This was shortly after President Kikwete was elected for a second term;
Q. Judge Bomani you have been involved in public affairs for nearly
half a century, what would your comments be at this stage of
Tanzania’s political life?
A. Thank you very much for giving me this opportunity to air my views
on some of the burning issues of the day.
For a start I cannot do better than comment on the recently concluded
general elections.
First Zanzibar elections. Although accolades have been expressed on
the successful presidential elections in Zanzibar in fact the actual
results are more or less similar to those of 2000 and 2005. CCM and
CUF have always shared the results almost equally. This time CCM got
50.1% and CUF 49.1%, a mere one percentage difference!
What is significant this time, however, is that the parties concerned
have agreed to work together.
When the results are so close common sense dictates that you form a
government of national unity.
This was indeed Mwalimu Nyerere’s recommendation way back in 1995,
which recommendation was dismissed by some narrow minded leaders as
unworkable.
I myself have advocated a system of proportional representation, a
system which tends to reflect fairly the distribution of power and
seats in Parliament.
In a referendum on 31st July 2010 Zanzibar deliberately agreed on a
government of national unity regardless of the outcome of the
election. This is a sign of maturity and also a recognition of the
reality.
We, however, have to wait to see how in practice the government of
national unity will work. Common sense dictates that the two partners
treat each other more or less as equals. Dr. Shein will therefore have
to be very careful in the distribution of power, if the “maridhiano”
is to survive.
The Union elections, on the other hand, have been fraught with
pitfalls and allegations of irregularities here and there.
I am very glad Dr. Slaa has not proceeded with his threat not to
recognize the Presidential election results. Such non-recognition
would have plunged the country into an immediate crisis because it
would almost inevitably have led to violence, in view of the fact that
presidential election results cannot be challenged in court. Dr. Slaa
would have been left with no option but to use extra-legal means, an
option fraught with dangers.
Dr. Slaa and his CHADEMA did indeed put up a stiff electoral challenge
and, considering where they are coming from, they did very well
indeed. What they need now is better organization and patience. That
is what should now guide their actions. Perhaps the opposition parties
could also rethink the possibility of forming electoral alliances.
As for the allegations of irregular conduct of some officials in the
National Elections Commission (NEC), some political leaders and some
operatives there is need to comment.
Some of the shortcomings are attributed to unfamiliarity, on the part
of some elections officials, with the recently introduced computer
system. If this be true it is very unfortunate. NEC should have made
doubly sure that its officials and operatives are thoroughly
conversant with the new system. If not sure, NEC should perhaps have
introduced the new system on a gradual basis, a few Constituencies at
a time, instead of introducing a whole new system throughout the
country all at once.
Some of the short comings are attributed to deliberate acts of
illegality e.g. some people buying registration cards (shahada) from
some registered voters, some people even voting or trying to vote more
than once and some ballot boxes disappearing! These are acts of
illegality whose objective is to undermine the electoral process and
hence democracy.
Leaders of all political parties should not only condemn such acts;
they should take stern action against the culprits.
In his victory speech on Saturday the 6th of November 2010 President
Kikwete admitted that the performance of some of the opposition
parties posed challenges which cannot be ignored.
This, he admitted, calls for seriously looking at what has been said
and done, including pledges and promises made by the opposition
parties.
This is a very re-assuring response by President Kikwete.
President Kikwete will have to work extra hard to fulfill the numerous
pledges he himself made, in addition to working on some of the
suggestions made by opposition leaders and other stakeholders.
Dr. Slaa is a very forcefull leader who touched the hearts of many
people, especially of those of the lower strata of society. He may
have to temper some of them in the light of resource constraints and
practicability. There is, however, no way one can argue against the
reality that many Tanzanian families are finding it extremely hard to
cope with the cost of living. Some ways of lightening this burden have
to be found. Granted, existing resources may not be adequate to meet
all these challenges. A fresh look at resource availability needs to
be taken. I myself am convinced that extra revenue for the state can
be found with a little bit of determination and resourcefulness.
Q. There has been a clamour by some people for a new constitution.
What is your take on this?
A. This “Clamour” for a new constitution has been there for a long
time now. Personally I am not afraid of taking a fresh look at the
constitution perhaps because I have worked on constitution making for
so long. Taking a fresh look does not mean throwing out lock, stock
and barrel the present constitution.
If a review of the constitution is properly managed and seriously
discussed the exercise need not frighten any one.
There are many provisions in the constitution which can be reviewed
peacefully and successfully.
Perhaps it is more a question of lack of commitment than non-feasibility.
For example, there is an issue of the appropriate electoral system;
the issue of independent candidates in elections and the issue of
Ministers, whether they should be MPs or not.
Starting with the issue of the electoral system;
A good electoral system for Tanzania should attempt to strike a
balance between various concerns; e.g.
