Youths reject constitutional amendments
IN the period June 15-19 2020, the Youth Empowerment and Transformation Trust (YETT), a youth networking organisation in Zimbabwe, participated in the public consultations on the Constitution Amendment Number 2 Bill, which were facilitated by the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs.
At all the 17 physical venues and in virtual spaces set up by Parliament, young people turned up in their numbers and shared their thoughts and perceptions on the proposed amendments. In both rural and urban areas, young people resoundingly said “no” to this Bill. Key issues cited by the youth are:
The timing of the public hearings is disturbing. The country is under a COVID-19-induced lockdown with movement restrictions for non-essential staff. Some laws have not yet been fully aligned to the Constitution and yet we are already talking of amending the same Constitution.
The Bill does not in any way advance the fundamental rights and freedoms of the ordinary Zimbabwean citizen, the youth included.
The proposed women and youth quotas do not represent genuine goodwill on the part of government to achieve meaningful participation of women and youth in the decision-making and political space in Zimbabwe.
They are a top-down approach, tokenistic and do not address the structural barriers denying women and youth entry into politics and decision-making spaces across all levels of society on merit.
The majority of clauses in the Bill focus on consolidation of power in the Office of the President, including removal of parliamentary oversight role over accrual of foreign debt. This is against the letter and spirit of the Constitution.
One of the roles of MPs is to represent and speak on behalf of their constituencies in Parliament. YETT calls upon MPs to respect the will and voice of their constituencies and truthfully exercise this representative role when the report on the public hearings is presented and debated in Parliament.
Youth Empowerment and Transformation Trust