SPEAKER of the National Assembly Jacob Mudenda yesterday took a dig at practices where new ministers wantonly fire board members of State enterprises and parastatals (SEPs), saying this disturbed continuity.
BY VENERANDA LANGA
Speaking at a post-budget seminar for parliamentarians in Harare, Mudenda said MPs should begin to show their teeth could bite and bring to account public officials and ministers who failed to implement policies.
“There is need to re-structure SEPs to make them profitable, but through parliamentary committees you should call into account line ministries and boards of parastatals, and look at whether they are efficient because if there are deficiencies, such people should not be serving at those SEPs and boards,” he said.
“Parliament must stand up and be counted and question the tradition where we have noticed that each time there is change of a minister, board members are kicked out and the new minister brings in his own crew. That affects continuity.”
Mudenda said MPs should question if loans and deals assented to by government are operationalised so that the money capitalises small and medium enterprises and social sectors like education and health.
He said it was wrong to hold public hearings on Bills and the budget only in large cities, adding it was high time MPs also went deep into rural areas to gather people’s views.
The Speaker said Parliament must take a leading role in harmonisation of business laws, adding if the budget was silent about it, then line ministries should be summoned to appear before Parliamentary committees to answer on why there was no implementation.
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“The Public Finance Management Act demands regular reporting to Parliament every quarter by ministries, and Parliament should ensure ministries do so. It is also crucial to ensure strategies and policies underpinning the budget document are gender-sensitive,” he said.
Mudenda said MPs should ensure public funds are accounted for and refrain from politicising the budget as underdevelopment affected everyone regardless of political affiliation.
