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Government still studying High Court verdict on private candidates
2006-06-24 10:52:54
By Correspondent Haji Mbaruku
On 23 May this year, three High Court judges passed a resounding judgment in which they overwhelmingly allowed private candidates to vie for political posts such as councillorships, parliamentary and presidential posts as a way to widen democratic institutions in the country.
Led by Chief Justice Ameir Manento, other judges were Salum Massati and Thomas Mihayo who gave a verdict in a Civil Case of 2005 filed by Reverend Christopher Mtikila of the Democratic Party against the Attorney General.
In his plaint, Mtikila stated that private candidates should be allowed during the elections because it was their constitutional right written in the Union Constitution of 1977. He added that it was not legal to force someone to contest through political parties.
This was the second time for Mtikila challenged the government on the issue.
He had filed a similar petition in 1994 and the late Judge Kahwa Lugakingira ruled in his favour, but the government later passed a Bill to rescind the decision.
They asserted that the amendments made in Article 34 of 1994, Article 21(1) 37(1) and 69(1b) of the Union Constitution of 1977 were in violation of the rights of an individual and unacceptable since it was contrary to the laws and civil rights which prohibited people to participate in democratic dispensation.
The judges agreed that citizens, irrespective of their status, should be allowed to contest the elections.
Reacting to that historical verdict, an MP for Kigoma North, Zitto Kabwe, says that the High Court decision proves that the Union Constitution of 1977 has some flows and needs immediate restructuring.
He says that it is important to change all the constitution rather than making amendments as it has always been done.
Kabwe commended the High Court decision saying that it has dealt a severe blow to bureaucratic tendencies of the ruling political party against tempering with the constitution.
’’The verdict has given us freedom to either contest through political parties or as private candidates’’ he says.
Another prominent political party pundit in the country who praised the High court decision is the Labour Party of Tanzania Chairman, Augustine Lyatonga Mrema.
He states that the High Court decision is correct and timely, emphasizing that the court is the only place where justice can be found and not otherwise.
Mrema says private candidates will strengthen democracy in the country because many people, who have until today not joined any political party, will be in a position to contest without the support of any political party.
But Mrema’s opinions face strong criticism from the legislator, Teddy Kasella Bantu (Special Seats) who says that private candidature was not a good system especially in Tanzania because it would cost a lot of money.
’’I do not support private candidates, it will take a long time to be understood by the electorate,’’ says Kasella Bantu.
Kasella Bantu’s opinion came soon after the Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Mary Nagu, assured MPs during the ongoing parliamentary session that the government was studying the High Court ruling on private candidates.
The government has announced that it will not challenge the high court ruling on takrima, dubbed as traditional hospitality provision because it was against the national interest.
However, Nagu says the government would look with a keen eye the judgment on independent candidate as there were some ambiguities which needed clarification.
On the other hand, the chairman of the Civic United Front, CUF, Professor Ibrahim Lipumba, says that the High Court judgment was just what his party and other Tanzanians in general have always advocated for and the removal of barriers that impeded on democracy.
’’The current constitution is designed to favour the ruling party alone. I urge all Tanzanians seeking true democracy to join forces with CUF to make sure a new constitution is put in place so that we can demonstrate peace, freedom and rights of the people of this nation,’’ says Professor Lipumba.
He adds that his party was ready to work with anyone or any organization that is determined to see that the constitution is changed for the better.
Professor Lipumba remarks is supported by the United Democratic Party, UDP national chairman, John Cheyo, who says that the process to overhaul Tanzania’s constitution should not be delayed any longer following the historical High Court ruling that allowed independent candidates to run for political office.
Cheyo who is the Bariadi East Member of Parliament cautioned that the country was risking slipping into a constitutional crisis if relevant arms of the government, parliament and eminent law scholars did not interpret the High Court ruling for the good of the majority of Tanzanians.
’’I wonder if the ruling did not imply that past elections could have been illegitimate or conducted using a flawed constitution,’’ says Cheyo.
He says Tanzania needed a legal framework to do away with laws that were contradictory including those that do not adhere to various international conventions to which Tanzania is a signatory.
’’This development emphasizes our general demand to have the constitution re-examined in totality both legally and its legitimacy as a people’s document rather than serving narrow political interests,’’ the UDP chairman says.
Is the executive wing of the government superior to the Judiciary and the Legislative wings of the Government? This is a question that needs an immediate answer.
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