Speaking at a public meeting organised by Bulawayo Agenda recently, political analyst Ibbo Mandaza said the country was not ready for elections until the new constitution is completed.
“We can only have the elections practically in 2015 as we need to complete the constitution first and harmonise it with old and new laws of the country,” he said. Mandaza emphasised that there was still a long way in the completion of the new constitution which he labelled as a ‘political deal’ meant to safeguard and promote the interests of political parties.
“The constitution is a political deal which was merely sold to the public. We need a constitution that is near perfect so as to protect the citizens from having another Mugabe –like leader in the future,” he said. NUST Faculty of Communication and Social Sciences, Lawton Hikwa, said there was need for reforms first before any talk of elections.
“We cannot talk about elections without the reforms as spelt out in the GPA, especially media reforms as the media is a major player in promoting any democratisation process through the free flow of information,” said Hikwa.
“The challenge is that we have politicians developing policies and attempting to implement them but failing dismally as they have political ideologies and interest to protect. What we need are technocrats who will occupy ministerial positions and serve the nation without compromise,” he said. Zanu (PF) has strongly dismissed institutional reforms especially in the media and the security sectors, which have underpinned their stay in power over past three decades.
There were calls for the Cabinet to be composed of technocrats instead of Members of Parliament like in countries such as the United States of America and Kenya.
Post published in: News