Why tribal constitution failed?

 INTRODUCTION

Constitution is a body of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a state or other organization is acknowledged to be governed.  Constitution of a state can either be written or un-written, states with un-written constitutions depends to customary practices which stands as legal guidelines in operating state's activities. Tanzania is a country with written constitution  which clearly set basic principles which govern operation of state, all activities of the state must be done within scope of the provision of the articles of constitution, all activities done beyond guidelines of the Constitution are null and void. 

Tribal constitution is a body of rules or customs accepted by a particular society or tribe to be principles governing all activities of a particular tribe.  All members of a particular tribe who accepted tribal constitution are bound by customs and norms which determine good and bad of their society. India, U.S.A and Britain are among countries tried to establish a tribal constitution system which is legally recognized, but the plans failed due to a number of reasons as explained below;

WHY TRIBAL CONSTITUTION FAILED

Tribal constitutions were not uniform. This is one of the reasons why tribal constitutions failed, tribes consists of different customs and norms from one tribe to another, lack of uniformity of the norms and customs made it impossible for the state Constitution to cover all circumstances of common practices of tribes,  a difference of norms and customs between tribes creates different treatment to the offences committed in two different tribes, which is against a basic constitutional principle of “equality before the law”. 

Article 13 of our constitution  provides on equality before the law, this Article connotes that, all human beings are equal without regarding any character apart from being human. Norms and customs creates difference in interpreting life styles between tribes which eventual creates different treatment to subjects of different tribes. 

Tribal constitutions covers small group of people compare to state Constitution which covers a whole nation. “Tribal constitution”, is a constitution which govern a group of people of a particular tribe out of all majority of the state. Laws are made to cover a whole state and all citizens, the coverage of tribal constitution still creates discrepancies in treatment of citizens by authorities exercising duty of dispensing justice. 

Some tribal constitutions contravened human rights. Some norms and customs of tribes are against human rights, take an example of tribes around lake Victoria in Tanzania who use corporal punishment as punishment to social wrongs. Corporal punishments out the requirements of law contravenes human rights. These kind of norms which contravenes human rights cannot be included in state constitution hence failure of tribal constitutions.

Norms and customs failed to uphold gender equality. An ideology of gender equality is not a recent movement to most of world activists, the fight against equal rights between men and women in various aspects of life imposed implied standards on making various laws. Most of norms and customs worldwide subordinates women from opportunities of the society, this situation imposed restrictions to the applicability of most of tribal rules hence failure of tribal constitution. Most current laws and constitutions of various states uphold a principle of equality before the law.

Rapid globalization and socialization. Globalization, or globalization, is the process of interaction and integration among people, companies, and governments worldwide. Globalization has accelerated since the 18th century due to advances in transportation and communication technology.  Socialization is the process of internalizing the norms and ideologies of society. Socialization encompasses both learning and teaching and is thus "the means by which social and cultural continuity are attained".  

Globalization and socialization have replaced norms and customs of tribes. Interconnectedness of people introduced new similar norms among people of different societies which eventually perished away influence of norms and customs in state constitution hence failure of tribal constitution. By learning new modes of life, many societies adopted best practices from other tribes and isolated bad norms, this reduced the strength of tribal constitution.

CONCLUSION

Tribal constitution failed because most tribal norms are impracticable and against human rights, state constitution is above all laws and upholds basic principles of human rights. Norms are different from one society to another hence cannot be used to set general guidelines covering all circumstances of all tribes in a state. Tribal norms brings inequality between human beings who are entitled equality before the law bu state laws and under constitution.