Political Science lecturer, Eldred V Masunungure has said that the recent Cabinet approval of the Constitutional Amendment Bill is indicative of a country moving towards autocracy.
Speaking to the News Day, Masunungure said that the unfortunate part of it that there was no legal way through which the development can be stopped. He said:
The constitutional amendments touch at the heart of the Constitution. These are dangerous developments towards the progression of democracy.
We are moving towards a tenacious autocracy, a chilling future. We should look at those changes with trepidation. I don’t see any constitutional way to stop the amendments because Zanu PF has the majority in Parliament unless sanity prevails in some MPs and they block it.
The Bill, among other things, seeks to repeal Section 92 of the Constitution which demands that presidential candidates nominate two persons who will have to be directly and jointly elected by registered voters.
The running mate clause was supposed to take effect in 2023 elections but the amended Constitution would have the president-elect handpicking two vice presidents.
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