All Africa Global Media-Saturday, October 15, 2011
Maputo, Oct 15, 2011 (Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique/All Africa Global Media via COMTEX) -- The parliamentary group of the ruling party Frelimo has proposed abolishing the Constitutional Council (CC) and replacing it with a Constitutional Court.
This was revealed by Margarida Talapa, the head of Frelimo in the country's parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, after the party had handed over its proposals for constitutional revision to the parliamentary ad-hoc commission drawing up a preliminary draft constitution.
According to Talapa, "our proposal is to put the Constitutional Court at the peak of the justice pyramid. We began by creating the CC to provide rapid justice. Our experience over the last ten years shows us that it would be a positive step forward to create a Constitutional Court. It would be good to give it more powers than the CC had in terms of developing a justice system that corresponds to the aspirations of Mozambicans".
The CC is the sovereign organ with special jurisdiction over constitutional matters. It has the competence to adjudicate on whether laws are constitutional, and on the legality of actions carried out by the state.
According to Talapa, Frelimo's proposals also look at the Ombudsman, a post that exists in the country's constitution but has not yet been created. Frelimo seeks clarification on the Ombudsman's functions and calls for the creation of this position.
Under the current constitution, the Ombudsman has the role of guaranteeing citizens' rights, and to ensure the legality and justice of actions by the public administration. The Ombudsman should be elected by at least two thirds of deputies in the Assembly of the Republic.
Talapa also revealed that in the Frelimo deposition there is reference to the need to review the electoral process. However, the Frelimo official did not go into details, but stated that it is an issue that should be put out for public debate.
Talapa stressed that other issues presented to the ad-hoc commission included the need for justice to be dealt with rapidly, effectively and professionally.
According to the chair of the ad-hoc commission, Eduardo Mulembwe, he hopes that the two other parliamentary parties, civil society, and other forces in society will follow Frelimo's lead and deposit suggestions in time for consideration by the ad-hoc commission, which will draw up a preliminary draft constitution to be submitted for public debate.
Proposals can be submitted until 12 December, after which the preliminary draft will be produced within a four month period.
The process for revising the constitution, which was formally launched on Wednesday, is due to end in the first half of 2013 with the handing over of the draft constitution to the Assembly of the Republic.
Copyright Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com).
Source:http://www.menafn.com/qn_news_story.asp?storyid={d590f99c-2ac1-49bf-9bc6-21f39fd22b2d}