MVIWATA secures two seats in Constitution Assembly

Members of Mtandao wa Vikundi vya Wakulima (MVIWATA), Veronica Sophu and Catherine Gabriel Sisuti, are among the 201 names of Constituent Assembly members appointed by President Jakaya Kikwete.
In the Constituent Assembly, which commences today (February 18) in Dodoma, the two names appears in the list of 13 persons from different NGOs that have been selected by the president to represent farmers interests in the mainland.
The president had designated a total of 20 posts for farmers’ representatives drawn from various farmers’ organisations in the country.
Commenting on that appointment, the MVIWATA Executive Director Stephen Ruvuga said it was an honour seeing their organisation securing two seats out of 157 names submitted by various farmers’ associations.
” It was not an easy thing our members to be appointed, bearing in mind that the number of proposed names was large. This shows the extent that our organisation is respected. We are glad, and we believe to channel farmers’ voice through these two members,” he said.
He however, swiftly faulted the Constitution draft for referring to smallholder farmers as a small group, saying that was not correct since it is well known that farmers make over 75 per cent of the population.
Speaking on how she felt after getting the news on selection, Ms Veronica Sophu, a smallholder farmer from Mbarali, Mbeya, who is also the deputy chairperson for MVIWATA Board, said she was grateful and that she will try her best to represent her fellow small-scale farmers in the Assembly.
On her part, Ms Catherine Gabriel Sisuti, smallholder farmer from Tarime, Mara, said the appointment was a huge task that she will be happy to do by making sure views of her fellow smallholder farmers are heard in the special parliament.
“I am going there with only one agenda, to defend smallholder farmers interests, which did not appear clearly in the constitution draft. We small farmers are victims of any misuse of our nation’s natural resources such as large scale investments on land, which makes us landless,” she said.
Through different meetings, MVIWATA has been participating closely since the new constitution process started and it has capacitated its members to understand their role in making sure that the new constitution expected comprises smallholder farmers rights.
The Constitution Review Act empowers the President to appoint 201 members of the Constituent Assembly drawn from non-governmental organisations (NGOs), faith-based organisations and all registered political parties.
In the names announced recently following presidential appointment, NGOs submitted 1,647 names, out of which 20 were picked, faith-based organisations submitted 329 but only 20 were selected, registered political parties submitted 42 names of which only 20 made it to the assembly.
Twenty members were selected from institutions of higher learning, which presented 130 names, while 20 were picked from groups of people with special needs, which submitted 140 names.
Workers’ associations submitted 102 names out of which 20 were picked and 10 members were selected from pastoralist communities, which forwarded 47 names.
The President further appointed 20 members from farmers’ associations, which submitted 157 names, 10 from associations representing fishermen that submitted 57 names and another 20 from persons having common interest, who submitted 727 names.