General booted from Zim constitution body
2011-06-22 16:04
Special Report
A classical music presenter for the BBC has been arrested and is in custody in Zimbabwe.
Harare - A Zimbabwe army general has been removed from the country's constitution-making body, after he called for President Robert Mugabe to remain in office for life, a cabinet minister said on Wednesday.
Brigadier General Douglas Nyikayaramba has been taken off the troubled programme after Mugabe's rivals complained that the military should not be involved in the process, constitutional affairs minister Eric Matinenga said.
"Following a management meeting... it was decided that he, Nyikayaramba, should be removed from the exercise," Matinenga said.
The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), headed by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, has repeatedly called for the military to stay out of the process, while Mugabe's Zanu-PF has wanted Nyikayaramba to continue, the minister said.
"But a decision was taken that he should not participate any further," Matinenga added.
Meddling
In May, Nyikayaramba caused controversy when he said Mugabe should remain in office for life and called for elections to be held this year, claiming that Mugabe's Zanu-PF would sweep the vote.
Tsvangirai's MDC party has previously accused the army of meddling in politics and rigging polls.
Nyikayaramba was not immediately available for comment, but he told the state-run Herald newspaper that donors were behind his dismissal.
"The reason they don't want me there is because they want to smuggle in things that are a security threat and they are afraid that the military personnel will see it and block it," Nyikayaramba said.
"They want to use this constitution for regime change like what they did in Ivory Coast... They did it though the constitution," he said.
"They [donors] want to influence the outcome of this process and as a country we can't allow them to do that."
Work on Zimbabwe's long-delayed constitution again stalled on Monday after Mugabe's party complaining of a "stalemate" in compiling opinions gathered during months of public outreach.
Public outreach on the constitution began in 2009 after the unity government was sworn in, but has been repeatedly disrupted and marred by violence.
- AFP