THE opposition MDC-T party has admitted that it intends to craft a new constitution which clips the current powers of the secretary general and other top posts.
Allies of Morgan Tsvangirai have moved to neutralise the position which they felt former finance minister Tendai Biti used to undermine the party leader’s authority as well as plot his ouster.
Biti and a number of disgruntled cadres have since left the party following a bitter fall-out over Tsvangirai’s continued stay as party president.
Speaking in Gwanda during provincial meetings at the weekend, MDC-T spokesperson Douglas Mwonzora said the powers of the secretary general in the current constitution were “vague”.
“The problem with the MDC constitution was that the powers of certain offices were vague. In other words the powers of the secretary general were general and vague,” he said.
“It (constitution) unintentionally created two presidents or co-presidents. What we are going to do and what the grassroots is saying is that we must streamline the powers of each office so that the powers of the president are specific.”
The former Nyanga North legislator rubbished rumours that his party had intensified consultations aimed at amending the party’s constitution to cement Tsvangirai’s powers.
“There has not been any constitutional proposals to empower the president; that is incorrect the president being the president of the party is empowerment enough,” Mwonzora said.
“The first document will be a simpler, more refined, more intelligible constitution of the party, the second one will be a policy document signifying the ideological reorientation of the MDC.
“The third of cause will be the roadmap to victory to the elections of 2018. A special paper is going to be produced at congress and we are going to adopt that,” Mwonzora said.
MDC-T's latest split mirrors the 2005 schism when the then secretary general Welshman Ncube led a group that deserted Tsvangirai over his alleged dictatorial tendencies.