Tanzanians yearning for a new constitution will have to wait for at least three years for the possible process of drafting new laws to begin.
A government multi-agency meeting resolved recently to carry out a sensitisation campaign between 2023 and 2026 before the supreme law can be changed.
The public awareness exercise, which is aimed at familiarising Tanzanians with the current constitution and picking out possible areas for improvement, will be conducted by the country’s National Agency for Public Education on Constitution.
The team looking into the possible constitutional reforms is made up of former and current government officials in the ministry of justice and constitutional affairs, and former and the current attorney-general.
Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister Damas Ndumbaro has said that it would take at least three years before the drafting of a new constitution starts.
Suluhu’s intervention
Tanzania currently operates under the 1977 constitution.
During former president Jakaya Kikwete’s reign, there was a proposal to change the constitution, but that idea was shelved when John Magufuli assumed office as president in 2015.
In 2021, however, Magufuli’s successor Samia Suluhu revived the push for constitutional reform, and even set up a 23-member task force to lead the exercise.
In previous proposals, there were suggestions to form a three-unit government. The first two were supposed to be Zanzibar and Tanganyika respectively. These two semi-autonomous governments would fall under the federal government called the United Republic of Tanzania.
The proposal was, however, opposed in parliament. The structure of government, citizens’ rights and public officers’ functions are some of the issues that could be reviewed in the new constitution.
