News / National
Provincial governors are set to be scrapped
20 Jan 2013 at 10:57hrs | Views
PROVINCIAL governors are set to be scrapped and replaced with elected chairpersons under a deal reached by President Robert Mugabe and his coalition partners this week.
Devolution was one of the sticking points holding up completion of the new constitution with Zanu PF insisting the country was too small for devolved government and also concerned it might encourage division and secessionism.
But Mugabe met with MDC leaders Morgan Tsvangirai, Arthur Mutambara and Welshman Ncube Thursday and thrashed out compromises over the disputed clauses.
COPAC co-chair, Paul Mangwana told reporters Friday that provincial governors, currently appointed by the President, would be replaced under the new constitution.
"We agreed that there will be no provincial governors with provincial chairpersons coming into effect," he said.
"The provincial chairperson will come from the party with majority seats in that particular province. The chairperson will be elected by the provincial council."
The appointment of the governors was one of the so-called outstanding issues in the implementation of the coalition agreement with Tsvangirai accusing Mugabe of reneging on an agreement for the parties to share the ten gubernatorial posts.
A new prosecuting authority would also be introduced, splitting the office of the Attorney General who will now concentrate on advising Cabinet.
"We split it into two and the Attorney-General will be the advisor to Government. He will sit in Cabinet and the office of the prosecuting authority will be led by the Prosecutor General," Mangwana said.
The parties also endorsed the proposal for Presidential running mates although this would only come into effect after ten years.
"On running mates, the parties resolved that they would only be effected after 10 years from the day the new Constitution comes into place," Mangwana added.
"Before those 10 years, if a presidential vacancy arises, the party of the departed president will provide a successor within 90 days. After those 10 years, the issue of running mates will come into play."
The Zanu PF official however dismissed claims that the powers of the Presidency had also been significantly reduced.
"The President retains his powers and on the issue we came with a clause that stated that the executive powers of the Republic (of Zimbabwe) vests in the President who, subject to this constitution, shall exercise the same powers through his Cabinet," he said.
"It means the President can exercise power on his own and sometimes does that through his Cabinet. Nothing has been taken away from the President because he is the one who appoints his Cabinet and can hire or fire a Cabinet member anytime."
But Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Eric Matinenga, added: "There should also be checks and balances on what the President does and thus we agreed that there are instances where the President should not act alone but should do so with the approval of a two thirds majority of Parliament."
The draft constitution will now be finalised before being put to a referendum, leading to new elections.
Devolution was one of the sticking points holding up completion of the new constitution with Zanu PF insisting the country was too small for devolved government and also concerned it might encourage division and secessionism.
But Mugabe met with MDC leaders Morgan Tsvangirai, Arthur Mutambara and Welshman Ncube Thursday and thrashed out compromises over the disputed clauses.
COPAC co-chair, Paul Mangwana told reporters Friday that provincial governors, currently appointed by the President, would be replaced under the new constitution.
"We agreed that there will be no provincial governors with provincial chairpersons coming into effect," he said.
"The provincial chairperson will come from the party with majority seats in that particular province. The chairperson will be elected by the provincial council."
The appointment of the governors was one of the so-called outstanding issues in the implementation of the coalition agreement with Tsvangirai accusing Mugabe of reneging on an agreement for the parties to share the ten gubernatorial posts.
A new prosecuting authority would also be introduced, splitting the office of the Attorney General who will now concentrate on advising Cabinet.
The parties also endorsed the proposal for Presidential running mates although this would only come into effect after ten years.
"On running mates, the parties resolved that they would only be effected after 10 years from the day the new Constitution comes into place," Mangwana added.
"Before those 10 years, if a presidential vacancy arises, the party of the departed president will provide a successor within 90 days. After those 10 years, the issue of running mates will come into play."
The Zanu PF official however dismissed claims that the powers of the Presidency had also been significantly reduced.
"The President retains his powers and on the issue we came with a clause that stated that the executive powers of the Republic (of Zimbabwe) vests in the President who, subject to this constitution, shall exercise the same powers through his Cabinet," he said.
"It means the President can exercise power on his own and sometimes does that through his Cabinet. Nothing has been taken away from the President because he is the one who appoints his Cabinet and can hire or fire a Cabinet member anytime."
But Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Eric Matinenga, added: "There should also be checks and balances on what the President does and thus we agreed that there are instances where the President should not act alone but should do so with the approval of a two thirds majority of Parliament."
The draft constitution will now be finalised before being put to a referendum, leading to new elections.
Source - news
