in their own political parties!
They clamor for accountability, transparency and democracy in the government but that charity never begins at home! Though, Sumaye has outlived his political relevance but he has exposed further the soft underbelly of the opposition. Targeting to replace Mbowe was the straw that broke the camel's spinal cord. Zitto Kabwe unceremonious CHADEMA exit was because he assailed to unseat dictatorial Mbowe who is running CHADEMA as his personal fiefdom. The grapevine of conspiracy theorists is still resolute to churn out their fecund imaginations of what led to the freak accident behind Chacha Wangwe untimely death after he declared his political intent to send Mbowe packing his bags home... Seven Arusha or so councilors lost their elected offices not because voters who elected them had rejected them but because never ending party internal squabbles said so! Most of opposition membership disqualifications is associated with jostling for power and its aftermath!
In the opposition just like in the ccm there are hazier boundaries demarcating party functions from government functions. So because political parties value not the doctrine of separation of powers no wonder the government behaves in similar manner.
Mbowe is like Magufuli playing cameo roles in political party and the government demarcating not the said functions but the palpable difference is the former is hypocritical to demand the doctrine of separation of powers a value not embraced by his own party.
So because all political parties disregard the doctrine of separation of powers no wonder our political system is such an eunuch to combat official graft whenever it rears its ugly hydra.
The clamor for a new constitutional order is an exercise in futility if it evades to untangle our legal, economic and political predicament.
So as the opposition fights to nip tuck and tweak our constitutional order without clear and achievable objectives miserably I must soliloquy they are wasting their energy.
Just to cite an example, the opposition was grinning ear to ear in support of the Warioba constitutional disorder which only cemented even amore the status quo ante!
Paradoxically, the Warioba constitutional sellout diminished executive accountability in most overtly ways when they raised a threshold of impeachment of the president from two third majority to three quarters!
Shockingly, while the Warioba commission conceded the views of the majority demanded the presidential powers be trimmed and shared with the parliament but the Warioba deceit dropped a couple of dollops here and there to delude some of us there were checks and balances enactments while that was not a case!
On parliamentary ratification of presidential appointments only a handful were acquiesced but the majority were business as usual.
On the composition and appointment of the election commission, the Warioba recommendations were to offend the doctrine of separation of powers by reincarnating the chief justice and the speaker of the house with their surrogates as members of the commission! Again, nobody in our vociferous political class read or cry evil which in itself say and speak volumes of dearth of political skills and intellect just to name a few.
While the Appeals Court wrongly decided in AG vs Rev. Christopher Mtikila that constitutional articles were not in conflict but complementary and self sustaining but we know with clear conscience that is not necessarily the case. Obviously, members of the Bench dabbling in execution mandates obliterates the pillars of the doctrine of separation of powers and to suggest otherwise is anything but wise.
The judiciary decisions on separation of powers have been self serving as the Rev. Mtikila vs. AG amply demonstrated. In the first instance of this litigation the High Court concurred with Rev. Mtikila that our constitution has article of separation of powers but dodged the bullet by claiming there were no enforceable laws in the books of our statutes spelling out how and in which ways individuals will be required to behave!
But skimming through a number of court decisions without being bogged down by personalities involved in those decisions we can boldly confirm the executive has been deploying a carrot and stick deadly games to discipline the judiciary. The infamous Mtikila decision on independent candidates is a case in hand but there are many judicial decisions that leaned to please the executive and mock the rule of law which defeats the justifications of why we have the judiciary to begin with.
Other cases include the dispute on pension where the bone of contention was those who were beneficiaries of pension prior to enactment of new law curtailing those rights from age 50 to 55 was unconstitutional but the appeals court disagreed for reasons which are not worthy an ink in this dissemination.
The Bawata case became the hallmark of needlessly technicalities with the real dispute not considered an urgent matter of resolution!
Even takrima was seen in different lights by our judiciary.
There are glimmers of hope, though, with the current chief justice that less leaning to please the executive is gearing up as the landmark decision on non requirement of leave in Labour Court decisions appeallable in the court of appeal settled a hive of contradictory decisions from the same court.
In the delightful and momentous decision of Gasper Peter penned down by her Lordship Mwarija ably assisted by her compatriots Hon justices Juma and Wambari the Appeals Court from its own initiative scolded the wiles of a respondent who had parlayed rules of the Court on missing inconsequential documents attempting to deprive an appellant a legitimate right to a hearing but the Court invoked the overriding objectives principle to dismiss the misplaced exertions of the respondent.
But do we need to be captives of individual moral compass is a question demand no response...
But active members of judiciary who have been rewarded with plum executive jobs tend to side with the executive as the notorious Chairman of political parties has emboldened and enveloped defiance to the rule of law and good governance a gratitude of violations of the doctrine of separation of powers.
It is in this light we need to appraise our insensitive and insular election commission which under its current constitution and modus operandi is expected to deliver a 2020 election which is not free, fair and credible despite executive reiterations to the contrary.
Sent using
Jamii Forums mobile app