Maravi

(HERALD) MPs: Put people first, not benefits

MPs: Put people first, not benefits

WHEN this column was in its infancy, I pointed out that Members of Parliament, as representatives of people mandated with the oversight role, should take Parliament business seriously because they play a critical role in the development of the country.

Last week, a local NGO, Veritas — a grouping of lawyers that monitors Parliament’s activities — released a report that among other things painted a gloomy picture of how the legislature carried out its activities during the second session of the seventh Parliament that ended in July.

During the second session, only six Bills out of 15 that had been presented by President Mugabe when he opened the second session, were brought before Parliament.

Three of these are mandatory Budget Bills that have to be passed every year.

The group also noted that the House of Assembly sat on 30 occasions while the Senate sat 16 times.

However, some of the sittings were for short periods during which no meaningful debate took place.

Even ministers were cited for not giving meaningful responses to questions by backbenchers in the instances that they did or simply did not respond to questions raised.

Some may remember that I once raised this issue of ministers, not turning up to answer questions by backbenchers and the effect it has on their oversight role.

Because the current rules do not make it mandatory for ministers to respond within a certain time-frame, some legislators simply get away without responding to questions.

There are also a few ministers who periodically update Parliament on activities carried out by their ministries and again this affects the role of the House to represent their constituencies adequately.

Government incurs high costs when Parliament sits, to cater for the accommodation, meals, transport and sitting allowances of MPs, therefore it does not make sense that when they sit, no meaningful business transpires.

During this third session that was opened in June, President Mugabe laid out the legislative agenda saying 23 Bills would be up for debate.

Obviously, with the ongoing outreach programme for the constitution-making process that is expected to end in October, it is highly unlikely that Parliament would be able to debate all these Bills.

Given their performance in the second session, it would be a miracle if five of those 23 Bills are fully debated and passed before the end of the third session.

I therefore repeat the call for Parliament to ensure that its business is taken seriously and that the general public that voted is represented adequately.

Last year, MPs were vociferous in demanding good cars and better allowances and I believe they should exhibit the same zeal in carrying out their mandate.

They should not make us think that they simply wanted to enjoy the benefits that come along in obtaining a seat in the august House.

One hopes that the ongoing constitution-making process will come up with ways that ensure that Parliament is made more effective in its mandate so that taxpayers’ money does not go to waste.

Turning to other matters, the outreach programme is at its halfway stage and over 350 000 people have taken part so far.

The Parliament Select Committee launched a website this week that will especially assist Zimbabweans in the Diaspora contribute their views to the process.

It will also benefit those tied up by work commitments and have no time to attend meetings to also have their views recorded.

This should increase the levels of participation, which are at the moment not what is expected.

The process has been marred by a number of logistical problems that have made it difficult to proceed smoothly.

The introduction of the website should therefore allow more views to be included.

The chairperson of Copac’s media and publicity sub-committee, Ms Jessie Majome said during a Press briefing this week that people were also not aware that they could write to Copac and air their views without necessarily attending outreach meetings.

Therefore, the public should take advantage of these and other facilities and air their views so that they, at the end do not complain that they were not afforded the chance to speak.

The difficulties facing Copac mean that it is impossible to convene meetings where everyone can attend so people should use the alternative channels.

Still on the constitution making process, it was disturbing to hear reports that an MDC-T councillor and legislator were accused of inciting violence against Zanu-PF supporters in Masvingo North constituency.

Police confirmed they had received reports that the MDC-T supporters disrupted a Zanu-PF gathering convened to discuss the constitution making process with a gun petrol bomb.

This is worrying news and the police should be urged to deal with all those perpetrating violence without fear or favour.

When the outreach programme was launched, the three principals to the inclusive Government spoke passionately against violence and therefore rogue elements should not be allowed to derail the progress of this important exercise.

Zimbabwe is on a path to recovery and people who want to continue portraying a negative picture of the country should not be allowed to disturb this progress.

People should be allowed to freely air their views and while it is understandable for political parties and other civic groups to canvass for support on their view points, this should not be done through coercion.

Zimbabwe hosted a two-day conference for Parliamentarians from the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa nations in Victoria Falls last week and Vice President John Nkomo called on Africans to be masters of their own development.

He said this on the backdrop of Zimbabwe being certified to sell its diamonds saying if Africans did not work to uplift themselves no one would.

Given the experiences of this country in this past decade, every country should as much as possible be independent without over reliance on another lest it becomes a vassal of other countries.

The vilification that we faced as a country in the past 10 years has made us a strong nation and we are currently turning around the performance of our economy through our own efforts with assistance from a few friendly countries.

This shows that it is possible for a country to assert its sovereignty and be masters of their own destiny.

The Parliamentarians were gathered to discuss the use of science and technology in the advancement of the region’s economies.

The sale of diamonds last week has raised hopes of many people in the future prospects of the country, but most people urged Government to ensure transparency in the administration of the proceeds.

I think this has been said over and over again and we hope that the benefits of the sale would be enjoyed soon.

machivenyikafari *** gmail.com

posted by MrK @ 8:28 PM