Matinenga, who did not say when exactly the constitution making process would begin only saying it was due to start "soon", said the new constitution would lay firm legal foundations to ensure that future elections will be free and fair
"The new constitution that we want to make is a constitution for all the people of Zimbabwe not individuals," said Matinenga, who was speaking during the Wednesday burial of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s wife.
"The constitution which we are engaging in is a constitution you must produce (and) which must in process and content embrace all Zimbabweans.
Everyone must participate in the process by offering their views," said Matinenga.
Under the power-sharing agreement signed by President Robert Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara the three political rivals have agreed to review Zimbabwe’s constitution to ensure the country has a new and democratic governance charter.
But civic society led by the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) pressure group have accused political leaders of seeking to impose a new constitution on the country.
The NCA, which in 2000 successfully mobilised voters to reject a government draft constitution that would have entrenched Mugabe’s powers, has promised to lead Zimbabweans in protests against a constitution written by Mugabe’s ZANU PF party and the Tsvangirai/Mutambara-led MDC formations.
Zimbabwe’s former colonial ruler Britain drafted the country’s present constitution with some input from former liberation movements but with no consultation of citizens.
Many political analysts trace the country’s governance crisis to the independence constitution that was written more as a ceasefire document between nationalist guerillas and the white colonial government they were fighting against rather than a charter for good governance and democracy. –
ZimOnline
Post published in: News