Chronicle Editor
PRESIDENT Mnangagwa officially opened the First Session of the 10th Parliament yesterday.
The moment was historic as it happened at the New Parliament Building at Mt Hampden, the seat of Government which is being built northwest of Harare. The complex is massive and beautiful and is a befitting present to the people of Zimbabwe from the people of China.
The President talked about the progress that the country has made in various fields over the past few years in energy and food production, entrenchment of democracy, growth in manufacturing and mining sectors and so on. He touched on the good that the devolution agenda has brought to the country, the growth of the tourism industry as well as the imperative of boosting the use of the local currency. He congratulated those who were elected into the 10th Parliament and enunciated the legislative agenda for the session.
Parliament business is important in national development. That is why Parliament ranks third on the hierarchy of government. Whoever is elected to serve in the legislature must take that as a call to serve, a profound call that must be discharged with utmost dignity.
Thus, the President’s call to legislators at a moment as auspicious as yesterday is most fitting.
The legislative schedule is indeed going to be busy with many bills to be considered and the House expected to discharge its other role of holding the executive to account.
We find a few bills notable.
Our country is one of the few on the globe that are endowed with natural resources including game. However, there is that threat of human-wildlife conflict particularly in zones adjacent to game parks. Elephants, lions, hyenas and leopards routinely maim and kill some of our people. When that happens, the victims and those who survive just suffer.
In a departure from that bad norm, this session of Parliament is expected to come up with a law establishing the Human- Wildlife Conflict Relief Fund to offer monetary benefits to victims of human-wildlife conflict in communities. We desperately need this law. It is actually long overdue considering the growing animal populations and their impact on people and their wellbeing.
We don’t have details yet on the Sugar Production Amendment Bill but we have spoken to cane farmers who are unhappy over the sharing of revenues between them and millers in the southeast lowveld. They feel that, in its present form, the law unduly benefits the millers while disadvantaging the farmer. We hope that the proposed law will resolve that dispute in a manner that is good for the farmer on one hand and the processor on the other.
Drugs use is now a pandemic. Thousands of youths and young adults are abusing them and are resultantly, wasting away physically, emotionally, mentally and morally. Parliament will, over the next few months, debate the National Youth Bill, which will seek to facilitate mainstreaming of the youth in social, economic and political spaces, as well as the sustenance of vocational training centres as hubs for local community development.
These measures will occupy the youths so they will not have time to waste consuming drugs.
Online Reporter