adminvarious levels, be it local government, parliamentary and presidential levels.
The only question left is who are the candidates at these various levels and to which parties do they belong?
The next stage would be that of manifestos, which are the blueprints of how each political party would like to serve the people of Zimbabwe.
The electorate is eagerly awaiting to discover the candidates and what they stand for.
The economic situation was decided by the introduction of the multi-currency system.
The only question left is how each party is going to generate more money for the economy to improve and increase the earnings of farmers, civil servants and other workers.
This will in turn improve the buying power of the people and pay for various services.
But, the main thrust that parliament must exist together with the presidency and judiciary, without long and unnecessary breaks, has been settled by the Constitutional Court.
What many people may not understand is that Parliament is not there only to pass laws or amend them. Parliament exists to be an overseer of Government at all levels. The committees of parliament cannot exist when Parliament is dissolved.
These committees are far more important in holding officials of government and those in the private sector to account for their actions in administering the Acts of parliament.
Of course, the debates in Parliament are very crucial where ministers of Government are questioned on general policy of their ministries and are accountable to the members of Parliament.
Any delay in holding parliamentary or other elections impinges on the rights of the people to see their concerns addressed by their chosen representatives. The same goes for holding by-elections timeously.
The constituents are robbed of interacting with their representatives in their daily lives.
It has been reported that, one member of the House of Commons in UK, never spoke in that Parliament for 45 years but was always re-elected to represent his constituency. He was a very efficient MP in attending to the needs of his constituency, especially, in seeing that all the money allocated for projects to his constituency was spent without fail.
He attended funerals, weddings, christenings etc. in his constituency. Any problems the people had with local officials, he was on hand to assist the people.
This is what an MP is all about.
What type of candidates are going to be thrown to the people by the various parties?
The time that people vote for a particular party without consideration of the suitability of a candidate is over after 33 years of Independence.
Now, the consideration is on the qualities of the candidate. In some countries, the candidates are required to produce their tax returns to see whether they paid taxes like everybody else.
In some instances, they would be asked to disclose their assets.
In Zimbabwe, the tax law does not allow for the disclosure of anyone’s tax returns unless that is done willingly.
Maybe, the new amendments to the tax law will compel all those seeking public office to submit their tax returns and evidence of the paying of bills to local Government authorities.
How can a candidate who does not pay any rates or water charges aspire to become a councillor?
It has been reported that some councillors had to shower at Town House in Harare.
How can the residents expect good governance from representatives who do not own anything except the shirts on their backs?
This time round, people are watching carefully to see whether the political parties will field candidates of substance at all levels for the harmonised elections.
Online Reporter