MDC wants Kereke booted out of Parliament . . . Speaker to look into issue

The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) led by former Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai on Wednesday moved a motion seeking the expulsion of Bikita West legislator Dr Munyaradzi Kereke from the National Assembly following reports he had re-joined the ruling Zanu PF.

Dr Kereke was elected into Parliament in 2013 as an independent after he had been expelled from Zanu PF.

And the opposition party is arguing that in terms of the Constitution, Dr Kereke must be booted out of Parliament.

Zimbabwe’s Constitution dictates that the seat for any Member of Parliament who leaves his party to join another having been elected on the ticket of another party be declared vacant and fresh elections held to choose a new representative.

MDC chief whip Innocent Gonese described Dr Kereke as a “stranger in the house” while delivering his motion.

“It is on public record that Dr Kereke has been accepted back into Zanu PF,” Gonese said before he was heckled by ruling party parliamentarians.

Speaker of Parliament Jacob Mudenda then asked Minister Chinamasa, who is Zanu PF’s legal chief to explain the position on Dr Kereke.

But opposition MPs did not agree with the Speaker’s decision and heckled Chinamasa when he stood up to give the position.

To restore order in the house, Mudenda then told the National Assembly that he would look into the matter.

“In view of the point of order raised by Honourable Gonese, will the house allow the chair to interrogate the point of order,” he said, in putting the matter to rest.

Mudenda did not say when he will deliver the verdict. – New Ziana