AS President Jakaya Kikwete prepares to address the Constituent Assembly (CA) on Friday, some members of the House from the opposition and a section of 201 members from social groups are reportedly planning to disrupt the occasion.
Reliable sources have confided to this newspaper that the members, through a recently-formed group, “Umoja wa Katiba ya Wananchi (UKAWA),” loosely translated as the Union of People’s Constitution, plan to disrupt the occasion as they did on Monday when the Chairman of the Constitutional Review Commission (CRC), Judge (Rtd) Joseph Warioba was about to table the second draft of the constitution.
UKAWA is made up of members from opposition parties and some members from the 201 group. It has so far been confirmed that it is just a fraction of the 201 that are part of the pressure group.
“Their aim is to stop President Kikwete from delivering his speech, which Tanzanians are eagerly waiting for,” the sources said. It is understood that the ring leaders of the planned disruption have been summoned by authorities and warned on the consequences, should they continue with their plans to disrupt the historic event.
“They were warned and told their behaviours did not match with those of responsible public leaders of their calibre,” the sources said. According to the sources, the ‘crooked’ members are also planning to disrupt the occasion to prolong their stay in the designated capital as a strategy of making more money in terms of allowances.
The session is scheduled to sit for 70 days, but the days can be increased to 90 if the House does not finish its work within 70 days.
“What they want is to ensure that the session does not finish its task within the 70 days so that they get additional 20 days, they do not have national interests at heart but rather bent on greedy of making money,” the sources said.
Judge Warioba was forced to table the second draft on Tuesday after members of the pressure groups interrupted the sessions on Monday evening as they stood in protest and started shouting at the top of their voices, forcing the CA Chairman, Mr Samuel Sitta, to prematurely suspend the session.
The members were opposed to the decision by Mr Sitta to call Judge Warioba to address the House before President Kikwete had addressed the CA. They were also contesting that the twohour period allocated for Judge Warioba was not enough.
Mr Sitta had then to convene a reconciliation meeting, bringing together leaders of political groups and the other special groups in which they agreed to resolve the issue. Meanwhile, Constituent Assembly (CA) Chairman, Samwel Sitta, last night issued a strong warning against misbehaving members, threatening stern disciplinary measures against them.
“We have fixed 16 strong tele-cameras inside here that record all conduct, including troublemaking. The recorded clips shall be submitted to the standing orders committee,” said Mr Sitta.
He added that he was also contemplating to play such clips in some public TV stations for people to see and judge the behaviour of their representatives. Mr Sitta’s warning came following concern over plans by some misguided members to cause a commotion during President Jakaya Kikwete address to the assembly on Friday.
In another development, members have been implored to behave and demonstrate a high degree of respect when the president addresses the assembly. In a contribution, Mr Mark Mwandosya urged fellow members to refrain from chaotic behaviour in the presence of the Union president.
Mr James Mbatia assured the chairman and the assembly as a whole that there was no plan to cause any kind of commotion as it had been rumoured here yesterday.
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