NATIONAL CONSTITUTIONAL ASSEMBLY (NCA)
NO TO A CONSTITUTION BY POLITICAL PARTIES: THE PEOPLE MUST
WRITE THEIR OWN CONSTITUTION!
VOTE NO IN THE REFERENDUM
HERE ARE THE REASONS:
A.
PROCESS
1.
This is not a democratic and people-driven
constitution. A democratic constitution must be people-driven.
2.
This is a constitution being imposed
on us by three political parties, yet the people are bigger than these three
political parties.
3.
No political party or group of
political parties must be allowed to give the country a constitution. A
constitution must come from the people.
4.
It is not about what people wanted or
said but about the selfish and personal interests of politicians. We need a
constitution that will survive the test of time and not a deal for current
politicians.
5.
Politicians spent 4 years and
squandered over US$50 million to produce a constitution which is not good for
the country but for themselves.
6.
If people say YES to a constitution
being imposed by political parties, they will be giving away their power
permanently and politicians will never respect the people and the country will
not develop.
7.
A NO vote is the answer. It will
allow people to write their own constitution after the elections through an
INDEPENDENT CONSTITUTIONAL COMMISSION.
B.
CONTENT
8.
The constitution leaves all power in
the President, who is allowed to do what he/she wants. Here are the powers of
the President:
·
The President is head of state, head
of government and commander in chief.(sec 89).
·
The powers of the President as head
of state are unlimited.(sec 110(1)).
·
The president appoints all Ministers
and Deputy Ministers on his/her own without the approval of Parliament.(sec
104).
·
There is no maximum limit on the
number of Ministers and Deputy Ministers. It is up to the President.(sec 104).
·
The President alone constitutes the
Cabinet.(sec105). The statement in the Draft Constitution saying the President
exercises executive authority “through cabinet” has no value because the
Cabinet is the President`s baby. All Cabinet Ministers are hired and fired by
the President at his/her pleasure.
·
The President is allowed to appoint
up to five Ministers from outside Parliament. This is bringing back appointed
non constituency MPs. (sec 104(3)).
·
The President appoints all ambassadors
without consulting anybody.(sec 204).
·
The President has the final say over
the appointment of all permanent secretaries.(sec 205).
·
The President appoints all security
chiefs (Army Commanders, Commissioner of Police, Director of CIO etc). In making
these appointments, all the President is required to do is to consult one of
his/her Ministers.(Chapter 11).
·
The President has the final say over
the appointment of all judges. (sec 180). Although there is provision for
interviews, the President has power to refuse to appoint any of those
recommended and order the Judicial Service Commission to start afresh.
·
The President alone appoints the
Attorney General(sec 114) and may fire him/her at any time (sec 115).
·
The President has the final say over
the appointment of the Prosecutor-General (sec259).
·
The President has the final say over
the appointment of all Commissions including the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission.
(chapter 12).
·
The President approves salaries,
allowances and benefits for all civil servants from the lowest to the highest
worker. (sec203(4)). The President still has this power after appointing a
Minister for the Public Service and the Civil Service Commission.
·
The President has power to dissolve
Parliament if it refuses to pass his/her government`s budget.(sec 143(3)).
·
The President also has power to
dissolve Parliament if it passes a vote of no confidence in his/her government.
(sec 109(4)).
·
The Constitution does not impose a
duty on the President to answer questions in Parliament. It leaves this to be
decided by a future Parliament so that the political party controlling
Parliament will shield the President from answering questions.(sec 140(3)).
·
The President has unlimited immunity
while in office and is allowed to plead “good faith” after leaving office.(sec
98).
·
The President has power to declare
war. The role of Parliament in this regard is useless.(sec 111).
·
The President has power to pardon
his/her political allies. (sec 112).
·
The President has power to declare a
state of emergency. (sec 113).
·
A person who has left office as
President will receive a monthly salary (called a pension) equal to the salary
of the sitting President.(sec 102(3)). This is for life.
9.
There are 2 Vice Presidents.(sec 92).
We no longer need 2 Vice presidents in a new constitution. Further, a person
who has left office as Vice President will continue to receive, for the rest of
his/her life, a monthly salary(called a pension) equal to the salary of a
sitting Vice President.(sec 102(3)).
10. The size of Parliament has been increased to a total of 350 MPs( 270
National Assembly and 80 Senators).(sec 120 and 124). The number increases to
355MPs with the 5 Ministers appointed by the President. We have no resources
for such a huge legislature. In 1980 there were 140MPs, in 1990 we had 150, in
2005 the number went up to 216 and in 2008 it became 303.
11. The increase in the size of Parliament is coming from an additional 60
seats for women. For a woman to qualify for any of these seats, she has to be a
member of a political party. There are no direct elections for the seats. The
quota for female MPs should be taken out of the existing number of MPs without
increasing the size of Parliament.
12. Despite its huge size, Parliament remains very weak. It is just a talk
shop. So why increase the number of MPs to join a talk shop. The political
parties are just creating employment for their supporters at the expense of the
people.
13. There are no term limits for Members of Parliament.
14. Except for the chapters on the Bill of Rights (chap 4) and Land(chap 16),
this constitution can be amended by Parliament without a referendum.(sec 328).
This means that all provisions including those on term limits will be amended
by future Parliaments, thus maintaining the current problem where the
constitution has been amended several times.
15. For the next ten years, if the President resigns or dies, there are no
by-elections for the President. The country is given a President by the
political party of the former President, yet people elect a person and not a
political party as President.( see paragraph 14, schedule 6). This means that
if there are internal fights in the political party concerned, the country will
have to go without a President until the political party sorts itself out. Is
this not making political parties more important than the country? The issue of
running mates which will apply after ten years did not come from the people.
16. There is no devolution at all. There are very weak Provincial Councils
composed of the same people who are in Parliament. MPs will have two jobs: the
province and Parliament. The provincial Councils do not govern anything in the
Province.(chapter 14).
17. There is no provision compelling the State to allocate a specified
minimum percentage of the nation`s revenue to deal with the needs of the poor.
A people- driven constitution will allocate specific funding for food, health,
education and water.
18. Most rights in the Bill of rights are listed for decoration as there is
no mechanism for their realisation.
19. For workers, the right to strike is very restricted and will not be
available, while government workers will continue to be subject to conditions
of work different from those of other workers, such as with collective
bargaining.
20. There is no right to vote for Zimbabweans in the diaspora.
21. The Zimbabwe Media Commission established by the constitution(sec 248)
will be an instrument used by the state to undermine freedom of expression.
22. The winner-take-all electoral system is still intact despite the demand
by the people for a mixed electoral system, allowing proportional
representation for half the MPs.
23. The death penalty does not apply to all female murderers and males above
70 years. This is undesirable. If the death penalty is retained, it must not be
applied in this discriminatory way. (sec 48).
24. There are provisions which will apply after several years ranging from
seven to ten years. Why have them in the constitution now? The idea is to have
a constitution which will not affect the political leaders promoting this
constitution. Some provisions will disappear after ten years.
Like our page on facebook.-http://www.facebook.com/
Follow us on twitter @voteNO_2013!
Blogspot..www.takecharge-voteno.blogspot
Email: takecharge2013@gmail.com
Follow us on twitter @voteNO_2013!
Blogspot..www.takecharge-voteno.blogspot
Email: takecharge2013@gmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment