(TALKZIMBABWE) Tsvangirai: the making and breaking of Zimbabwean rules
Tsvangirai: the making and breaking of Zimbabwean rulesComment
Thu, 26 Feb 2009 11:42:00 +0000
THE Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister held a press conference yesterday where they said the appointments of the Permanent Secretaries announced on Tuesday were null and void, and cited article section 20.1.7 of the Constitutional Amendment Act Number 19 to justify their action.
Section 20.1.7 deals with senior government appointments and states that "the parties agree that with respect to occupants of senior government positions such as Permanent Secretaries and Ambassadors, the leadership of government, comprising the President, Deputy Presidents, Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Ministers will consult and agree on such prior to their appointment".
On the face of it, the Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Professor Arthur Mutambara, have a legitimate claim.
But when one looks deeper into how some decisions are being made in the inclusive Government, the Prime Minister and his deputy have also been involved in flouting some of the provisions and rules enshrined in the Zimbabwe Constitution, especially Amendment 19.
For example, the number of Ministers laid down in the Constitution of Zimbabwe since Constitution Amendment 19 is 31. A total of 36 ministers were sworn in and the MDC-T party got one extra Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office and a co-sharing Home Affairs Minister ― an extra 2 over their Global Political Agreement allocation, while Zanu PF swore in an extra 3 Ministers of State in the President’s office.
The slipping in of extra Ministries is indeed a breach of our Constitution, and the MDC is complicit in it. So which laws are they referring to? The same laws they are complicit in flouting?
We all agree that this is not sending out the right signals that the inclusive Government intends to respect the principles of constitutionalism and the rule of law.
As recently as yesterday, we saw Prime Minister Tsvangirai interfering in the judicial process by giving personal guarantees to secure the release of Roy Bennett ― a fugitive whose case dates back to 2004 and which has nothing to do with the Global Political Agreement.
Bennett fled the country in 2006. If he was innocent he should have stayed and cleared his name then. In any case, an amnesty is given after the law has taken its full course. Biti and Mutambara’s cases are different as they are a direct consequence of the conflicts during the electoral process of March-June 2008.
Bennett’s case was pending before then and is in a league of its own. He has been in exile for some years. He knew what awaited him when he came back into the country, without guarantee of an amnesty.
When the Prime Minister allows such convenient slip-ups in the constitution and interferes in the activities of the judiciary, he should not expect the world to listen to him when he criticizes President Mugabe.
He should, as matter of principle, not negotiate in the media and engage President Mugabe in confidence. Otherwise his ultimatums will make him look ineffective, if they expose hypocrisy on his part.
As for Prof. Mutambara, some things are better left unsaid.
Philip Murombedzi
philipmurombedzi@yahoo.com
Labels: CONSTITUTION, MORGAN TSVANGIRAI, NATIONAL UNITY GOVERNMENT, ROY BENNETT
posted by MrK @ 9:38 PM
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