Kubatana.net ~ an online community of Zimbabwean activists

Lessons from Kenya: The Referendum

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Wednesday, August 25th, 2010 by Bev Clark

The Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) has just issued the following press statement:

ZESN sent a delegation to Kenya to draw lessons on the constitutional review process and the referendum. Kenya has come a long way on its journey in making a new constitution and finally on the 4th of August 2010, the Kenyans voted for a new constitution. Kenya shares a number of similarities with Zimbabwe, namely that both were British colonies in the past, both have had a Lancaster House Constitutions, and more importantly that both currently have power sharing governments that emanated from the contested elections results. They also experienced post-election violence after their polls. Similar to Zimbabwe as part of the power sharing settlement they had to make a new constitution before elections which are scheduled in 2012 after all the laws had been made.

While the two countries share some similarities, they are unique in a number of ways. Notwithstanding these unique attributes, a number of lessons can be drawn from the Kenyan experience and this statement provides reflections on the lessons we can draw from the Kenyan experience.

* In their efforts to draft a new constitution, the Kenyans did not begin from scratch. They built on the progressive aspects of previous drafts such as the Bomas draft, the Guy draft and the Naivasha drafts, all drafts which had failed to sail through but from which they were able to sift through and get the positive aspects.
* There was a commitment from the onset that Kenyans would do participate in the referendum meaningfully. This was ensured through the provision of civic education by the Committee of Experts and the civic society groups.
* A Committee of Experts was set up to be in charge of the drafting of a new constitution and this committee was responsible for taking submissions from the public in written form. After this process, the committee presented the first draft to the citizens to make comments on. It is interesting to note the stage at which the people participated in the process. Drafts of the constitutions were disseminated in a number of languages and millions of copies were circulated for people to make their submissions.
*  Kenya had a clear road map for the review process and there were timeframes for each activity that were adhered to, hence they were able to keep the timeframe for the drafting of the new constitution and putting it to referendum within the agreed timeframes.
* More importantly, the constitution review process for Kenya was rooted in an act of parliament entitled the Constitution of Kenya Review Act of 2008 which provided benchmarks for the constitution making process and the manner in which it would be done. In addition, Kenya had comprehensive referendum regulations which had been made by the newly sworn in Interim Independent Electoral Commission (IIEC), an Electoral Code of Conduct and an Election Offences Act for political parties enshrined in an Act of Parliament. All these legal provisions provided for a transparent and open process that increased the credibility, openness, transparency and inclusiveness of the review process and the IIEC.
* There was a strong political will to follow the provisions of the legal framework that had been put in place for the review process. ZESN noted that all stakeholders were consulted in all processes; there was constant dialogue and collaboration between the IIEC, civic society, media, and the Committee of Experts. This solid relationship made processes such as accreditation of observers less cumbersome.
* The success of the referendum was a function of number of factors. There was the political will to follow the spirit of the laws that had been enacted specifically for the constitutional review process.
* Violence early warning systems were put in place by civic society organisations to provide early warnings for possible violent hotspots and deter the ensuing of violence. These were published in state and private media.
* The IIEC ensured that over 10000 observers were accredited for the referendum in order to protect the integrity of the vote.
* Agents for the green (groups in support of the constitution) and reds (groups opposed to the draft constitution) were accredited to monitor the processes.
* Campaigns for the constitution and against the constitution were closely monitored for the presence of hate speech and any aspects that violated the Electoral Offences Act.
* Results were announced timeously and in some polling stations counting was done live on television. The process of tabulating results was open and results were announced with 48 hours.
* While there was opposition to the draft constitution especially on issues of abortion and Islamic courts these issues did not take away the fact that the Kenyan constitution was a progressive document   crafted in an inclusive and participatory manner by all stakeholders.

In conclusion, ZESN observed that the constitution review process in Kenya was grounded in a solid legal framework with benchmarks that provided timelines and specifications for the conduct of the process. Processes were not left to chance. In additions, institutions responsible for the review and the conduct of the referendum that is the committee of experts and the IIEC respectively were independent in the carrying out of their mandate and were open to the scrutiny of civil society and all stakeholders.

