adminAZ: From an administration and procedural aspect our challenges remain that of resources to undertake programmes for Parliament.
ZM: What are these challenges?
AZ: The major casualty for limited resources was Committee work, which entails enquiries, study and familiarization visit for them to put their reports into context. They need to see on the ground rather than read newspapers. These require substantial resources. We are also mindful of the fact that the economy, although things have improved, still faces challenges.
As the legislature, Parliament has performed its function in terms of its mandate in the Constitution, legislating, representative and oversight role, but it is still being allocated from the same fiscus; so everyone is affected.
Yes we have had increases, but the increases do not translate to the levels that cover all the activities of Parliament. That still remains a challenge until the economy is able to perform to near maximum capacity. It means we have had to curtail some of the activities of Parliament and we have to share some of these limited resources equitably.
At one time committees were not able to travel as much as they are doing now, so these remain challenges but with explanation.
The facilities remain a challenge, limited facilities, we don’t have enough space for committee meetings, we don’t have enough committee rooms, committees are sharing rooms, and so scheduling of committee meetings is a big challenge.
ZM: What else could you say has been a challenge?
AZ: Another challenge has been one of mutual understanding on the mandate of the Committees, the Legislature and the Executive, particularly the Ministries. Sometimes there is the perception that there is a fight, which is not the case. Parliament’s role is misunderstood and the intention of the Executive may not be understood as well.
We have had front bench and backbench meetings to clarify the respective roles that they mutually reinforce and that the oversight role is not intended to weaken or to embarrass the Executive but to ensure that the Executive is assessed and evaluated on the rules it has set itself. It’s an ongoing challenge that would need to be nurtured to a level where Parliament and the Executive are seen to be working together without suspicion.
Another challenge has been responsiveness of the Executive to representation of Members to question time, reports. Most questions and reports go for weeks on end without being answered. Again this hinges on the question of relationships and this is something that we need to continue working on, engaging the Executive and Parliament to ensure the mutual appreciation of their roles.
With regard to space we hope that in the not too distant future we will see the realization of a plan to build a new Parliament building which will make the work of Parliament easier to make the environment conducive.
ZM: I hear there have been problems with members’ allowances?
AZ: Yes members have to date not received all their allowances. They have received part of their remuneration, which at one time was US$100 but things have improved somewhat. The question of allowances remain outstanding but these are matters we continue to engage the responsible authorities.
ZM: So, what can you say about the achievements?
AZ: On achievements, there has been more evidence of oversight work of committees which, as part of reforms initiated in the mid 1990s under Cde Cyril Ndebele and carried on by successive Speakers, Cde (Emmerson) Mnangagwa and Cde John Nkomo, now the Vice President and now Honourable Lovemore Moyo and President of Senate Cde Edna Madzongwe. On Bills, one major challenge has been that they have been slow in coming.
The number of Bills introduced was less than the previous parliament. Some of them have not been concluded, and we don’t seem to have a clear legislation calendar so that it is not ad hoc or rushed.
ZM: What about capacity building?
AZ: There has been some achievements in terms of capacity building programmes to strengthen the role of Parliament, carrying out baseline surveys in various areas, gender budgeting just to mention a few.
This has helped in that Members are armed with relevant skills to analyse issues and articulate them. These are incremental achievements we have scored. We have had development partners that have been chipping in to partially fill in the funding gap; chief among them has been the UNDP that has been responsible for coordinating public funding.
One of the issues is that reforms must be initiated, driven, managed and owned by Parliament itself and not imposed from outside and that we must jealously guard and I think that has been an achievement. We have been able to manage these funds both from donor funding and from central government, we are subjected to the same audits as other Government departments, we have been able to maintain a level of prudent financial management and accounting. It is not easy when you are dealing with 314 Members who have not been paid all their allowances. It’s an area that we have scored an achievement.
In terms of administration, we don’t sit back and say because we are so few and we are under resourced, to the contrary we benchmark ourselves on best practices. We have developed a culture of having strategic planning and advanced performance management system score cards cascading to the lowest staff.
The challenge has been that of poor remuneration of staff but they have been able to perform their duties. We remain ambitious. I can’t call it an achievement; we are doing it for our self-actualization, as an administration of Parliament seeking ISO certification. We hope we are on the path to achieve that.
One major problem was the much talked about setting aside of the Speaker. But that is now water under the bridge. There have been lessons learnt in terms of administration, clarity of the meaning and interpretation of the Constitution and statutes.
ZM: What were the lessons drawn from the setting aside of the election of Speaker and the subsequent events?
AZ: Lessons have already been learnt, we have already corrected that. The system works, the judiciary is there to interpret what the law is, that is the lesson learnt.
ZM: What then should we expect from the coming session?
AZ: That you need to ask the politicians. But otherwise we continue working with our programmes. The work of committees of Parliament in the budget process is one area we hope to improve on. We want Parliament to play its full role in terms of budget preparation.
ZM: The MDC-T parliamentary caucus made a resolution to the effect that they wanted the Clerk of Parliament fired. What is your comment?
AZ: I have no comment. I have read it in the newspapers, heard people talking about it but I have no comment because I have not seen the resolution they came up with. We will cross the bridge when we get there.
ZM: But do they have the capacity to do that.
AZ: I can’t comment, because you are asking me whether they have capacity. If it is true that they have discussed it, it’s them whom you should ask.
ZM: Zanu PF is having problems with Marondera East MP, Cde Tracy Mutinhiri and reports indicate that they want her recalled from Parliament. What is your take on that with respect to the legal provision of a sitting MP?
AZ: The Clerk of Parliament has no role on it. The Constitution is very clear on what happens. There is a provision on the tenure of a sitting MP, Section 41. It’s up to those that are responsible, where this provision is revoked. Nothing has come through to my office. I don’t know whether the Speaker has seen any letter.
ZM: What has happened to the concept of Parliamentary Constituency Information Centres? We no longer have offices in some constituencies and Parliamentary activities are no longer visible owing to absence of these offices.
AZ: That is one of the biggest challenges. Treasury has not been in a position to provide adequate resources to open offices for the expanded Parliament from 120 prior to Constitutional Amendment to the current strength. There are a total of 210 House of Assembly constituencies and 60 Senatorial constituencies and that brings it to 270. If you look at the wider meaning of the term MPs, you will see Chiefs, all 18 of them, also feeling justification for constituency offices including Non Constituency MPs.
Non Constituency MPs represent interest groups, social groups and there have been no allocation of resources to open offices. Therefore it becomes unfair for the new Members to remain without offices when their counterparts have offices.
It’s not a tenable situation. It’s not a desirable situation where Member A has offices while Member B has no offices. It appears discriminatory. There is no rationale for it.
So we are currently preparing a position paper as administration of Parliament for consideration by the Standing Rules and Orders Committee to take it further with Treasury to make a policy decision on how to handle it. Some of these offices are rented and private property. We are subject to increases in rent and yet services are not there.
We hope that this position paper will explain the current reality on the ground and the options and scenarios that are available to ensure the leveling of the ground for all Members. Currently we are carrying out an audit of the existing offices whether they are fully functional.
ZM: You are complaining about limited space. There has been talk of construction of a new Parliament building. How has that project gone?
AZ: That’s not under us but under the Ministry of Public Works. We gave specifications of Parliament. The responsibility now lies with the responsible Ministry. Of course we remain key stakeholders together with the city of Harare and the Ministry of Finance.
Online Reporter