SPEAKER of the National Assembly Jacob Mudenda yesterday made a landmark ruling which barred members of Parliament from forming an ad hoc committee to investigate corruption at public and private institutions.
VENERANDA LANGA
Mudenda told MPs that the only institution empowered to investigate corruption cases was the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) as provided under sections 254 and 255 of the Constitution which established ZACC and spelt out its terms of reference.
His ruling nullifies a motion that had been adopted earlier on where MPs had resolved to set up an ad hoc committee to probe cases of corruption in both private and public entities.
The motion on corruption had been moved by Kambuzuma MP Willias Madzimure (MDC-T) and further amended by Mutasa South MP Irene Zindi (Zanu PF).
When the motion was introduced and debated in the House, it was supported by MPs across the political divide.
According to the Speaker’s ruling, the Parliament Standing Rules and Orders Committee (SROC) sat on Monday this week and studied the matter, and eventually came up with the conclusion that it was ultra vires the Constitution for Parliament to investigate corruption as it would encroach upon the activities of ZACC.
“The SROC met and encountered apparent unconstitutionality of the resolution by the National Assembly in the context of Section 254 of the Constitution.”