Pity the University Students and Graduates

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Tuesday, August 24th, 2010 by Marko Phiri

Everyone knows by now that Zimbabwe’s education has deteriorated to levels that will be tough to reverse without any radical policy changes. Other commentators have however opined that until there is a new political dispensation, we cannot expect any real change for the better, which could in effect rather ominously mean these woes will be with us indefinitely – of course with the post-September 2008 political power games being read as pointers to predict the country’s future. Others have pointed at the diamond windfall as just what the doctor ordered to fix the abject education and health services, but inveterate pessimists who know gemstones in the hands of an African politician are not holding their breath.

There still is unabated brains flight in the country’s once awed institutions of higher learning as academics apply for or are offered staff development programmes outside the country but never return to their varsities. And with good reason, some would say. Meanwhile, students who graduate with what have been mocked as unbaked degrees return as teaching assistants, something that would be frowned upon by serious academics. But then this can be found all over the whole education sector here where unqualified teachers are taking children for their O’ and A’ level classes and straight to university!

As we speak, for the umpteenth time the opening of some varsities has been pushed further and some students are already saying they are imagining the academic year may well begin in December when classes should have begun this month. I know a number of National University of Science and Technology students who have left for South Africa as they say they cannot just sit and wait for the unknown. While they have said they will be coming as soon as they are informed that classes have started, such stories have been heard before with many abandoning their studies altogether after having found jobs during their sojourn. All this despite the fact that once upon a time getting an opportunity to study at university was literally embraced with both hands as it was a guarantee that one was set for life. Now students abandon their studies without any second thoughts, after all they are failing to pay their fees, so why pay the exorbitant fees only to have lecturers absent from their posts? It makes sense then to exchange one’s academic cap for hustling in the mean streets of Johannesburg when a degree ought to provide one with a middle class lifestyle – at least in a normal economy.

Zimbabwean students themselves attending university here are witnessing how standards have gone down and one quipped that while some are quitting their studies and complain that they is no learning going on to give weight and meaning to “degree”, she will stick it out as long as in the end she gets that piece of paper that says she went to university and has “qualifications.” But the circumstances of young people who have university education become heart-rending when other countries we always thought viewed our education with awe become “suspicious” of these university degrees and have second thoughts about employing a Zimbabwean graduate.

A young man told a sad story recently about how his “degree” failed to get him a job in South Africa. You see, he got a degree from one of the “state universities” that were once teacher training institutions, but prospective employers in South Africa told him they did not recognise his institution and therefore his degree. He reports he was told the only Zimbabwean degree these people would accept would be from the University of Zimbabwe, but also with reservations. And their reasons? There is no meaningful education going on in Zimbabwe’s universities! How’s that coming from a bunch of people whose education standards is something people here have always mocked?  Now the young man is back in the country clueless about what to do with his future despite having invested four years of his life studying toward his now useless degree. The superiority of Zimbabwean education is no doubt under scrutiny not just among Zimbabweans themselves, but also in the region if not across the globe and the unfortunate part is that young people who enter university and those who acquire other tertiary qualifications have their sights set on regional and overseas job markets as there are no employment opportunities here to match their “qualifications.” So where does that leave them? Skills development is no doubt every nation’s richest investment that overlaps generations but Zimbabwe’s circumstances raise the spectre of diminished returns, after all students are already virtually teaching each other and graduates being produced out of those “interactions.”  The list of top 500 universities in the world was released recently and some watchers did not even bother to check where ours are placed.

When I write – who can shut me up?

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Tuesday, August 24th, 2010 by Delta Ndou

In Africa, a woman writer is a revolutionary. In writing, the woman writer abdicates the role of being the silent spectator and dares to speak.

In patriarchal Africa, a woman speaking up or speaking at all is a revolutionary, going against the grain, intruding into the space otherwise reserved for her male counterparts – the space to define reality, to critique what is, to celebrate or to denigrate, to demand an audience where one would otherwise be denied.

