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NewsDay

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Parly not a place for clowns, fools

Editorials
There is something worrisomely wrong with our Members of Parliament — or the perception that politicians have of the purpose of the House of Parliament.

There is something worrisomely wrong with our Members of Parliament — or the perception that politicians have of the purpose of the House of Parliament.

NewsDay Editorial

It is difficult to accept that Zimbabweans, given their world-renowned intellectual capacity, would have the calibre of national political representatives that we have in our Parliament. The levels of trivia to which debate sometimes plunges in the House is definitely bothersome.

There is no doubt we have some of the keenest brains in Parliament and, even though there is one or two that barely have any education, the average intellectual level in the House is not congruent which the thoughtlessness that we have often been abused with from the content of debate by the men and women that we have entrusted with the laws of our land.

It seems increasingly deliberate that our MPs behave like complete dimwits if they are not snoring away or singing and booing each other like a bunch of idiots. Yesterday’s reports that our expensive legislators spent most of their time during Tuesday’s session, sponsored by the taxpayer’s money, accusing each other of once-upon-a-time urinating in food plates are infuriating.

Instead of debating a motion that had been brought before the House seeking to push the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Mines and Energy to conduct an inquiry into the power sector in Zimbabwe — our MPs diverted the debate towards such trivia and obscenities as urinating in plates — to a point where the Speaker Jacob Mudenda found it necessary to chase up the urine issue in the next session yesterday! What nonsense!

What Mabvuku/Tafara MP, James Maridadi sought to have debated were issues to do with the endless load shedding that has become an acceptable way of life in this country, the lack of capacity by Zesa to attend to faults timeously, the increasing gap between supply of power and the demand for the commodity, the lack of investment in that sector and the flight of qualified and experienced personnel in the energy sector.

But there stood Kwekwe Central MP, one Masango Matambanadzo, not to contribute to that motion, but to complain that fellow MPs were making fun of his lack of education (which he has confessed to the media — saying he had not gone beyond Grade Two) yet they used to urinate in food plates while they were at universities.

Just how such contribution could have appeared to him relevant to a debate on an issue of national importance like energy — the driver of industry and economic growth — only he and fellow legislators that urged him on can tell.

This is the kind of mental hollowness and frivolity that can never see this country develop. There are so many problems and issues that affect people out in the various constituencies — issues of food security, roads, water, sanitation, health, education, shelter, environment and many more. People expect their MPs to highlight these issues in Parliament to improve their lives — not to waste time on hogwash or sleeping in the House.