Z`bar Reps divided over Union format

Shamsi Vuai Nahodha

Giving their opinions before the Constitution Review Commission, Members of the House of Representatives of Zanzibar were divided, whereas those from CCM defended the two-government format while those from CUF wanted the treaty format.

Defence and National Service Minister, Shamsi Vuai Nahodha, was of the opinion that the best format of governance is a two-government format which he said would strengthen unity.

He called for a two-parliament system, and a smaller one to look into Union matters, advising also that the presidency be held in turns, for the duration of ten years each.

Nahodha said after the 1964 Union, Zanzibar lost its power to undertake international relations and economic cooperation, so it was high time these matters were studied and looked at and solutions found.

The chairperson of the Constitution Review Commission, Justice Joseph Sinde Warioba, demonstrated his high understanding of Union matters, the division of power and system when he responded to the isle officials calls to separate the hard fought for union.

“If Zanzibar were to be a sovereign state and the same for Tanganyika, then there would be no more union despite a treaty agreement...” he said, addressing a Representative of the Old Stone Town, Ismail Jussa, who called for the establishment of the Treaty union format.

Justice Warioba asked Jussa to cite one or two examples of unions under the Treaty format so that the Commission could study them and make appropriate recommendations.

Though Jussa claimed to have numerous examples, he did not cite any, only saying he would seek further discussion, preferably at a pre-arranged meeting.

Judge Warioba was not satisfied by the response that Jussa had given and requested the Representative tell the Commission how he had prepared himself for the Treaty contract format of the state.

But Jussa stuck to saying the two-government format was bad and that only his proposed Treaty format would be good for the country.

Elaborating further on the deliberations made by Justice Warioba, one of the commissioners, Prof Palamagamba Kabudi, said no intellectual had put forward a draft memorandum showing how a Treaty union format would work better.

Minister for Information, Culture, Tourism and Sports of Zanzibar, Said Ali Mbarouk, conceded that the current union faces a number of challenges because there were non-union matters that were monitored by the Union, contrary to agreements made in 1964.

He cited some of the issues that cause confusion as including tourism, natural resources, information and sports, saying there should be guidelines on how to handle them at the international level.

“Zanzibar once requested membership in FIFA, but this failed and at the same time this is not a Union matter. I think the Treaty union format will help clear such a situation," said Mbarouk.

The Minister for Constitution and Justice of Zanzibar, Machano Othman Said, was in favour of the current format of the Union and suggested that the Zanzibar President should be the Vice President in the Union government.

But he too had suggestions to improve the union saying that there were matters that should be removed from the list of the Union such as higher education, industries, international trade, research, statistics, meteorology, national examinations and the matters of gas and oil.

He further alleged that most of the challenges the country is facing currently resulted from ignoring of the 11 Articles of the Union, instead there was the Union Constitution under which the Tanganyika government was in hiding.

“It's not right that all Union institutions should have their head offices on the Mainland while Zanzibar only holds branches. There is no fair sharing in this, yet the two countries joined to make one state…" said Abubakary.

He cited the example of the country's diplomatic missions saying they were filled with staff from the Mainland, saying that in the US and in China sufficed to demonstrate the point.

Uzini Constituency Representative, Mohamed Raza, was of the opinion that Zanzibar President should have full powers just like the Union President so that he could decide on Zanzibar's membership to join the Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC) and other economic organisations.

The Commission under Warioba is in Zanzibar collecting view and opinions that would be used to formulate the new Constitution.