adminShame Isak
IT is now exactly one year after the July 31 2013 harmonised elections and naturally a review of the performance of different arms of Government follows and in this article I will be more interested on the performance or conduct of the legislature or National Assembly members.
It has become an inherent political problem in Zimbabwe to have aspiring politicians hoodwink the electorate to vote for them by promising heaven and earth if they are elected into office only to do exactly the opposite of that which they would have promised.
However, it is my strong conviction that such deception will not last forever because it is only a question of time before those who have survived through lies will learn the hard way after the electorate would have deserted them.
Apparently, I have learnt that true politicians do not wait for an election to pretend to be active and caring but from the onset, before they even dream of contesting for a seat, they would always have had a desire to serve the people one way or the other.
They are people who actually desire to make a difference in people’s lives with no incentive dangled before them.
In African politics most aspiring politicians are motivated by the desire to make money while they get into public office and surely once they are in, their first priority is to scrounge for all opportunities or loop-holes available to enrich themselves and by the time they want to serve their constituency their term of office would have expired and naturally the electorate will dump them on the sidelines.
I would prefer a situation where people who have laboured for their wealth and have proven their worth by tirelessly developing their communities for no gain at all would be given the opportunity to run for public office or contest for seats. These people know what good life is, they know abundance and lack and so once they get the opportunity to serve in public office they will not panic at the sight of the vast opportunities presenting themselves to them as a result of their strategic positioning.
It is important for the electorate to be reminded that the people they elect as MPs play a critical role in shaping the destiny of the country by virtue of them forming the legislative arm of Government and so the quality or lack of it of the people we choose will obviously determine the direction the country will take in terms of policy, laws and statutory formulations.
Debates in Parliament are good to the extent of exposure and information the members involved have and it is not surprising that our current parliamentarians have hogged the limelight for the wrong reasons altogether. The conduct of the current crop of MPs betrays a high degree of lack of quality and depth and to a greater extent even lack of education, grooming and character. You look at the case of the 60-member group (I will not use the word delegation) of MPs who travelled to China only for 27 of them to wander away to another far away city in China which was not even part of their itinerary. We are talking about drifting away 2 300km from original destination without clearance from the one who was supposed to be the leader of this group and this was Cde Mandi Chimene.
Such behaviour betrays lack of respect for authority and lack of knowledge on how one should conduct oneself when you are travelling as a group or delegation. The group or delegation’s objectives, plans and itinerary override your personal plans and everything else unless of course there was confusion from the onset as to the management of the whole trip.
The issue of the MPs being stranded was the only topical thing in the Press, but what the public may want to know is whether it was just a shopping trip or there was parliamentary business, if not, who then was funding this trip and how come suddenly the MPs had money to spend in China after there has been cries that their allowances had not been forthcoming from Treasury due to the liquidity crunch the country is experiencing?
I believe Cde Chimene can clarify issues here. It is a diplomatic embarrassment to have your legislators behave like school children in a foreign country and even school children know how to behave when they go on trips. That aside, another topical issue about our disgraced MPs is the recent fights between Zanu-PF Midlands legislators Matambanadzo Masango (Kwekwe Central) and Owen Ncube (Gokwe – Kana) who literally exchanged blows in public and the recent spate between Zanu-PF MP Cde Joseph Chinotimba and MDC-T MP Mr Prince Dubeko Sibanda.
These are people who are entrusted with making laws for the country but they are busy breaking them and instead of concentrating on developing their constituencies they are busy sabotaging each other and eventually their political parties. If you look at the reasons given for their fighting they are just laughable. It was not even necessary.
A greater percentage of these MPs is still to deliver on any one of their election-time promises one year on and what do we get from them, fights and unprintable exchange of derogatory statements? How can we develop the country when those who are supposed to be on the fore-front are behaving otherwise?
Our dear MPs just remember that you are not in that seat forever and another election is not far away. Bvunzai vamakatorera zvigaro kuti zvinorwadza sei kubviswa pachinzvimbo uchiri kuchida. We expect a better performance from you in the second year of your term. Just have a conscience, please.
Shame Isaki is a political analyst, business management consultant and preacher. He can be contacted on 020-68818 or 0773 018 662, e-mail: [email protected]
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