News / National
Draft constitution to be handed over to principals this week
06 Mar 2012 at 23:20hrs | Views
COPAC co-chairpersons and technical experts have completed reviewing the first draft of the proposed new Constitution.
They are expected to handover the draft to the management committee anytime this week.
The draft contains 18 chapters.
The three Copac co-chairpersons confirmed the development yesterday, saying they will table the draft before a full Constitution Select Committee today.
Copac co-chairperson Munyaradzi Paul Mangwana (Zanu-PF) yesterday said they will today table a "corrected document" before handing it over to the Global Political Agreement negotiators.
This comes amid reports that Copac last week made a raft of changes to the draft Constitution after principal drafters inserted information not solicited from the people.
Principals to the GPA last week gave Copac a two-week ultimatum to complete the process.
"We completed the review of all the chapters yesterday (Monday) and we are left with discussing with other Copac members," he said. "We will pass it on to the management committee before it is published. That is when those who were making wrong analysis would see what is in."
Mangwana said outstanding issues will be resolved by the management committee, which was expected to meet yesterday.
"We hope they will meet today (yesterday) to iron out differences as we move closer to the second all-stakeholders' conference. The outcome of their meeting will be part of our draft," he said.
Some of the outstanding issues include devolution of power, the death penalty and dual citizenship.
Co-chairperson Mr Douglas Mwonzora (MDC-T) said the draft will only be published after all the issues have been resolved.
"We have finished reviewing and there are only a few issues that need consultations," he said.
"It is our hope that in a few days' time everything would have been completed so that we move on to the next stage which is the conference."
Co-chairperson Mr Edward Mkhosi (MDC) added: "Everything is going on well and we will soon call the drafters to come and write the final draft and we hope this will be done by next week."
The writing of the new Constitution has been stalled on several occasions because of disagreements among political parties driving the process.
They are expected to handover the draft to the management committee anytime this week.
The draft contains 18 chapters.
The three Copac co-chairpersons confirmed the development yesterday, saying they will table the draft before a full Constitution Select Committee today.
Copac co-chairperson Munyaradzi Paul Mangwana (Zanu-PF) yesterday said they will today table a "corrected document" before handing it over to the Global Political Agreement negotiators.
This comes amid reports that Copac last week made a raft of changes to the draft Constitution after principal drafters inserted information not solicited from the people.
Principals to the GPA last week gave Copac a two-week ultimatum to complete the process.
"We completed the review of all the chapters yesterday (Monday) and we are left with discussing with other Copac members," he said. "We will pass it on to the management committee before it is published. That is when those who were making wrong analysis would see what is in."
Mangwana said outstanding issues will be resolved by the management committee, which was expected to meet yesterday.
"We hope they will meet today (yesterday) to iron out differences as we move closer to the second all-stakeholders' conference. The outcome of their meeting will be part of our draft," he said.
Some of the outstanding issues include devolution of power, the death penalty and dual citizenship.
Co-chairperson Mr Douglas Mwonzora (MDC-T) said the draft will only be published after all the issues have been resolved.
"We have finished reviewing and there are only a few issues that need consultations," he said.
"It is our hope that in a few days' time everything would have been completed so that we move on to the next stage which is the conference."
Co-chairperson Mr Edward Mkhosi (MDC) added: "Everything is going on well and we will soon call the drafters to come and write the final draft and we hope this will be done by next week."
The writing of the new Constitution has been stalled on several occasions because of disagreements among political parties driving the process.
Source - TH