For every woman who writes, presumes that she has an audience and that in itself – is a radical idea. A woman writer presumes that what she has to say is important, that her view and her voice matters and in writing she claims this space – the space to both speak and to be heard.

So when I write, who is going to shut me up?

The act of writing requires audacity, tenacity and above all, a commitment to one’s work, passion and destination.

To many; writing is an end in itself but to me, writing is a tool, a weapon I wield in a world that does not ordinarily afford women a voice. So of necessity, my writing is mostly protest.

In fact, I believe that my work is more political than it is artistic. It is political in the sense that it challenges the status quo. It is political in the sense that it interrogates social stratification.

It is political in the sense that it examines the power relations that obtain within society – relations that are largely determined by who has resources and who lacks them.

It is political in the sense that it scrutinizes who has choices and who has none, who has options and who has none, who has a voice and who is denied one.

So I write to protest. I write to disagree.

I write to simply state that I think otherwise. I write to flip to the other side of the coin.

In my writing I identify myself as a feminist. I do not make apologies for it. Because feminism as an ideological position reaffirming what I identify with – the pursuit for social justice for women in a world where patriarchy legitimizes the conditions of our subjugation.

What’s the definition of a Zimbabwean hero?

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Thursday, August 19th, 2010 by Bev Clark

SOUTHERN AFRICAN POLITICAL ECONOMY SERIES

Fortnightly Seminars Series on

POLICY DIALOGUE PROGRAMME

Thursday 19 August 2010
5pm – 7pm SAPES Seminar Room
4 Deary Avenue, Belgravia, Harare

NATIONAL INTEREST, NATIONAL INSTITUTIONS AND NATIONAL HEROES; DEFINITION, STATUS AND FUNCTION?

Presenter: Obert Gutu, MP and Deputy Minister of Justice, Government of Zimbabwe

Discussant: Ibbo Mandaza, SAPES Trust

Chair: Cyril Ndebele, Former Speaker, Parliament of Zimbabwe

ALL WELCOME

SAPES Seminar Club Membership Forms available at seminar.

NB.  $10 entrance fee is charged for non-members.

No police required in Zimbabwean polling stations

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Wednesday, August 18th, 2010 by Bev Clark

The Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) has issued a statement on the role of the Zimbabwe Police Force in elections. Check it out:

18 August 2010 – Harare – This statement is a response to an article that appeared on the 13th of August 2010 in the Zimbabwe Independent on the opposition to electoral reforms by the Police Commissioner General Augustine Chihuri.

Earlier this year political parties in the GNU agreed to reform electoral laws in Zimbabwe and this included among others a change in the role of the police in electoral processes. The three political parties in the inclusive government agreed to restrict the role of the police in electoral processes to maintaining law and order outside the polling stations as per international standards.

ZESN welcomed this development as the police’s role in previous elections overstepped the boundaries of maintaining law and order.

ZESN has over the years raised concern about the presence of the police in the polling stations which it views as intimidatory. The electoral insecurity argument that the Commissioner is allegedly proffering in his reported efforts to stall electoral reforms is blind to a number of issues pertaining to the role of the police in enhancing electoral democracy.  It is outside the polling station that voters are barred from entering the polling station. Police presence outside the polling station will aid in restraining political parties that campaign within 100 meters of the polling station. In addition, the deployment of the police outside the polling station will deter other forms of electoral irregularities similar to those that took place in June 2008 such as the recording of names of voters by some political parties.

Further, past elections have shown that electoral insecurity takes place well before and after voting while polling days have been largely peaceful, making the insecurity argument even weaker. ZESN seeks to reiterate that the role of the police in providing security to citizens has not been effectively executed as shown by the partial manner in dealing with cases of political violence in the past. The many complaints by victims of political violence between March and June 2008 that they did not get police protection for their persons and property but rather that they were arrested and prosecuted at the instance of their attackers made the electoral changes attractive.

Assisting voters:

In previous elections the role of the police in electoral processes has been contentious as it went beyond maintaining law and order to being present in the polling stations and being present when assisted voters were voting. ZESN has since welcomed the move to remove police presence when assisted voters where casting their vote and further recommended that those who are illiterate bring a trusted friend or relative to assist them and braille ballot papers for the visually impaired.

