Initial Reactions to draft constitution of Tanzania

Nicodemus Minde

The first draft of the proposed new constitution of Tanzania has to a large degree captured crucial and fundamental issues that affect our nation. The unveiling of this draft has not only signaled a new dawn, but also reignited in us the values and ethos that make us who we are. We are at the brink of prosperity. I believe in Tanzania, the land of great people, minds and plenty. This blog shall from today, examine in detail specific sections of the proposed draft and critically evaluate the proposals therewith. As pointed before, writing a new constitution and the process itself is a sign of expansive democratic space in Tanzania. We do not take this lightly, we gladly thank the Almighty for his merciful graces. 

The Constitutional Review Commission (CRC) led by retired judge Joseph Warioba, yesterday unveiled the first draft of the proposed new law after months of extensive collection of ideas, proposals and opinions. Warioba pointed out that there were 1942 meetings which were attended by 1.3 million people. A sneak preview of the proposed law, indicates that a substantial amount of effort went through the process. Here are some of the key highlights:

1. The Federal Type of Government (Serikali ya Shirikisho) between two states; Republic of Tanganyika and Peoples' Republic of Zanzibar.

2.  The emphasis that Kiswahili remains the national and official language of communication in all public and government sectors. That English can be used as an official language when need be.

3.  The Gifts of the nation (Tunu za Taifa); They shall include; humanity, patriotism, integrity, unity, transparency, responsibility, and national language. These define who we are.

4.  Ethics and leadership of public servants. A critical section that will curb corruption, graft, nepotism and embezzlement of public money.

5.   Bill of rights- This champions the rights of every Tanzanian, regardless of gender, race, social status, religion, and physical condition. More expansive and detailed. 

6.  Citizenship: Dual Citizenship omitted. 

7.  Structure of the Union: A Federal Type with three governments:                            

• Government of the United Republic of Tanzania
• Government of the Revolutionary Zanzibar
• Government of Tanzania mainland.  

N/B: The structure of the Union shall be discussed in subsequent articles in this blog.

8. The Executive: Not more than fifteen ministers and their assistants. The Ministries shall be in line with the provisions of the constitution and the government in place.The Minister must have attained at least a university degree and will not be an MP from the union parliament, mainland parliament or representative from the Representative Council of Zanzibar. 

9. Parliament: Key areas; There shall be a Union Parliament. An MP shall have a 3 term limit of 5 years, after which he shall be ineligible to run. A recall clause. An MP can be recalled by his constituents if they see he/she is not working as mandated.

10. There shall be a Union Judiciary made up of a Supreme Court and Court of Appeal.

11. An Independent Electoral Commission shall be instituted.

12. There shall be a Ethics, Leadership and Responsibility Commission.

13. There shall also be a National Commission on Human Rights.

Add-ons: Union Matters

1. Constitution and Authority of the United Republic of Tanzania
2. National Security of the United Republic of Tanzania
3. Citizenship and Immigration
4. Money and Central Bank of Tanzania
5. Foreign Affairs
6. Registration of Political Parties and;
7. Taxation of commodities and revenues that do not have tax resulting from union matters.

More on the Draft Constitution in subsequent postings.

See draft of the Proposed Constitution and Further reading here.

 

 

Tanzania's Constitutional Review Commission to release first draft this afternoon

Nicodemus Minde

The Constitutional Review Commission will today unveil the first draft of the proposed new constitution. In this historic event, the CRC will outline the proposed new constitution before a televised live broadcast from Karimjee Hall. Tanzanians wait with baited breathe to see what the new constitutional will be like. After months of intense collection of views, deliberations and critical constitutional review, the Commission chairman Joseph Warioba will present us a proposed new law. The process has been largely successful in terms of citizen engagement, civil society input, political party proposals, inputs by various religious organizations and private citizens. 

