The draft Constitution. My half-cooked draft of this week's article sat and sat and sat there and stared at me, amused at my paralysis as I tried to collect some coherent thoughts about the significance of this moment in time. But I spent the writers' block fruitfully listening to public debates and reading some interesting articles to try to get a bead on what kind of debates we're having. Let's just say: wow. There is no way this long-overdue conversation will wrap up by November 2013 unless some tricks get used, and in truth we should resist the urge to hurry it up.
Thankfully, I got this last-minute invite by the Open Society Initiative of East Africa (OSEIA) to tweet a brief meeting discussing three issues in particular viz the draft Constitution: citizenship, natural resources, people living with disabilities. As suspected, the Constitution is like a tightly folded accordion- you think you understand one bit and start teasing it out only for reams and reams of implications, nuances and other factors to spill out all over you. Through the lens of only these three things I got a brief glimpse into the vast and complex business of state. We really have only started scratching the surface of this beast, and it is fascinating.
Anyways, it's always good to learn from people who know what they're talking about when attempting to understand a constitution. The hashtag on Twitter is #oseaikatibatz to give you a taste of the conversation. I'll be tweeting again tomorrow- hopefully recommendations for this particular meeting to offer to the Katiba Commission. And maybe there will be energy left over to put a bit more substance into another post.
Eh, bojo, I see my previous comment didn't go through. What happened to that Katiba anyway? It doesn't to have caught the public imagination but I recall when the Kenyan one was proposed it was all those guys could talk about. Typically Tanzanian!
ReplyDeleteWaitu omushaija, i saw your comment but for some reason it didn't go through. i am laughing a little bit inside maanake i know what you are up to with the record so ofu kozi you had to post again ;)
DeleteActually, the Katiba discussions are continuing until the end of August and they have caught the public attention vibaya sana. But this being TZ as opposed to KE, international media is not interested. Thank goodness.