Dodoma. As the Katiba Assembly winds down week eight, delegates are still deeply divided over the nature and structure of the Union.
Minority representatives to the CA’s select committees continue to push for a 3-government Union structure as proposed in the 2nd Katiba Draft, despite staunch opposition from Majority members.
Minority envoy to CA Select Committee No. 5 David
Kafulila said a federal, 3-tier government structure will actually
strengthen the Union.
The Kigoma South legislator rejects claims that the proposed federal government won’t be able to raise working capital.
A small portion of Tanzania’s customs revenue, he
said, should easily cover the federal government’s Sh 3 trillion annual
budget.
“The federal government could end up in a position
to offer [financial] assistance to the governments of Tanganyika and
Zanzibar,” closed Kafulila.
His argument found scant favor in the CCM-led Katiba House.
Committee 5 deputy chair Assumpter Mshama argued 3 governments will weaken the Union.
In a similar vein, the chairman of CA Select
Committee No. 2 Shamsi Vuai Nahodha said they rejected a Federal
government because they aren’t sure how it will fund itself.
This would put Tanzania in a precarious situation,
he said, where federal authorities are simply too poor to protect the
country’s “vast marine resources.”
“The proposed 3-tier federal government [will] be
too weak to effectively safeguard [Tanzania’s] vast resources in its
Indian Ocean territorial waters.”
For Political Parties representative Emmanuel Makaidi, however, a 3-tier Union structure is inescapable.
A federal system is the only viable option for any progressive, self-respecting democratic state, he said.
SOURCE: THE CITIZEN
A federal system is the only viable option for any progressive, self-respecting democratic state, he said.
SOURCE: THE CITIZEN
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