Tanzania comes of age in this landmark occasion when the CRC unveils the first draft. The CRC process in itself earmarks the onset of a new constitutional order in the country. Tanzanians wait to see what the draft will say on critical issues such as the union between Tanzania mainland and Tanzania-Zanzibar. Of crucial importance shall be the system of governance and the nature of the union. Will it be a sole unitary state? or will it be a semi structured federal or decentralized state? will it be a two tier government system? This remains the most important section, which if correctly outlined and consented by the people shall either salvage or rock the union. Other crucial elements shall be the powers of the president, which must be trimmed and checked if we really envisage a democratic society. The role of parliament and the where the president shall draw his cabinet is also crucial. Civil liberties and rights of citizens is also of crucial importance. The rights of disabled members of society, inclusivity, increased democratic space among many are also areas that the draft should address.

Another very important segment that the draft should address is the role of provincial administration. The provincial administration has for decades been used as a ruling party arm where retired army generals who are CCM bigwigs, use the office as a CCM machinery for controlling regional resources. 

The issue of curbing the ever increasing religious intolerance should also be addressed. I trust that the draft will meet the expectations of the Tanzanian people. God bless Tanzania!      

Obama says drones "legal and effective"

Nicodemus Minde

US President Barack Obama has defended the drone attacks as effective, legal and just. In a major foreign policy speech, the President said that the drone have been a major tool for the US war on terror. This speech comes after the US AG, Eric Holder admitted that the drones have in previous occasions killed American citizens. The drones have also claimed the lives of innocent children and women in Pakistan and Yemen. Although the US claim that the drones target specific individuals, there is no doubt that many other civilians fall prey into the aftermath of the attacks. 

The Legacy of Kenneth Waltz: How he changed International Relations

By BarryR. Posen via Foreign Policy Magazine

Kenneth Waltz made critical contributions to the development of international relations theory, the debate on U.S. foreign and security policy, and the training of a new generation of international relations scholars. In the course of these contributions he has also served as a model of clarity of expression and logical argument. 

Waltz's first critical contribution to international relations theory was his elucidation of the "levels of analysis" problem in Man, the State, and War. The categorization of explanatory theories into ones that respectively stress the role of human nature; state-level political, economic, and social systems; or the anarchical condition of international politics has proven a critical building block of modern international relations theory. 

Through his exploration of theories at different levels of analysis, Waltz took the first giant step of his theoretical career. Even readers who do not wish to take the same step find the path illuminating. Waltz poses two major questions: If bad humans are the cause of war, why is there so much peace? If bad states (or societies, or economies) are the cause of war, why are so many good states implicated in wars? Why does war persist despite variation in the nature of the states and societies that make up the international system? Waltz suspected that classical realism and balance of power theory would tell us something about this -- but at that point he could not quite put his finger on it. 

The device of "levels of analysis" has become a ready element of our vocabulary about international relations theories. It travels well. Even novices quickly grasp its utility, and find themselves better able to organize both their own and others' arguments after a brief introduction. More importantly, Man, the State, and War makes the case that there must be something distinctly "international" about international politics, which Waltz suspected could be traced to the absence of a sovereign. The book maps out a space that subsequent theorists, including Waltz, would then need to fill. After we read the book, we know this. Some may disagree with Waltz's subsequent arguments about the share of international politics that can be explained by "third image" -- or system-level -- theories, but none can dismiss them. 

Waltz's second contribution to international relations theory is to be found in Theory of International Politics. There, Waltz distills the product of years of thinking about the "third image." He develops the distinctive concept of "international structure" as the distinguishing feature of the international political system. Structure is the minimalist device that captures the basic causal forces and variables of the international political system. Structure is made up of an organizing principle (anarchy) and the distribution of capabilities (polarity). From that, Waltz deduces many of the characteristic patterns of behavior one should find in the relations among autonomous actors. Though Waltz overlooked certain possibilities, such as unipolarity, and left much room for argument about some of his specific deductions, one cannot come away from Theory without a keen appreciation of the constraints and incentives imposed upon states by the condition of anarchy. These lead to the competitive behaviors that are so familiar. 

