Teachers countrywide, under their umbrella body,
Civic Education Teachers’ Association (CETA) are also pushing for it.
Their sudden shift of opinion was revealed in a poll conducted during
separate capacity building seminars when over 90 per cent of the
participants voted for the three-tier Union structure.
CETA conducted the seminars in collaboration with the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS).
During a poll conducted before one of the seminars
held at the National Museum in Dar es Salaam on Thursday, for
instances, 21 teachers voted for a single government, seven for the
status quo, and 29 for the three-tier Union. The results significantly
changed during the second poll conducted immediately after the seminar
with barely three participants voting for single government, two for the
status quo, and 48 for the three-tier Union proposal. The participants,
who voted for the three-tier Union proposal ahead of the seminar, were
equivalent to 52.6 per cent, but the number rose to 95 per cent after
the fora.
Other polls conducted before and after similar
seminar organised by Tanzania Development Initiative Programme (Tadip)
and KAS early this month produced the same results.
A quick analysis of the results, however, revealed
that a good number of the teachers were university graduates. Equipped
with a background of political science, the teachers could easily
decipher presentations on civic education compared to the ordinary
citizenry.
But the assistant programme officer with the
Constitutional Reform Unit at the Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC),
Mr William Kahale, said with dialogue it was possible to write a
constitution of the people.
The CETA official, Mr Safari Minja, and his KAS
counterpart, Mr Richard Shaba, argued nonetheless, saying a people’s
constitution called for the citizens to confidently exercise their
freedom of expression. Also present during the seminar, which saw three
presentations shed light on the constitution, was the CRC commissioner,
Mr Humphrey Polepole.
The structure of the 1964 Union between Tanganyika
and Zanzibar dominated discussions with immense powers the president is
granted begging more questions than answers.
Fears shrouded in the entire process of writing a
new constitution notwithstanding, Prof Chris Peter Maina assured
Tanzanians that they would, for the first time in 50 years, get a
people-centred Union constitution. He was responding to challenges
facing the process which another CRC commissioner, Prof Mwesiga Baregu,
raised in his presentation.
Mr Polepole explained that he and other CRC
commissioners were, in the first place, lectured on the noble task
before them, prompting them to surrender their parochial interests in
favour of the wider ones for the sake of the nation. He urged Tanzanians
to rally behind the introduction of the Bill of Human Rights and the
Supreme Court in the second draft supreme law, saying it was a big
achievement.
Even though presentation of the CRC chairman,
Judge Joseph Warioba, on the second draft constitution was impressive,
Mr Onesmo Olengurumwa, said he was worried over the appointment of the
Constituent Assembly members. “The appointment has sidelined non-stake
actors,” the national coordinator of the Tanzania Human Rights Defenders
Coalition (THRDC) said. He cited the appointment of some CCM veteran
cadres and former cabinet ministers such as Mr Kingunge Ngombale-Mwiru,
Mr Paul Kimiti, Mr Paul Makonda and Mr Abdallah Bulembo.
Ms Mary Jonathan, Ubungo Modern Secondary School teacher said
teachers were important if civic education was to be effectively
disseminated.
Her colleague, Mr Abinell Mananika, advised the
Assembly members, in turn, to become keen in debates pertaining to
natural resource exploitation and minerals, oil and gas, in particular,
to avert the country from plunging into a resource curse.
