MEMBERS of Parliament from across the political divide yesterday said the suspension of Parliament Constituency Information Centres (PCICs) had negatively affected their work as they were no longer able to effectively communicate with their constituents.
VENERANDA LANGA
This follows a recent announcement by Clerk of Parliament Austin Zvoma that the PCICs had been suspended due to financial constraints. Mbizo MP Settlement Chikwinya (MDC-T) said the move was tantamount to treating the legislature as an irrelevant institution compared to the other arms of government.
“An MP must have the opportunity to be assessed by his constituents and interact with them at PCICs,” said Chikwinya.
“It defies the principle of the representation role and it is my strongest belief that Parliament is being treated as a ‘second cousin’ because there is no minister without an office or a judge without an office and all the three arms of government should be treated equally. My suggestion is that those MPs who can afford should pay for the expenses at PCICs,” he said.
Zanu PF MP for Gokwe Dorothy Mhangami said she hoped the forthcoming 2014 National Budget will address the issue.
“I was operating one of the PCICs during the previous Seventh Parliament and these offices are very important for information dissemination. I hope this was just a temporary measure by the SROC (Standing Rules and Orders Committee) and that the budget will allocate an amount towards the running of PCICs,” she said.
Mufakose MP Paurina Mpariwa (MDC-T) said: “These (PCICs) were places where constituents who had grievances would meet their MPs to ensure they were addressed. I used to hold constituency attendance clinics on Mondays and Fridays at those PCICs and I appeal to government that they should be re-instated.”
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She said the closure of the offices had also affected staff manning the PCICs.
“Those people were employed by Parliament and if they are being fired or retrenched there has to be a fair labour process to do that,” Mpariwa said.
MDC legislator Tholakele Khumalo (proportional representation) said: “It is better for government to cut down the number of PCICs instead of completely withdrawing them. A senator and MP can share one PCIC office,” she said.
