adminZvamaida Murwira in NYANGA
Clerk of Parliament Austin Zvoma has said the legislature needs to be strengthened so that members of the Executive take the work of Parliament with the seriousness it deserves.
He said that some members of the Executive had not treated the work of Parliament seriously.
Zvoma said one challenge faced by Parliament was that the governance system was tilted in favour of the Executive, leaving the legislative arm handicapped in terms of discharging its oversight role.
He said this during a plenary discussion where he was addressing media training workshop on public finance management here on Thursday.
“We feel exactly the same with you,” he said.
“The Speaker of National Assembly, President of Senate, their deputies and the Clerk of Parliament feel that some ministries don’t take us seriously.
“The problem is that our system is skewed in favour of the Executive. They are the ones who prepare the budget, they give us little money so that we are handicapped.”
Zvoma said Treasury had released $900,000 last week for payment of some of their service providers like sitting allowances, fuel coupons arrears and part payment of vehicles for Members of Parliament under their parliamentary vehicle loan scheme.
“We are going to use that money to offset all these,” he said.
There was a heated debate during plenary as journalists took Zvoma to task over his decision recently to stop former Youth Development, Indigenisation and Economic Development Minister Saviour Kasukuwere from coming to Parliament to explain his role during his tenure.
Zvoma defended his decision where he overruled the portfolio committee on Youth and Indigenisation chaired by Gokwe Nembudziya Cde Justice Mayor Wadyajena’s decision to invite Minister Kasukuwere to come and clarify his role on the Chiadzwa-Zimunya Community Share Ownership Trust.
There is a dispute on how much money mining firms extracting diamonds at Chiadzwa pledged to the trust.
Diamond mining firms denied that they pledged $10 million to the trust, some saying they had pledged only $1,5 million.
Zvoma said Minister Kasukuwere could not be invited to explain on something he had ceased to have responsibility over. “Minister Kasukuwere was inadvertently called,” he said.
“He was no longer qualified to speak on behalf of that ministry.”
Zvoma castigated Minister Kasukuwere for making unsolicited efforts to give evidence before Parliament, describing the Minister’s subsequent response where he gave a Press statement giving his side on what had transpired as “irresponsible” as he made them outside Parliament.
The explanation did not convince journalists who felt that Zvoma should have allowed Minister Kasukuwere to explain himself in Parliament.
Londile Moyo
Bongani Ndlovu