President of Zanzibar and Chairman of Revolutionary Council.
CC
The Speaker,
The houses of Zanzibar representatives,
Cc
Members of the House of Representatives,
RE: ENQUIRY ASKED PURSUANT TO INSTRUCTION OF THE PROCEDURE OF REFRUNDEMS OF THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF ZANZIBAR.
We would refer you to an extant determination (an Amendment proposed of Zanzibar disputed implementation of the articles of union between republic of Tanganyika and the people’s republic of Zanzibar has merger of the united republic of Tanzania.
Prevail in either 2014 or 2015) which directs the preparation of legislation to enable the Zanzibar States to hold Referenda. With this in mind, could you please advise us as to where the States currently stand in regard to the ability to hold Referendum and when do you envisage all the necessary mechanisms being in place in order for the Zanzibar States to do so?
There is currently no provision in law for the holding of referendums in union matters in all federation countries has merger of republic of Tanzania providentially Zanzibar has rules for blessed referendums.
On the currents of Constituent Assembly the States considered union of Tanzania are controvertible and illegitimate due so Zanzibar state we requested referendums to resolve that:
The most sensible way forward would appear to be to introduce enabling
Legislation providing for the basic principle of referendums;
when enabling lawgiving is in place and when an issue that the States believed should be put to referendum is identified, then secondary jurisdictions which would describe the required detailed rules should be progressed;
The voting entitlement and process should be the same as those for the General Election of People’s besides after assessments done correctly and gratify to all political parties and all gratitude organs.
Referendums should be not be used in extremely intermittent circumstances and for Expressly described topics but that those topics should not be confined to Questions of Zanzibar’s constitutional correlated with other jurisdictions;
Requests to hold a referendum shall not be limited to cases which the jurisdictions recommend.
The referendum should be initiated only in cases where at least a two-thirds
Majority of the States of Deliberation vote in favour of a recommendation to
Hold a referendum on a particular union topic; and the enabling legislation should provide that a referendum may be binding or consultative and that the States of Deliberation, when resolving that a referendum shall be held, shall resolve whether it shall be binding or consultative.
The passages italicised above reflect amendments carried by the Zanzibar States. Following this determination, work has been undertaken on how to implement this resolution with the assistance of the jurisdictions Officers. However, due to resource constraints the successive union matters have not been in a position to give this mission priority.
In 2010, the Policy undertook further exploration on referendums and how one might work given the constitution and executive decision making process in the States of Negotiation. Following this work it was established that there are a number of constitutional amendments, strategy and procedural considerations that had not been taken into explanation when the States of Deliberation debated in Zanzibar house’s representative’s in 2010. These considerations relate particularly, but not exclusively to the amendments referred to above. These considerations encirclement ratifications of the articles of union of Tanganyika and Zanzibar, the categories of topics should be included; how the restrictions on backing and granted would be given effect given the lack of organised of revolution council members.
However a binding referendum could practically be enforced; in what way binding referendums would 2014/15 impacts the sovereignty of the States of Deliberation; and whether referendums should be single purpose and restricted to simple questions that require binary responses.
In particular, the houses of representative’s have not able to resolve how to make referendums binding in any legal sense. Zanzibar’s constitution does not include a constitutional court by which the assembly could be bound, such organs being more appropriate for jurisdictions with written constitutions and greater judicial control over the legislature. However, referendums are generally accepted as being „politically binding‟, at least on “the Government”. This means that whilst State legislatures Members could not be compelled to vote in any particular way they may feel politically „bound‟ by their electorate, to whom they are accountable, to vote in a way that is consistent with the result of a referendum.
As a result of this work, the legislatures Council considered the constitutional assembly in March 2014 and resolved to discuss the matter with the States Review Committee before considering how to seek to address the outstanding matters that will require resolution. The Committee acknowledges that whilst the issue is not central to its work it is an area of interest. Having obtained the views of the Committee the l will be in a position, when resources allow, to consider how best to resolve these outstanding matters.
Date of the bear Enquiry: 9th April 2014
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