Story by Bruce Chahwanda, Political Editor
THE 90-day public consultation period for the Constitutional Amendment Number 3 Bill closes this Monday at midnight, paving the way for Parliament to begin formal legislative processes on the proposed amendments.
The conclusion of the consultation window marks the next phase of the constitutional review process, which will now move to Parliament for the collation and assessment of submissions gathered from citizens across the country.
The process will also allow the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs to present the Bill for its First Reading in the National Assembly.
The Constitutional Amendment Number 3 Bill process began following Cabinet approval and the gazetting of the Bill by Speaker of the National Assembly, Advocate Jacob Mudenda, on February 16 this year.
This was followed by a four-day nationwide public consultation exercise conducted across the country.
Political analyst Mr Gabriel Chaibva said the process had demonstrated broad public participation and support.
“I think it is now evident that the Constitutional Amendment Bill No. 3 has received overwhelming support from the generality of our people. And I think it has gone further to demonstrate that it’s unstoppable. That’s what the people of this country want. That is what the ruling party wants. And the generality of Zimbabweans, that is what they want. Political stability, economic development, without the distractions of a perpetual election mode that we have been experiencing for many years, and foreign interference.
“We don’t want continuous electoral processes, cycles that are too short for any economic planning to be done. And extending it to seven years is the best thing that can be done because we don’t want a scenario whereby in the next few years we are back to elections. Two years, for example, you spend quarrelling about the previous election. And you are left with three years to an election. And the last year is a preparatory year. So you only have two in a space of five years. So, seven years will allow economic plans that have been put in place by the Government to be implemented over that period,” he said.
Another political analyst, Mr Elton Ziki, described the process as an example of participatory democracy and constitutional compliance.
“The processes that have been undertaken speak to the democratic evolution that is taking place in fulfilment of the proposed Constitutional Amendment Bill Number 3, and the 90-day period represents participatory democracy, a democratic process of the citizens taking part in the process of formulating the supreme law of the land that is going to govern the land for posterity.
“So in that sense, what we are now looking forward to is the parliamentary process to collate and interpret that information with regard to the quantitative and qualitative outcome. Parliament will then compile its report, which will inform the nature of the debate that is going to take place in the National Assembly and the Senate through the First, Second and Third Readings of the proposed Bill,” he said.
The Constitutional Amendment Number 3 Bill seeks, among other provisions, to extend the electoral cycle for the election of the President, Members of Parliament and councillors from five to seven years, while also proposing the establishment of the Zimbabwe Delimitation Commission.
The Bill further proposes a parliamentary process for the election of the President and grants the Head of State powers to appoint ten senators to broaden the expertise base in the Upper House.
