Zimbabwe publishes draft senate bill


By Tererai Karimakwenda
18 July 2005

The state-run Ziana news agency said on Saturday that the government had published a draft bill to overhaul the country's constitution and provide for the re-introduction of a two-chamber parliament. But critics are suspicious of the government's motivation. Mugabe has powers to appoint 30 members to parliament under the current laws, and the proposed amendments would give him the power to appoint 65 more members to parliament under the senate.

Zanu-PF gained a two-thirds majority in the last elections which enable it to make constitutional amendments to the supreme law. Critics view the new proposals as a way to accommodate Mugabe's loyalists who did not succeed through the ballot box during the disputed March 31 polls. It was the public rejection of a government-sponsored draft constitution in 2000 that sparked the invasion of white-owned farms.

The National Constitutional Assembly, which has been insisting on a new constitution before any elections can be held, criticised this move by the Mugabe regime saying other areas are in urgent need of reform. Even the ousted former information minister Jonathan Moyo questioned the need for such changes, in his manifesto in the run-up to the March parliamentary elections.

NCA spokesperson Jessie Majome said she was appalled at the proposed changes. She said constitutional changes require a democratic process and should be inclusive of Zimbabweans from all sectors. Majome said all the problems affecting us right now, from the failed economy and agriculture, can be traced back to bad governance. The power to make serious changes she said should not be a monopoly of one organisation.