THE Constitutional All-Stakeholders Conference on the new constitution has resumed and ended peacefully today amid security being beefed up, with delegates required to present their accreditation.The co-Chairpersons of the Parliamentary Select Committee, Paul Mangwana and
Douglas Mwonzora had assured the nation that the process will go ahead and deliberations done in line with the Global Political Agreement.
Stakeholders have made presentations on the various thematic areas, which include the founding principles of the constitution, the arms of the state, system of government, bill of rights and appointment of governors, among others.
Speaker of Parliament, Honourable Lovemore Moyo, reassured members of the public and all delegates invited to the First All-Stake-holders Conference on the Constitution that the conference reconvened today at the Harare International Conference Centre.
In a statement, the Speaker said the conference is being held to fulfill the mandate of the Select Committee of Parliament to facilitate the process of making a new constitution for Zimbabwe.
He said this is spelt out in Article IV of the Global Political Agreement signed between the three principal, Zanu-PF, MDC-T and MDC-M Zimbabwes constitution talks, were yesterday violently disrupted by militant backers of President Robert Mugabe.
Mugabe loyalists stormed into the opening session of the talks on Monday, pushing the speaker of parliament off the stage while singing anthems to Zimbabwe’s 1970s liberation war.
Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, who formed a unity government in February, gave a rare joint press conference late on Monday to condemn the protest.
We want tolerance, lawmaker Douglas Mwonzora said as the talks resumed on Tuesday. We need freedom of expression … We want our people to be able to gather freely to give their views on the constitution.
Under the unity deal, Zimbabwe is to draft a new constitution that is to be brought to voters for approval in a referendum next year, clearing the way for fresh elections.
Meanwhile local business people today appealed to commercial banks to provide them with capital to enable them to increase production in different sectors of the economy.
They say capital injection from banks by way of long term loans is central to a quick economic turn around.
The President of Business Network International, Faith Masami said accessing long term loans from banks has been a major challenge. The Vice President of the organisation, Enoch Dhedheya said under-capitalisation has reduced production levels to 10% while companies that have received funding are only operating at 30%, a clear indicator that there is an urgent need for capital injection. They were speaking at a breakfast meeting in Harare organised to review business peoples progress since the formation of the inclusive government
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