Cross, Biti cross paths

Member of House of Assembly,Mr Eddie Cross (MDC-T) in Parliament after the backbencher accused the Minister of bringing three Bills without allowing legislators sufficient time to conduct public hearings on them.

 

Mr Cross said the Parliamentary portfolio committee on Budget and Finance of which he was a member, wanted to conduct public hearings on the Income Tax Bill, Micro Finance Bill and Securities Amendment Bill before they were tabled before the House for debate.

This was after Minister Biti had moved for the Second Reading of the Micro-Finance Bill.
The objection by Mr Cross who said he was representing his committee did not go down well with Minister Biti who castigated him for failing to privately approach him.

“I think the learned honourable member should have been fair with me and had this discussion with me before standing up instead of hammering on me. I gave notice of this Bill in November of last year just before the Budget.

“I think for the Committee to say we have not had time to consult, I think the honourable member also needs to be alive to the thing that there is an election this year, so there is no luxury of public consultations with great respect,” he said.

Minister Biti said the objections raised by Mr Cross on behalf of the committee could not be sustained since there was adequate time for the public hearings.

In his objections, Mr Cross said several stakeholders had raised serious reservations on the three Bills.

“We requested an opportunity to conduct a public hearing. We were denied that because no money was made available,” said Mr Cross.

He said the three Bills were so complex and important that it was critical that legislators be given an opportunity to consult with stakeholders.

“We do not feel competent as a Committee, having held only one short meeting on this particular subject, to pass judgment one way or another or to make recommendations to the House as to what should be our procedures from there on,” he said.

Minister Biti then agreed to defer the Bills to next month.
In his presentation of the three Bills, Minister Biti said the Micro-Finance Bill sought to give regulations to the sector.

He said under the proposed law, any person who lend money without being registered stood to lose the money.

“This Act is making it very clear that if you lend money and if you carry out the business of micro-financing and you are not registered, that transaction is void and the legal effect of it is that if I borrow money from you and you are not registered, I have no obligation to repay it because the transaction is void,” Minister Biti said.

He said microfinance business was a banking facility requiring lower capital base than conventional banks.

“There are a group of Zimbabweans who are rich but not rich enough to start a bank but sufficiently rich enough to lend money to people,” said Minister Biti.

He said the Bill would also curb indiscipline that had manifested itself in the sector such as high interest rates.

“There has been decimation of corporate governance. One person is the shareholder, management and the financial director,” he said.

On the Securities Amendment Bill, Minister Biti said the Bill also seeks to establish an Investor Protection Fund to protect people who would have invested their money in companies that might subsequently collapse.

On the Income Tax Bill, Minister Biti  said the regulations would revolutionise the tax system in the country.

One way that would be achieved was to simplify the tax language.