The sentiment by the church leaders under the Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe banner is part of their constitutional proposals which they expect to be included in a new constitution.
It was resolved that Zimbabwe’s new constitution should ensure that certain restrains are placed upon the powers of the president to allow for independent functioning of government departments, which they said should not serve partisan interests.
Concern has been raised over the years regarding the tendency by central intelligence, the police and army to act as President Robert Mugabe’s fortes, with service chiefs openly declaring their allegiance to him, rather than the State.
“The new constitution of Zimbabwe should ensure that the powers of the executive are subject to appropriate and effective restrains and that the executive does not dominate other constitutional bodies or branches of government,” said EFZ as part of its resolutions on Wednesday.
The church leaders also proposed that the new constitution should establish a legislature which is accessible, responsive and accountable to the will of the people and which is independent of other branches of government.
They also said that executive control of Parliament needed to be addressed in the new constitution.
“There must be a clear provision allowing for parliament to pass a vote of no confidence and the procedure should not be so difficult as to become irrelevant or a practically impossible and the Prime Minister or President (as the case may be) should not be able to overcome such an action by dissolving parliament,” resolved the churches.
The church leaders said there was need for provisions that would ensure that courts maintained institutional independence and that the appointment of judges should not be the prerogative of the head of state as is currently the case.
Said EFZ: “Their (judges’) appointment must be through a transparent and public process by an independent judicial service commission and these must be adequately and transparently remunerated and have security of tenure.”
The EFZ proposed that the new constitution should allow for a devolved state in order to ensure a participatory and inclusive approach to decision-making, adding that provisions need to be put in place to allow for equitable distribution of land.
In a sideline interview, the President of the Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe, Goodwill Shana said they expected their views to be captured in the new constitution.
“The workshop was part of a continuous process under which we carry out an analysis of the constitution-making process and find out whether our input has been captured. We expect that our views will be considered in the new constitution of Zimbabwe,” he said.
Post published in: News