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Farirai Machivenyika Harare Bureau
MBIZO National Assembly representative, Settlement Chikwinya, faces contempt of Parliament charges after he allegedly accused the Speaker of the House, Jacob Mudenda, of altering a motion to change its meaning, undermining his authority in the process.
Allegations against Chikwinya emanate from statements he made following the adoption of amendments to a motion on corporate governance moved by Irene Zindi.
The initial motion was moved by Kambuzuma representative, Willias Madzimure, calling on government to appoint members of the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission and harmonise laws on corruption.
In her amendments, Zindi proposed that the House also acknowledges President Mugabe’s stance against corruption and that an ad-hoc committee of the House be appointed to spearhead investigations into corruption in public enterprises and make relevant recommendations to enhance corporate governance.
It was after the adoption of the amendments that Chikwinya said it confirmed that the initial motion had been watered down.
He said: “The amended portion speaks exactly to what the original mover of the motion was calling for. The fact that after some debate, another MP who was present during that debate, in this case Hon Zindi, but was absent during the drafting of the original motion, saw it fit to also go and come up with this amendment which speaks exactly to what was being sought after the original motion, speaks volumes of what we were crying for, that the original motion was watered down.”
However, Mudenda denied the allegations by Chikwinya.
“As the House may recall, on the 27th February 2014, the chair clarified that the motion was not watered down and all the amendments had been agreed with the mover of the motion who then signed the notice of motion.
“In addition, the chair wishes to place it on record that he has gone through the original motion as submitted by the mover and observed that the amendment proposed by Honourable Zindi is totally different from the one which Honourable Madzimure as the mover of the motion had envisaged.
“Therefore, for Honourable Chikwinya to impute that the motion was watered down contrary to my clarifications on the 27th February 2014 is, in itself a serious reflection on the character of the chair. It also shows willful disregard of the authority of the chair. Therefore pursuant to relevant provisions of the law, appropriate measures to deal with the member will be announced in due course,” Mudenda said.
Earlier, Mudenda had reiterated the ruling he made last week that any members who make unsubstantiated allegations against fellow parliamentarians, parliament’s authority or members of the public would be charged with contempt.
He said his order was not meant to gag MPs.
“The Constitution itself recognises that the privilege of freedom of speech is not limitless. It is subject to the rules and orders of the House, meaning that this House may censure any conduct, act or omission which offends the spirit and letter of the law. The chair’s ruling is not meant to gag the freedom of speech of MPs, but to regulate it and enhance constitutionalism and the rule of law,” he said.
Online Reporter