(i) It must secure an equitable representation of major segments of
society in parliament by using special instruments, such as special
seats or other relevant means. It is conceded that the “first past the
post” electoral system which Tanzania follows is not a good instrument
for securing a fair representation of various groups in Parliament. So
any new electoral system must take this into consideration;
(ii) The specific relationship between constituents and
representatives which the present system ensures is respected by both
voters and parliamentarians. This good characteristic of the present
system has to be retained somehow;
(iii) It is essential in a multi-party democracy that the political
parties gain representation in Parliament in such a way that the
discrepancies between the share of votes and the share of seats (the
level of proportionality) are not too big and do not favour any one
particular party;
(iv) There is no need of increasing the number of constituencies if
proportional representation is introduced, even if partially.
A reduction of constituencies would also reduce election costs
resulting in substantial savings.
One option would be to reduce the number the existing of
constituencies in order to make room for seats to be allocated on the
basis of proportional representation. An ideal way would be to equate
a constituency to a district. In that way there would be about 135
constituency MPs. This was indeed the system in the 1960’s and 1970s.
The rest would be for proportional representation, including special
seats for women.
Constituency elections have proved to be a notorious agent of corruption.
Another issue to do with elections that has been a subject matter of
extensive comment is the issue of individual candidates in elections.
Various bodies and committees have consistently advocated the
introduction of independent candidates. The Nyalali Report of 1991 was
the first major body to make the recommendation. The Kisanga Committee
followed suit. The Elklit, Bomani, Maina report also strongly
supported the recommendation.
The Father of the Nation, late Mwalimu Nyerere, strongly advocated the
idea in his May Day speech at Mbeya in 1995. The High Court of
Tanzania ruled very clearly on the issue and emphasized the
constitutional right of independent candidates. This is inspite of the
recent problematic ruling of the Court of Appeal.
Some of the fears expressed by opponents of independent candidates are
without foundation. There is no evidence to show that by allowing
independent candidates to contest elections the result would be chaos!
Indeed in many countries where independent candidates are allowed eg.
US, U.K, South Africa, Botswana etc. very few independent candidates
actually make it.
Lastly, there is the emotive issue whether Ministers should be
required to be members of Parliament.
My own view is that they should not, so that the President is able to
choose whomsoever he wants to appoint to assist him, without being
confined to members of Parliament only. The problems associated with
the requirement that Ministers must be Members of Parliament have been
extensively articulated in many forums. Kenya has in its new
constitution removed the requirement that Ministers should come from
MPs. This they have done after extensive research and consultation. I
believe that by removing this requirement the issue of election
corruption will have been reduced to a very large extent. Membership
of Parliament should not be a gateway to being made Minister.
Membership of Parliament should be a gateway to serving and
representing the people of Tanzania. As long as an MP’s adequately
empowered to represent his/her people e.g. by being adequately
remunerated there is no need for him or her to expect mor. In this
regard I do not agree with Dr. Slaa who is advocating the reduction of
Ministers’ and MPs’ salaries. A proper approach is not to reduce
existing salaries but rather to increase salaries that are too low to
meet the essential needs of a human being.
These matters have been talked about for so long with-out anything
being done about them. I believe President Kikwete has both the clout
and the historic opportunity to introduce meaningful economic and
political reform. This would also be a great legacy for President
Kikwete.
Q. What other issues do you think need dealing with at this stage.
A. There are many issues that call for action yesterday.
One of them is the question of governance. Here I am using the word
governance very widely.
There is developing in the country a culture of fraudulent behaviour.
This is to be found not only in the public service, in the form of
corruption and misuse of power and public property, but also in the
private sector eg increasing number of frauds and thefts in banks,
acts of theft by servant generally, etc.
I think Tanzania needs a moral regeneration where being a person of
upright conduct, where professionalism and where honesty and
dedication to hard work generally make the culture of the nation. In a
way some of our media institutions eg television stations screening
programmes, wittingly or unwittingly, which tend to encourage
debauchery and conspicuous spending have tended to erode the African
culture of good conduct and decency.
Why should a young man just given a position of responsibility,
whether in the public or private sector, start thinking of acquiring
property and items that are clearly beyond his or her legimate income.
Our young people need to understand that there is no short cut to
success.
Another thing which is not receiving the attention it deserves is the
question of the population. At independence Tanganyika had a
population of a little more than ten million (10,000,000).
Today the population is a little more than fourfold ie. at around
forty two million (42,000,000) people.
The question to ask ourselves: are we producing enough to match this
rapidly increasing population?
We may build hundreds of schools and health centres but as long as the
population is increasing at a faster rate the demand for more will
never end and the question of better quality schools, better equipped
health centres etc. will remain a mirage.
The country should do more to enlighten the people on the wisdom of
containing the population explosion. Every time I drive through
various parts of Tanzania I get really frightened at the large numbers
of kids, half-clad and hanging around idly by, perhaps having little
to look forward to in life.
This is not only a challenge to Tanzanians generally but also to the
Government in particular; in fact it is a recipe for trouble.
Let’s deliberately build a Tanzania not only of peace but also of hope.