‘MPs not doing anything’

Prominent lawyer and Zanu-PF legislator Cde Jonathan Samukange told The Sunday Mail it was crucial that Government had realised that the drafters of the constitution did not take into account the size of the country’s economy when creating new institutions.

He said there had been no need to increase the size of the legislature because most Members of Parliament were “virtually doing nothing”.

Cde Samukange, however, said while he understood the predicament facing Treasury, some statutory commissions could not be done away with though some could have their functions merged.

“I totally agree with the Minister of Finance, some of the commissions were duplicated; for example, the Gender Commission — I am sure that commission can be catered for in the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission. There are also other commissions like the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission, the Judicial Services Commission and ZEC (Zimbabwe Electoral Commission), those I think can’t be done away with. Those that can be merged I am sure they can be merged because there is no money to fund all those commissions unless we are going to surrender our sovereignty in favour of external funding,” he said.

Cde Samukange said Government could set up a Cabinet committee to review the constitution, or Parliament could set up an ad-hoc committee to look at all the attendant issues.

“The Cabinet vommittee or parliamentary ad-hoc committee can revisit the whole constitution to decide whether we really need them or not. This will also avoid changing the Constitution every year. And honestly, why do we need all those people in Parliament? We can’t even find places to sit.”