SPEAKER of the National Assembly Jacob Mudenda, has urged the electorate to “wisely use their 2018 votes” and reject mute and dozing legislators, whose contribution to parliamentary debates was next to zero.
By Tatenda Chitagu
Addressing journalists and civil society organisations (CSOs) in Masvingo recently, Mudenda said the electorate should keep lawmakers on their toes.
“Watch out for those lawmakers who are in the habit of sleeping in Parliament and contributing nothing. They were not elected to go to Parliament and sleep, but make vibrant laws and put forward the needs of the people, so that the electorate actually says, ‘we have a representative’,” he said.
“That is why there are live parliamentary broadcasts, so that you see those dozing and those contributing. Those who do not come back to their constituencies; do not refer to them as Members of Parliament, but missing persons.”
Mudenda said legislators were servants of the electorate and should be accountable.
“You have the power and can decide not to elect an MP, but when you meet them, you shiver like leaves yet they are your servants. You are their bosses. We are custodians of your seats,” he said.
Mudenda said CSOs and the media should continue playing their watchdog role to make sure that Parliament upholds the Constitution.
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“Civil society should be vibrant and question MPs. There should be a close relationship between civil society and Parliament to find solutions to problems affecting our country,” he said.
“We believe in CSOs because they have the brains and ideas. You can speak out those ideas that become part of the solutions.
“Media and CSOs should protect the Constitution. Media must see that Parliament fulfils its constitutional obligations of going to the people and must not hesitate to report on such a breach.”
