BOTH Houses of Parliament have adjourned to May in a development that might make it one of the shortest and least productive sessions of Parliament since independence.
Report by Veneranda Langa
The life of this Parliament is expected to end around June when the country prepares to go for elections.
MPs were on Tuesday asked to go and campaign for a “Yes” vote in the constitutional referendum and both the Senate and House of Assembly had to be adjourned to allow them to do that.
The fifth session of the Seventh Parliament only resumed sitting on February 5, and indications are that most of the Bills that President Robert Mugabe announced would be dealt with this session might not be ratified.
These include the Attorney-General’s Amendment Bill, which seeks to amend sections of the Attorney-General’s Act that potentially infringe upon the independence of that office.
Others are the Constituency Development Fund Bill to correct the irregularities detected following an audit of the Constituency Development Fund, and the Income Tax Amendment Bill which will remove about 34 schedules that offer incentives, protection or rebates to the mining sector.
The Zimbabwe Investment Authority Bill, Mines and Minerals Amendment Bill, amendments to the Precious Stones Trade Act, amendments to the Diamond Act and the Civil Aviation Act, as well as the State Enterprises and Parastatals Management Bill were also scheduled to be enacted during this session.
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Glen Norah MP Gift Dzirutwe (MDC-T) said the continuous adjournment of Parliament would render the current crop of MPs least productive. “Many times the President has brought as many as 20 Bills to Parliament, but at the end of the session, five or six Bills would have come to this House,” said Dzirutwe.
MPs also complained they were being sent to do the campaigns for the “Yes” vote without the necessary material and financial support. Musikavanhu MP Prosper Mutseyami (MDC-T) raised the issue in the House of Assembly.
“The responsibility of selling the draft to the people has been bestowed to Parliamentarians, but alas, there is no funding for that project for MPs to achieve the results.
“Whenever MPs travel, they will need fuel and everything with regard to their vehicles,” Mutseyami said.
