Cash shortage threatens constitutional reform
BULAWAYO – The government is yet to secure full funding for the constitutional reform process, casting further doubt on the exercise to write a new governance charter for Zimbabwe that is set to resume on Monday after delays this week.
Sources at Parliament, which is leading constitutional reforms, said a further US$17 million needed to be raised for the second and third phases of the reform process.
The constitutional reform process is in three phases with the first phase set to be completed this week when the all-stakeholders’ conference is held in Harare on Monday and Tuesday. Our sources estimated the final bill for the first phase of the reforms at US$2 million.
The government indicated at the beginning of the process that it would need US$19 million to write a new constitution but also made it clear it would have to scrounge around for the money.
Constitutional Affairs Minister Eric Matinenga conceded last week that the government still needed to raise more funds for the constitutional exercise; the second attempt by Zimbabweans to try to write a governance charter for the country after the first attempt flopped in 2000.
“We are in the process of sourcing for funds and we are raising the money as we go and the fact that not all the money is needed all at once means we will raise the funds as we go on,” Matinenga said.
He did not disclose the figures the government was looking to raise or from where exactly the money would come. However, the minister indicated that the government had approached some donors he did not name for help.
Under the Global Political Agreement (GPA) signed by Zimbabwe’s three main political parties last year and that led to formation of unity government last February the country should have a new and democratic constitution by mid next year.
New elections for president, parliament and local government will be held after the new constitution is promulgated.
But divisions within the parliamentary committee leading the reform process and a lack of a ready source of funding could delay or even totally derail the exercise especially after members of President Robert Mugabe’s ZANU PF party forced postponement of a key stakeholders’ conference to Monday.
ZANU PF members of the committee had even attempted to have the reform postponed indefinitely but faced resistance from MDC legislators.
In demanding postponement of the conference, ZANU PF said there was need to determine who were the stakeholders to send representatives to the key convention and also said logistical matters had to be ironed out before delegates could start travelling from around the country to Harare
ZANU PF has also demanded that the new constitution should be based on a draft constitution secretly authored in 2007 by that party and the two MDC formations on Lake Kariba and known as the Kariba Draft.
Critics say the document leaves untouched the wide-sweeping powers that Mugabe continues to enjoy even after formation of a unity government with Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara.
A source at Parliament said there were donors waiting in the wings with funds for constitutional reforms but said they could be dissuaded from bankrolling the exercise by what he described as “ZANU PF’s infuriating antics”.