Harare - Revelations that there might have been tampering in the power-sharing agreement between the two parties in an uneasy alliance in Zimbabwe have prompted a meeting Monday to decide the future of the country's government. Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party entered into a coalition with President Robert Mugabe's Zanu PF party six months ago, partially because of the assurances in the agreement.
However, MDC members say it has recently come to light that after the legislature unanimously passed the full 36-page document, only half was sent to the president's office for signature.
"An act must be enacted by both parliament and the president," said Sheila Jarvis, a lawyer with a background in constitutional issues. "It is impossible, legally, to have an act in two different versions - one version approved by parliament, another by the president."
Until the entire bill is approved by the legislature and signed by the president "it will remain as nothing," she said.
Jarvis said the attorney general's office did not bother with the missing pages because they weren't important and the office wanted to save paper. But Jarvis noted that, without the missing text, the agreement could give Mugabe absolute control over the management of future referendums, including one on a new constitution in 2010.
The MDC has registered its concern about the shuffled paperwork.
Meanwhile, Zanu PF has accused the MDC of not trying hard enough to get other countries to drop sanctions that were imposed on Mugabe and his party in the period before the power-sharing agreement was reached.
