The plot continues to unfold as the Gvt. of National Unity goes the next step and starts consultations on establishing a new constitution for the country.
Many fear that Mugabe will use a September 2007 agreement as the basis of the new constitution. (read more about it in The Zimbabwe Standard)
The Zimbabwe Standard this week quoted Mugabe as saying there was no need for popular consultation in the constitution making process. Rather, the adoption or not of the constitution would be done by way of referendum..."...people must vote!" was his line.
Sends chills down one's spine to think of people going back to the polls in a country whose electoral systems have never been functioning. We might as well forget about getting a fair representation of people's views if we go it that way.
For what it's worth, parliament is making steps to ensure that there is popular consulation. These are the assurances coming from Paul Mangwana. Whether the consultations will take effect is another matter.
Madhuku, Chairperson of the National Constitutional Assembly, has commented that politicians cannot make a constitution, and it appears that civil society will shun the prospects of participating in the "consultative" process being engaged in by parliament...
It will be worth our while to revive the zeal with which we initiated the constitutional reform process some years back. Zimbabwe can function better if it has rules and laws that curtail greed for power and make it sensible for people to trust in the various arms of government, and there is concerted effort to respect the rule of law.
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