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They have become creatures of comfort, more concerned with sitting on the high table and rubbing shoulders with the elite, away from their constituencies. Chief Mposi of Mberengwa launched the onslaught on the MPs when addressing a traditional leaders’ meeting at Battlefields.
He said:
“We hear that MPs want houses in Harare and not in their constituencies. They are always making noise on having their allowances reviewed upwards. Rarely do we get to hear them talk about what needs to be done in their areas.”
Chief Mposi spoke with such confidence and clarity that suggested he had the mandate of other disgruntled traditional leaders and probably even abetted by voters’ complaints about their absentee MPs.
This pen concurs with the chief’s sentiments, as other people conversant with the role that Parliamentarians are supposed to play no doubt also wish to be counted with him.
In this pen’s humble opinion, lawmakers should be at the forefront leading their troops in thwarting veld fires before much damage is done to the environment; must wrest axes from the hands of wanton destroyers of forests and ensure that culprits replace trees cut down; must prevent the siltation of rivers and dams to preserve the golden liquid for voters and livestock.
And as a recurrence of droughts due to global warming and climate change becomes a virtual certainty, it behooves on the legislators to mobilise funding and their constituents and build small dams using picks and shovels and wheelbarrows to conserve what little rain water the skies release so it does not run off, while the people watch it their eyes wide open and their arms folded while the MPs call for the Government to build a dam, or complain about its failure to do so.
Is it any wonder then that so many rhetorical dams have been constructed since independence in 1980 because some if not most of the country’s MPs are long on the lip and too short on tangible action on the ground?
Add to this the withdrawal by operators of buses from some rural roads which have gravitated into a state of disrepair and MPs simply fail to bring together their voters to repair the damaged roads. Or are the relevant MPs not “Always with the People”, as the late Maurice Nyagumbo titled his book, to know what challenges the voters experience.
Of course for the trials and tribulations the voters to be addressed speedily enough calls for a symbiotic relationship between the MPs on the one hand and the voters and their traditional leaders on the other.
But, as Chief Mposi complained, the MPs are a rare sight in their constituencies to know about the needs of the people who sent them to Parliament.
For instance, a story is told of a certain Honourable MP holed up in a city who visited his rural constituency to attend a grand event there and seized the opportunity of his presence to issue a statement about a water crisis that people in the constituency had long, long experienced with no-one coming to their rescue.
Chief Mposi complained about MPs wanting to buy houses in Harare, where the Parliament of Zimbabwe is situated.
Surely there is nothing wrong with investing in a property in the capital or in any other city away from an MP’s constituency if the MP uses the house while Parliament is in session as long as the legislators’ presence is constantly felt in his constituency.
But the sad impression given off by Chief Mposi’s remark is that the houses bought become outposts of comfort while their voters out in the country languish in crushing social challenges — a sad commentary, indeed, on the quality of the MPs in point.
If also as complained of, MPs “always” ask for an upward review of their allowances, perhaps time has come for the stipends to be performance-related so that the legislators are seen by all to earn their keep.
But truly, the chiefs and the voters under their jurisdiction wield unmitigated power to give indolent and uncaring MPs their deserved short shrift.
In a country in a hurry to develop, MPs of the cut in question are impediments to the social and economic emancipation of the people of Zimbabwe.
Online Reporter