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Zvamaida Murwira
The screening of Parliament’s question time live every Wednesday constitutes one of the major highlights of last year’s august House as it created excitement among legislators as they jostled for attention.
ZBC TV started last April to screen Parliament’s question timer live on Wednesdays in the National Assembly, something viewed by many observers as a milestone as it will either make or break some politicians’ careers.
ZBC’s Spot FM also provided radio coverage of sittings from Tuesday to Thursday.
This is consistent with one of Parliament’s objectives, that of taking the august House to the people.
Legislators stampeded for attention during the live broadcasts and became so excited about question time that in most cases chief whips moved for the extension of the one-hour duration by 15 or so minutes.
Kuwadzana MP Mr Nelson Chamisa (MDC-T) moved a motion calling for live broadcasts, saying this would enable the electorate to know those who came to Parliament to work and those who came to sleep.
The screening of Parliament’s question time live on Wednesday allows the electorate to make their own judgment of their elected representatives in the august House
It is an opportunity for them to judge if their concerns are being taken to Government or if they are not being articulated to their satisfaction, to enable them to exercise their right of choice in the next election.
The session has, however, been dampened by the failure by some ministers to attend to respond to questions.
As the curtain came down on the 2014 parliamentary year, it was sad to note that very few Bills aimed at aligning the Constitution had been brought to Parliament.
This was despite anticipation that several Bills would be brought to Parliament for alignment with the new Constitution.
To be precise, only three Bills were brought to Parliament for alignment.
These were the Electoral Amendment Act, National Prosecuting Authority Act and the Zimbabwe Gender Commission.
The Electoral Act and NPA Act have since been promulgated while the Zimbabwe Gender Commission Bill is in its initial stage in the National Assembly.
To its credit, last year’s Parliament was instrumental in exposing corruption in parastatals and State entities and interrogating how much senior officials in those institutions were earning.
Parliament moved a motion which was duly adopted to set up an ad-hoc committee to investigate corruption in state entities and private organisations.
The motion was, however, shot down upon adoption by Speaker of National Assembly Cde Jacob Mudenda, a development that attracted mixed views.
In his ruling Cde Mudenda told MPs that the only institution empowered to investigate corruption cases was the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) as provided for under sections 254 and 255 of the Constitution which established ZACC and spelt out its terms of reference.
The motion on corruption had been moved by Kambuzuma MP Willias Madzimure (MDC-T) and further amended by Mutasa South MP Irene Zindi (Zanu-PF).
When the motion was introduced and debated in the House, it was supported by MPs across the political divide.
According to the Speaker’s ruling, Parliament’s Standing Rules and Orders Committee (SROC) sat and studied the matter, and eventually came to the conclusion that it was ultra vires the Constitution for Parliament to investigate corruption as it would encroach upon the activities of ZACC.
The ruling drew criticism mostly from legislators who felt that making enquiries about corruption in both public and private entities was consistent with their oversight role.
Cde Mudenda stirred controversy again when he ruled that MPs could not make unsubstantiated allegations while debating in the Chamber.
This was after Mbizo MP Settlement Chikwinya claimed that the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority Commissioner General was earning mega salaries, an allegation that was eventually denied.
Cde Mudenda said private citizen had a right to the protection of the law and that it was unfair to malign them through unsubstantiated allegations.
But those opposed to the ruling argued that making those claims was in fulfilment of the constitutional provision — that of freedom of expression in addition to the immunity from prosecution enjoyed by legislators on what they said in Parliament.
Another highlight of this year’s Parliament was the decision by SROC to retire of Clerk of Parliament Mr Austin Zvoma despite his resistance arguing that the new Constitution gave him a new six-year term.
Making the announcement, the presiding officers told legislators that the SROC resolved to retire Mr Zvoma following his attainment of 65 years of age on November 30, 2014.
Cde Mudenda lauded Mr Zvoma for his commitment to Parliament and outlined his working history before joining Parliament where he worked as a teacher before joining the august House in 1979, as a Committee Secretary.
Since then Mr Zvoma served Parliament for a continuous period of 35 years, 26 of which he served as Clerk of Parliament.
He said Mr Zvoma served as Clerk under several Speakers of Parliament starting with Cde Didymus Mutasa, Nolan Makombe, Cyril Ndebele, Emerson Mnangagwa, John Landa Nkomo, Lovemore Moyo and currently under Cde Mudenda.
The final highlight of last year’s Parliament was that 2014 will also be remembered as the year when a sitting Vice President became jobless.
The arrival of 2015 promises no less exciting times.
Online Reporter