Kenneth Waltz was one of the most influential international relations scholars of the last half-century. Even if he had produced no students, his books would stand as rocks in the road. Nobody trying to understand international politics can avoid them. But Kenneth Waltz did produce many students, who built on his work in their own scholarship, further refining the realist model. Even international relations theories based on other premises must engage with structural realism. Kenneth Waltz found what was international about international politics and built the foundations of the field.

Man, State and War: Thank you Kenneth Waltz, now Rest in Peace

Nicodemus Minde 

As a student of International Relations and an aspiring theorist of the discipline, the news of the passing of Kenneth Waltz is sad. This guru embodied the neo-realist theory throughout his great academic history. Ken was the author of several enduring classics of the field, including Man, the State, and War (1959), Foreign Policy and Democratic Politics (1967),  and Theory of International Politics (1979).   His 1980 Adelphi Paper on nuclear proliferation ("The Spread of Nuclear Weapons: More May Be Better"), was also a classic, albeit a controversial one. 

Kenneth Waltz

As a first year student at the university studying International Relations, Ken's works came in handy. We dissected and unpacked various theories of IR. Theorist such as Hans Morgenthau, the father of realism were introduced to us with the monumental piece of "Politics Among Nations". Others such as E.H Carr, Thucydides, Niccolo Machiavelli also epitomized the realist discourse. The epistemology and ontological points of departure came in handy when unpacking the theory debate. This being said, Kenneth Waltz remains my all time favorite theorist in International Politics. I have read his book "Man, State and War" and it together with the monumental seminal work on foreign policy of "Essence of Decision: Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis by Graham T Allison remain as my all time favorite reads in international relations. 

 

In essence, Waltz's thesis in the book "Man, State and War" is on the causes of war in a contextual framework of the man and society. Using units of analysis, Kenneth Waltz divides international relations theory into three images: that of man, state and system. He looks at the three images vis-a-vis each other and forms his theoretical premise of the causes of war. Interesting in this reading was his analysis of man within a polity or society. He asks "Can man be best understood by studying society or by studying man?" His analysis is premised on the conception that man is born good but it is society that erodes their character. 

 

Writing recently on nuclear deterrence in Iran and the politics of the bomb, Kenneth Waltz reminded us of his unique analytical skills.  In Foreign Affairs magazine, Professor Kenneth N. Waltz says it is time to back off and let Ahmadinejad develop his nuclear weapons. I wrote in this blog before on Waltz's perspective. He believed that a nuclear Iran will bring stability in the Middle East region. Just the standoff between India and Pakistan that cooled down through nuclear deterrence, Waltz believed Iran-Israel tensions could be healed this way. 

 

I eulogize Kenneth Waltz's on his excellent and critical formulation of IR theories and events. I have never met his in person but through his great works. He introduced me to the discipline that is International Relations. We debated and argued on the images as conceived by Waltz in class both at undergraduate and graduate studies. My analytical skills within the corpus of IR have largely been influenced by this great scholar. In scholarship, one is acclaimed and despised in equal measure but for me, Waltz remains one of my great mentors.   

US and Russia in Syria talks

Via Al Jazeera

The United States and Russia have agreed to push both sides in Syria to find an end to the bloodshed, offering to hold an international conference in search of peace. In talks which stretched late into the night, US Secretary of State John Kerry met first for more than two hours with President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday and then for a further three with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

"We agreed that Russia and the United States will encourage both the Syria government and opposition groups to find a political solution," Lavrov told reporters at a concluding news conference that ended after midnight. Hopefully by the end of May the two ministers working together could convene an international conference to build on the Geneva accord agreed by world powers last June for a peaceful solution in Syria, they said.

Mlipuko Kanisa la Katoliki Arusha

Poleni watu wa Kanisa Katoliki la Olasiti. Huo mlipuko ni dalili mbaya kwa nchi yetu Tanzania. Mungu aturehemu turudie amani. Habari kuhusu mkasa huu bado ni finyu.