The current Fourth Session of the Seventh Parliament has not yet managed to pass a single Bill out of a total of 18 which President Robert Mugabe said would be brought before Parliament during his Presidential speech.
Only five Bills were brought before Parliament and one of them is a Private Member’s Bill, which is also facing resistance from the Executive.
The 17 Bills which Mugabe said the Executive would bring to Parliament include the Electoral Amendment Bill, the Zimbabwe Human Rights Amendment Bill and the Referendums Amendment Bill that have a bearing on elections.
Other Bills were the Zimbabwe Income Tax Amendment Bill, Exploration Corporation Bill, Zimbabwe Border Post Authority Bill, Civil Aviation Amendment Bill, Micro Finance Bill, Securities Amendment Bill, RBZ Debt Restructuring Bill, NRZ Amendment Bill, Land Developers Bill, State Enterprises Restructuring Agency Bill, Older Persons Bill, GMO Biotechnology Bill, Public Health Amendment Bill and the Food Control Bill.
Although the Public Order and Security Amendment Bill sailed through the House of Assembly and was still before Senate, it was a carryover Bill from the Third Session of the Seventh Parliament, but has not yet been restored in the Senate Order Paper after Justice and Legal Affairs minister Patrick Chinamasa halted it saying it was a matter before the inclusive government negotiators.
Of the 18 Bills, the only four that were brought to Parliament were the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission Bill, which is currently in Committee Stage, the National Incomes and Pricing Commission Amendment Bill, which is in Second Reading Stage, the Older Persons Bill in Second Reading Stage and the Urban Councils Amendment Bill in Second Reading Stage, but is awaiting judicial ruling.
During a recent interview with NewsDay, Clerk of Parliament Austin Zvoma said there was nothing unusual for a new session of Parliament to be opened without conclusions of Bills and motions in the previous session.
“The President, in his speech, envisages that certain Bills will be brought before Parliament, but since independence it does not happen that the full lists of Bills are actually brought up and there is nothing unusual about it,” Zvoma said. However, Zvimba East MP Patrick Zhuwao (Zanu PF) and Kambuzuma MP Willias Madzimure (MDC-T) have described the current session as unproductive during their contributions to Parliamentary debates.
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The current session is expected to wind up next week to make way for a new session.
