No devolution in new Zim Constitution: Parly

This article was written by Our reporter on 15 May, at 00 : 27 AM

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No devolution in new Zim Constitution: Parly

A Zimbabwe Parliamentary Select Committee has rejected a bid to include devolution of power in the new Constitution.

The two MDC factions had been pushing for such a move to be included in the new constitution that is at the drafting stage.

Zimbabweans also rejected devolution of power during the constitutional outreach programme, saying it was divisive and inappropriate for a unitary State such as Zimbabwe.

Instead, the 25-member committee agreed to have provincial governors elected by an electoral college that includes legislators and local authority representatives from the provinces.

Copac co-chairperson Munyaradzi Paul Mangwana from Zanu-PF yesterday said the provincial structures and functions will be spelt out in an Act of Parliament.

“We have struck common ground on most of the issues that include the issue of having two Vice Presidents and the issue of dual citizenship.

“Most importantly, the provincial structures and functions will be specified in an Act of Parliament and it means that there will be no devolution of power as some other people were advocating.”

He said drafters will meet, starting tomorrow, to incorporate agreed matters.

“We exchanged notes from political parties and the necessary changes have to be factored in before the document is taken to the next stage,” said Mangwana.

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Co-chairperson Douglas Mwonzora from the MDC-T party said Copac will continue incorporating the changes until all parties are satisfied.

“We agreed to approach the drafters so that they can factor in some changes made, but there were agreements on the contentious issue of devolution.

“An Act of Parliament will deal with the rest of the issues on devolution because the parties have got different views over the matter,” he said.

However, sources who attended yesterday’s meeting accused the co-chairpersons of delaying the Constitution-making process.

“There was consternation yesterday among members of the full parliamentary select committee charged with drafting a new Constitution under the GPA following a controversial decision by the co-chairs to reconstitute their ‘co-chairs forum’ to receive and deliberate on the outcome of the reviews of the latest Copac draft Constitution which the three GPA parties, have been doing since May 1.

“The controversial decision was made on the recommendation of Mwonzora and Mangwana who felt that it was better for their co-chairs forum to meet this Thursday and Friday at some secluded place to sift through the comments of the three political parties and to report back a summary of the views to the full select committee on Monday May 21,” a close source said.

Copac was expected to bring finality to the Constitution-making process yesterday.

TH/TZG