Maravi

(HERALD) PM disowns Cabinet document

PM disowns Cabinet document
By Hebert Zharare and Mabasa Sasa

THE Office of the Prime Minister has distanced itself from a policy proposal document that seeks to re-order the functions of Cabinet.

The Herald has a copy of a document which sources say originated from the Premier’s Office and which calls for a downgrading of the importance of the Cabinet, which is chaired by President Mugabe, while seeking a commensurate bolstering of the role of the Council of Ministers chaired by PM Morgan Tsvangirai.

However, yesterday Minister of State in the PM’s Office Gorden Moyo said the document — titled "Comments and Suggestions Alterations" — was a compilation of the views of various ministers from the three parties in the inclusive Government.

He said in its first meeting following the formation of the inclusive Government, the Council of Ministers resolved to form a sub-committee that would collate submissions from portfolio heads on the changes they would like to see made in line with the Global Political Agreement.

The sub-committee, he said, comprised Ministers Patrick Chinamasa, Welshman Ncube and Tendai Biti.

"It was agreed that the ministers were free to make their submissions for consideration to the sub-committee.

The three ministers were chosen by virtue of their roles as negotiators in the talks leading to the formation of the inclusive Government.

"There is no official document so far and what was published (by The Herald) might be the submissions of some ministers to the Council of Ministers and these were supposed to be handed over to the sub-committee.

"Not all the submissions are going to be included in the final report of the sub-committee," he said.

Minister Moyo denied that the document was authored by the PM’s Office.

Among other things, the document advocates that ministers report to the PM and not the President, that ministers be allowed to make official public statements that have not yet been approved by Cabinet, and that the Council of Ministers meets more often than Cabinet.

The document said PM Tsvangirai should have no obligation to report to Cabinet, and that President Mugabe should not be referred to as "Head of State and Government", even though it is clear from the GPA and the Constitution of Zimbabwe that this is his designation.

Observers said on Wednesday that the proposals flew in the face of the Cabinet Handbook, which — among other things — defines the operations of Cabinet, its committees and the organs falling under the Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet as outlined in the Constitution.

Observers said the proposals were an attempt to "usurp" President Mugabe’s constitutional authority.

Minister Moyo’s comments come on the back of Information Communication Technology Minister Nelson Chamisa’s reported disownment of a draft ICT Bill that Chief Secretary Dr Misheck Sibanda is said to have declined to transmit to Cabinet because it sought to also unprocedurally re-assign the functions of at least three portfolios.

Yesterday, Minister Chamisa said he could not comment on the draft Bill "because it is a Cabinet issue".

However, Government sources said Minister Chamisa had indicated to his colleagues that he had not authored the document and that it had originated before the formation of the inclusive Government.

One of the sources said: "Chamisa says he was given this document after he was sworn into office by President Mugabe in February."

The source said the draft was "largely created

by the former Ministry of Science and Technology and Minister Chamisa merely forwarded it to other arms of Government".

Last night, Dr Olivia Muchena, who headed the former Science and Technology Ministry and is now Women’s Affairs and Gender Minister, said she could not say if the present draft ICT Bill was the same one that Minister Chamisa was distributing.

She also pointed out that the Bill created during her tenure had been drafted unprocedurally and she had declined to handle it.

"When the ICT policy was approved and launched by President Mugabe in September 2007 there was a plan of action that incorporated an ICT Bill.

"The process for creating a Bill is supposed to start with the ministry getting the set of principles of the proposed law approved by Cabinet.

"That means you do not start drafting a law before agreeing on the principles of that law in Cabinet.

"After getting the principles you start drafting and then after that you approach the Cabinet Committee on Legislation with the draft.

"However, in this case, the people who drafted it did a back-to-front. They started by drafting the law before they had received a set of principles from Cabinet and so I refused to handle it because it had been written without following the proper procedures.

"So I never read the draft and I cannot tell if the document (being distributed by Minister Chamisa) is the same one. I never saw the contents of the draft done when I was Minister of Science and Technology," she said.

Labels: MORGAN TSVANGIRAI

posted by MrK @ 3:19 PM