Maravi

Mugabe vows to put new govt in place next month

Mugabe vows to put new govt in place next month
Written by Kingsley Kaswende and George Chellah in Harare, Zimbabwe
Thursday, January 29, 2009 9:39:09 AM

PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe has said a new government will be in place next month despite the opposition MDC crying foul over SADC's resolutions. Southern African Development Community (SADC) leaders determined at an extraordinary summit on Zimbabwe on Tuesday that on February 11, MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai should be sworn in as Prime Minister along with his two deputies, MDC vice-president Thokozani Khupe and leader of the splinter MDC Professor Arthur Mutambara, after which ministers and deputy ministers from ZANU-PF and the two MDC formations will be appointed.

But the MDC rejected the SADC proposal, arguing that it fell short of the party's expectations.

However, speaking to journalists in Harare on arrival from the talks in Pretoria, President Mugabe said there was no doubt a new government would be established.

"We did agree that an inclusive government should be formed. Dates have been stipulated for the various activities, which include the formation of the government itself with the swearing-in of the top people, that is the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Ministers, then the ministers, and then that government should be in place," President Mugabe said.

He said once the government was in place, it would start looking into the objections raised by Tsvangirai's party, including the issue of the appointment of provincial governors, ambassadors, central bank governor and the attorney general.

"This shall start with the constitutional amendment in Parliament which will legalise this whole framework. It [Constitutional Amendment Number 19 Bill] should be debated in Parliament soon. We do hope that things will open up now. This is a new chapter in political relations in our country and in the structure of government," President Mugabe said.

Asked how the effectiveness of the inclusive government would be determined, President Mugabe said some built-in mechanisms would help determine that.

"After six months, there will be a review of the progress made or the lack of it. In light of this, there should be compliance, I certainly hope there will be," he said.

A SADC communiqué following the talks in South Africa stated that all parties had agreed to sharing-control of the Ministry of Home Affairs, which had been the main stumbling block and a determination was made for constitutional amendments to be made by February 5, which would legalise the positions of prime minister and two deputy prime ministers.

It said Tsvangirai and his two deputies would be sworn in on February 11 and the process of setting up an inclusive government would be concluded two days later with the appointment of ministers and deputies.

However, an MDC statement released yesterday stated that SADC did not meet the party's expectations.

"We [went] to this summit with five outstanding issues which are: 1. The Enactment of Constitutional Amendment Number 19; 2. The definition of National Security Council legislation; 3. Equitable allocation of portfolio ministries; 4. The appointment of Provincial Governors and other senior positions.; 5. The Breaches of the MoU," the statement reads. "It was our expectation that the SADC processes would be above board and be beyond reproach. Regrettably once again we note that Mr Mugabe was allowed to sit in during the closed session of the plenary meetings. Thus once again, Mr Mugabe has been unfairly allowed to be a judge in his own cause."

The statement, signed by MDC spokesperson Nelson Chamisa, stated that as far as the merits of the meeting were concerned, MDC's expectations were that SADC would come up with a just resolution to the outstanding issues in the interest of Zimbabwe and all the parties concerned.

The party will meet tomorrow to determine whether it should be part of the inclusive government or not.

"The mistake that ZANU-PF is making is to imagine that we are desperate to be in the government. We are not in a hurry to be chauffeur-driven. We are a people-driven party," the statement reads in part.

Labels: MDC, MORGAN TSVANGIRAI, MUGABE

posted by MrK @ 9:39 AM