SWAZILAND’S CONSTITUTION, WHAT DOES IT STAND FOR?

Sir,

A Constitution is a set of rules either written or unwritten, seeking to establish the duties, powers and functions of the various institutions of government, regulate the relationships between them and then define the relationship between the state and the individual.

The balance between written (legal) and unwritten (customary or conventional) rules varies from system to system.
As I see it our Constitution is more effective as unwritten as the documented one is flouted and is interpreted whenever to suit the ambitions of certain individuals. The value of a Constitution is often taken for granted like ours that is flouted with such impunity that it looks like the Schliefen plan which was good on paper but a disaster in practice.

The purpose of having a Constitution is to empower states, establish unifying values and goals, protect freedom(negative individual and positive rights) and legitimise regimes, and to bring stability, predictability and order to the actions of government and to make government conform to rules that govern itself, and to also provide benefits such as political stability, limited government (government operating within constraints, usually imposed by law, a Constitution or institutional checks and balances), a fair playground and guaranteed rights and  liberties.

However, the mere existence of a Constitution doesn’t signify that a certain government that has it’s democracy as usually there are no mechanisms put in place to ensure that Constitution is respected as the Supreme Law of that country and not to be enforced when it suits those in authority as we see happening daily in this beautiful but unfortunate country of ours.

A Constitution may aim to lay down a framework in which a government and political activity are conducted.
Ours has failed in that regard as political parties are criminalised even though there is freedom of assembly and association in the Constitution. What many are not aware of is that there is nothing to prevent a Constitution from being undemocratic or authoritarian.

In order for a Constitution to be viable it needs to serve a range of political, social, economic and cultural conditions, and it must be also supported by the political culture of that country. Unfortunately, what it entails to our individual rights and political manifestation in writing isn’t upheld in action as it isn’t accorded the respect it deserves by those in authority. So how can we classify our Constitution?  Effective, nominal or facade Constitution? Your guess is as good as mine!

Slow

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