Maravi

Mugabe convenes Cabinet without MDC ministers

Mugabe convenes Cabinet without MDC ministers
By Kingsley Kaswende in Harare, Zimbabwe
Wed 21 Oct. 2009, 15:34 CAT

President Robert Mugabe yesterday convened Cabinet without Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai or any representative of the larger MDC faction that disengaged from the inclusive government last week.

And Deputy Prime Minister Prof Arthur Mutambara has said he and his smaller MDC faction will continue to be part of the inclusive government following the pull-out of MDC faction led by Tsvangirai.

Tsvangirai's MDC last Thursday decided to disengage from participating in the inclusive government citing ZANU-PF's insincerity.

Tsvangirai last week said by boycotting participation in the executive functions of government, his party would create a constitutional crisis because ZANU-PF alone would not run the government.

He and his 29 ministers and deputy ministers have since vacated offices until the outstanding issues to the full implementation of the inclusive government are resolved.

But President Mugabe yesterday successfully convened the meeting, which was attended by ministers from his ZANU-PF party and those from the smaller MDC faction led by Pro Mutambara.

Mutambara has insisted that he was part of the government and that he would not pull out on account of the pull out staged by Tsvangirai's MDC.
Addressing a press conference in Harare on Monday afternoon, Prof Mutambara, said it was important for all three parties to remain in the inclusive government in order to successfully make reforms that would create conditions for free and fair elections in 2011.

“We are committed to giving a chance for this government to work because in our minds, there's no plan B. If you pull out now and decide to go for an election, what kind of an election are you going to have when there hasn't been any kind of reform? The issue in Zimbabwe is not when you are going to get an election, the issue is, what's the quality or calibre of the next election?” he said.

“What is important is that we stay in this arrangement and allow it deliver a new constitution and do all sorts of reforms so that the next time around, the elections are free and fair. If we do not create the conditions for free and fair elections, we won't break the cycle of negotiations, illegalities and illegitimacy.”

Prof Mutambara said his party had not yet met to review the viability of the inclusive government and would therefore continue participating in government activities.

“Our national council hasn't met. The last time we met was when we were fashioning a decision to participate in the government, cabinet and council of ministers. So, as an institution, we have not made a decision to pull out of the government. We have not made a decision to carry out any decisions that are in variance to the participation in government. For now, while we work towards convening the national council to review the situation, we will continue with our participation because we can't vary the decision of the national council without holding another meeting,” he said.

Prof Mutambara and the three ministers from his party attended yesterday's cabinet meeting. He, however, said he would during the meeting reason with President Mugabe not to make unreasonable decisions.

“Cabinet is there and we know that it does not commence by quorum. So there's a very real possibility that ZANU-PF will go ahead and make outrageous decisions, because they can. And then we will be stuck with the decisions we don't recognise. We are going to cabinet to stop that. We are going to tell ZANU-PF that they can't run the country on their own because they have no mandate. We cannot allow ZANU-PF to make sole decisions that are unwise,” he said.

Prof Mutambara said he sympathised with Tsvangirai's MDC and understood the reasons why they made their decision.

“As a political party, we are a separate organisation. We are not an appendage of ZANU-PF, we are not an appendage of the MDC led by Tsvangirai. We completely understand the position taken by our colleagues.

We are completely empathetic to the view they expressed last week. We understand why they are angry, we understand why they are upset. As a political party we are equally as disturbed, we are equally as upset by what's happening,” he said.

“As a separate political party we also have our own institutional mechanisms of making decisions. We also have a role to play because we hold the balance of power. The way you use the balance of power is to promote dialogue between the two major political parties.”

Labels: CABINET, MDC, MUGABE, ZANU-PF

posted by MrK @ 4:37 PM