Postal voting:

In addition, the postal vote has been a thorny issue as the vote has been free from observer scrutiny and has been shrouded in secrecy. The application process has not been transparent and this lack of transparency has extended to the actual voting on issues that relate to the number of people in the security sector that will be eligible for postal voting, the number of ballot papers distributed, the actual voting process and counting of votes and the documented partisan pre-election statements by the Commissioner General.

The proposed reforms that provide for police officers to vote two days prior to polling are a welcome development that can foster transparency. There is no need for the police to vote thirty days before the poll as this removes confidence in the integrity of the process as it allows for tampering with ballot boxes and the outcome of the election. While the police sector was not audited, there is evidence that not all police officers need to be deployed outside the areas where they vote and so can vote in their respective areas where they are based.

ZESN recommends special voting as the case in most countries and not postal voting for the police. Voting that takes place two days before the election and which is also open to ZEC officials, the body that is mandated to run elections in Zimbabwe. We recommend that this process must be transparent and open to observation as well by both domestic and international observers and political parties. In the past postal voting took place before the accreditation of observers, which resulted in an opaque process that lends itself to much speculation, criticism and controversy, which damages the credibility of the country’s elections.

Members of the police as election officials:

ZESN is concerned with the fact that in the past police commanders have been engaged as presiding officers. The role of presiding over elections is best carried out by civilians and not the security sector. The role of the security sector in elections is to promote peace and ensure that the will of the people prevails. An independent and well resourced ZEC must be allowed free and unrestricted mandate to run the entire election while arms of government only play a supportive and not a participatory role. History has lessons.

It is against this backdrop that ZESN strongly condemns the proposed return of the police officers inside polling stations during polling and the use of police and security commanders as presiding officers when the police and military vote. ZESN continues to advocate for comprehensive electoral reforms that includes media reforms; security reforms; an overhaul of the voters’ roll; the creation of a conductive election environment; and transparency and accountability in the whole electoral process.

What’s up with Misihairabwi-Mushonga?

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Monday, August 16th, 2010 by Bev Clark

We featured an article on aid and NGOs in one of our Kubatana newsletters recently. Seems like the MDC’s Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga wants the government to monitor and audit the activities of NGOs in Zimbabwe.

All well and good but surely it should work both ways? When do Zimbabwean citizens ever encounter any accountability and transparency from the Unity Government? Like, for example, audited accounts of how revenue from toll gates is used? Or how revenue from City of Harare advertising is used?

Donors require strict financial and programming reporting from the beneficiaries of their funding. If NGOs don’t comply or perform to these high standards they lose their funding. Meanwhile, the Unity Government of which Ms Misihairabwi-Mushonga is a part of, seems to believe that they stand apart from any checks and balances.

Some of our subscribers responded like this:

Why does government all of a sudden want donors to account for its money? Do we know how government uses its funds; which by the way, come from tax payers? Why would government expect donors to be accountable to them when government itself is not accountable to its own citizens? I do not think this is a good move on the part of government, especially now when there is a dire need for funds and government is failing to meet its obligations. NGOs are providing the much-needed food, clean water, agricultural inputs to citizens. Government has clearly failed to meet its obligations. Look what happened in 2008 when we had the cholera outbreak. UNICEF and other NGOs moved in and provided clean water and treatment. Right now clinics are functioning, obviously thanks to NGOs, which ever ones they are. So, is this another example of government shooting itself in the foot?  It does not make sense for a man to start harassing someone who is feeding his family when he has no capacity to do so himself. Minister Misihairabwi-Mushonga should tell us the real reasons for this requirement; she surely does not expect us to believe that this is the norm everywhere in the world? Even if it is, other countries are normal with normal governments. We on the other hand, have a dysfunctional government and one would hardly describe our situation as normal. I hope the Minister does not think that we are all so stupid we would think government is worried about us-we know they are not, ZANU PF or MDC.

