Event reports
The aim of the well-attended event in Dar es Salaam was to develop a joint communiqué with recommendations to the members of the Constituent Assembly (CA), which since end of February discusses the draft constitution in Tanzania's administrative capital, Dodoma. During the meeting the lack of focus on the essentials, namely building a national consensus, was lamented.
The joint declaration states that the religious representatives had observed with concern that members of the CA wasted time focusing on discussions that provided no constructive contribution to the improvement of the draft Constitution. Many members did not regard themselves as representatives of all Tanzanians, but followed the agenda of their party or their own egocentric views. To make the CA a success they should treat each other with respect and tolerantly accept the views of others. Only by compromising, a positive result could be obtained, emphasized the religious leaders.
By praising the work of the Constitutional Review Commission which was headed by Joseph Warioba, the religious leaders stressed their general consent with the draft Constitution as the proper basis for all further deliberations. In order to ensure peace in the country, the recommendations state, that justice, honesty and transparency must prevail in the negotiations.
The participants in the interreligious dialogue emphasized that themselves and hence the majority of their followers were willing to vote for the new Constitution during the referendum but only if the draft actually respected and contained the opinions and views of the majority of the Tanzanian citizens.
Following the dialogue, the document was finalized by a task force, approved by the respective religious groups and has now been brought to Dodoma and distributed to the members of the Constituent Assembly. To give it even more attention, it was officially launched during a press conference in Dodoma.
The full document is available in English and Swahili on this page.
