PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe is tomorrow expected to officially open the Fifth Session of the Seventh Parliament of Zimbabwe, effectively ending speculation surrounding the long delay. Staff Reporter
The session was initially supposed to have commenced in July but Mugabe kept postponing it, raising fears and allegations by MDC-T and MDC MPs that the delays were aimed at stifling debate on contentious Bills.
The two MDCs also feared that the delay was part of a plot to defer Parliament business until the proclamation of a general election was made.
A notice in the Government Gazette last week read: “ . . . under and by virtue of the powers vested in the President as aforesaid, I do, by this my proclamation prorogue Parliament on Monday the 29th October 2012, fix Parliament Building, Harare, as the place at which the Fifth Session of the Seventh Parliament of Zimbabwe shall be held; and twelve o’clock noon on Tuesday the 30th October, 2012, as the time and date at which the Fifth Session of the Seventh Parliament of Zimbabwe shall begin.”
The current session of Parliament has only passed three Bills into law, namely the Electoral Amendment Bill, the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission Bill and the Older Persons Bill.
However, 31 motions are still to be concluded by the House of Assembly and of these, 10 are notices that are yet to be introduced in Parliament.