I do agree  with Jona Mapako who responded on ZimIand forum saying . . . I think the minister has lost it. The government can only decide where its own money goes. The fact that there are donors reflects failure on government’s part to care for its citizens. This however is very true . our country has made head lines not because of anything but our corrupt politicians whose corrupt minds and actions led to the fall of the Zimbabwean dollar. Channeling all funds to the government will only misuse this money just as they always do. Chakatanga ndicho chakachenjedza to hell with them wanting to own everything. Minister Priscilla is beginning to sound  Zanu pf or has she been promised something in all this. Is she being controlled by someone? “We try to put aid where it’s most effective, and I don’t believe having a rule that says everything must be one way or another. As it stands right now the bulk of our aid goes directly to communities and goes through NGOs,” as said. By the US Ambassador is very true. I believe there is nothing wrong with this. Even the Bible says there is more joy in giving than in receiving but rest assured if your efforts are directed to the wrong destination then you simply have not achieved your goal which is to help. My conclusion is NO to government control over the funds. Them controlling the NGO’s is okay but not their activities and funds.

I think the minister is very right, the government should know who the donors are dealing with, in a way it’s a matter of national security. This is our country Zimbabwe and it is the government which acts as custodian of our safety, our peace, and our resources. It is therefore prudent for them, as custodians, to know everything that transpires within or outside the boarders of Zimbabwe as long as it has a bearing on the life of any Zimbabwean. Whether it is aid or what, the government has to know because they are answerable to us, citizens of this beautiful country, Zimbabwe.  I salute the stance taken by Madam Honourable Minister.

I second the notion that the Minister, (Misihairabwi-Mushonga) has lost it, and has lost it big time. I am sure she has come along a saying which goes like, “beggars are not choosers”.Honestly , have they thought of what would happen if those donors decide to pull out?

Decision on NGOs threatens Western aid

A government decision to police non-governmental organisations working in Zimbabwe threatens future support from Western countries whose funds have been critical in curbing humanitarian disasters, a top diplomat has said.

Regional Integration and International Cooperation minister Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga said the government last week told donors and ambassadors from donor countries that they should inform government of their activities, total funding into the country and the non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that they were working with.

But the United States (US), which is one of Zimbabwe’s biggest donors, warned yesterday that such a move would be disastrous, mainly because it was not practical to make such demands when donors were doing their best under the current environment where their options were limited due to restrictions levelled against some people in the inclusive government.

However, Misihairabwi-Mushonga insisted that donors and NGOs should abide by the rules and regulations government has set out for donor funding. Misihairabwi-Mushonga, who chairs the recently set up Government Development Forum in which 10 ministers sit with donors and ambassadors to discuss policy and problematic issues regarding donor funding, said government should be the dominant player in aid co-ordination and aid-distribution. She said she would soon be compiling a database of the total number of donors and the NGOs in the country, programmes that they finance, size and quantity of funding and the criteria they use to select their beneficiaries.

“It is the government that defines where aid should go. We now require everyone in the country to inform us about their aid work, how much they are spending and which areas they are working on. Right now we don’t know and are not sure who is doing what or working with whom and through which NGOs,” said Misihairabwi-Mushonga.

However, US Ambassador to Zimbabwe Charles Ray told the Zimbabwe Independent yesterday that he did not believe in a government dictating rules on how they should operate, adding that what worked at the moment, because of the restrictions on Zimbabwe, was to channel aid through NGOs or directly to communities.

“We try to put aid where it’s most effective, and I don’t believe having a rule that says everything must be one way or another. As it stands right now the bulk of our aid goes directly to communities and goes through NGOs,” he said.

“The essential philosophy of US aid and the way I influence wherever I work is… I refuse to have someone write a set of rules and tell me that I must follow those rules, I look for what works.”

Misihairabwi-Mushonga said what they are doing is the accepted norm in any country in the world. “They have to know that they are dealing with a country which has a government and they will have to follow certain rules. They can’t just operate in this country the way they want.”

Source: Faith Zaba, The Zimbabwe Independent