HARARE – One of the three chairmen of a special parliamentary committee leading the drafting of Zimbabwe’s new constitution said he would formally ask principals to the country’s power-sharing agreement to intervene amid delaying tactics by President Robert Mugabe’s ZANU PF party over appointment of members of thematic sub-committees.

Douglas Mwonzora said ZANU PF had refused to submit names of its members to sit on the 12 thematic sub-committees

“We have been waiting for ZANU PF to give us its list of names for the past five to seven weeks but all we have got is one promise after another,” Mwonzora said.

Names of members of the thematic sub-committees should have been submitted at most 14 days after the holding of an all-stakeholders constitutional conference on July 28.

But several weeks later, the former governing party is yet to submit its list, raising suspicion that it was trying to derail the constitution-making process.

“Together with the other co-chair and other members of the committee, we have decided to formally write to the three principals notifying them of our frustrations with ZANU PF’s delaying tactics,” Mwonzora said.

The principals to Zimbabwe’s power-sharing agreement are Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara.

ZANU PF has often come under fire for allegedly trying to scuttle the constitution-making process which analysts say could deal the killer punch to Mugabe’s party’s 29-year hold on power.

Under the arrangement leading to Zimbabwe’s new constitution – hopefully by the end of 2010 – the thematic sub-committees are supposed to meet citizens during an outreach programme across the country to solicit and record their ideas and views about what should be contained in the new governance charter.

By Zimonline