adminwould go with funding legislators in accommodation, meals and travelling expenses.
This is an issue that the next Parliament should certainly do away with if we are to move forward as a country. Mechanisms to permanently address accommodation and financial challenges should be put in place.
While many Bills were tabled before Parliament, only five went through this year in 35 sittings by the House of Assembly and 37 sittings by the Senate. The Diamond Bill never made it to the House of Assembly.
The five Bills that went through Parliament are the Older Persons Bill, Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission Bill and the Electoral Amendment Bill.
Other two were the Finance Bill and Appropriation Bill. This year’s sitting was constituted by the greater part of the Fourth Session of Seventh Parliament while the Fifth Session was opened by President Mugabe in October and only sat for five days.
Budget, Finance and Investment Promotion portfolio committee chairperson, Cde Paddy Zhanda said a number of issues had been brought to the attention of the executive.
He, however, bemoaned that most of them were not implemented by the executive.
“There has been an improvement this year in terms of oversight role. We have brought to the attention a number of issues. The only problem is that most of these issues have largely not been implemented,” said Cde Zhanda who is also Goromonzi North MP.
The legislator bemoaned the continued use of the whipping system by political parties saying it frustrated debates.
“Parliament was still being used to rubber stamp issues without verifying them. We are just called to ratify a Protocol without scrutinising its benefit to the country and the same thing was done on the budget,” he said.
MDC-T chief whip, Mr Innocent Gonese bemoaned the presentation of fewer Bills than what the President had enunciated in his official opening address last year.
“It was an uneventful year as the sitting was characterised by few Bills coming to Parliament,” he said.
“As MDC, we were also expecting Bills that are in line with the Global Political Agreement, like laws related to media reforms.”
He described the failure to bring the Diamond Bill to Parliament as sad.
“They were several Bills that the President made reference to in his official opening speech that were not brought to Parliament. The Diamond Bill is a cause for concern for people in Manicaland and the national as a whole,” he said.
The year had its own ups and downs.
Death also visited taking with it four lives of legislators, two from Zanu-PF and another two from MDC T. Masvingo North Member of House of Assembly, Cde Stan Mudenge (Zanu-PF) who was also Higher and Tertiary Education Minister died at Great Zimbabwe Hotel.
He was declared a national hero and buried at the national shrine.
Mberengwa North MP, Cde Jabulani Mangena (Zanu-PF) passed on early this month and was declared a liberation hero posthumously.
Chipinge Senator Josiah Rimbi (MDC-T) also died in September this year.
The latest casualty Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Deputy Minister Seiso Moyo collapsed and died in Harare last Friday.
Moyo was the legislator for the Nketa constituency in Bulawayo. This left the MDC-T with 96 MPs in the House of Assembly while Zanu-PF had 92 with the MDC has eight legislators in their fold.
Zanu-PF has 38 Senators in the Upper House inclusive of provincial governors while the MDC-T has 23, with the MDC carrying eight and 16 chiefs.
Parliament also had its off the House drama with the Professor Welshman Ncube and Arthur Mutambara MDC factions both fighting over owning five legislators for different reasons and motives.
Prof Ncube sought to have them expelled from Parliament over allegations that they had defected to the MDC-T while Prof Mutambara opposed it arguing that his former secretary general had no right to do so as the legislators went to Parliament under his leadership.
The legislators are Deputy Speaker of the House of Assembly, Mrs Nomalanga Khumalo (Umzingwane), Maxwell Dube, Tsholotsho South), Thandeko Mnkandla (Gwanda North), Senators Dalumuzi Khumalo (Lupane) and Kembo Dube (Umzingwane).
The Prof Ncube led MDC is still to write to the Speaker of House of Assembly after Prof Mutambara raised objections.
The current Session is the last before Parliament is dissolved to pave way for general elections in March next year and this means some of the legislators are having their “Last Supper”.
Online Reporter