PUBLIC hearings on Bills that are conducted by parliamentary portfolio committees are supposed to create engagement between the legislature and ordinary Zimbabweans in a participatory democracy where the people air their views, but experience has shown the opposite happening.
BY VENERANDA LANGA
While these public hearings are helpful in order for people to have a say in laws being passed in Parliament, they have at times turned violent with some rowdy elements disrupting the meetings and members of the public and MPs assaulted or threatened.
At times the people that cause mischief at these public hearings are actually sponsored by political parties or MPs, particularly if the Bill in question has political implications.
A coordinator of the National Residents Forum, Denford Ngadziore, was beaten up during a public hearing by the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Local Government that was held at Rainbow Towers in Harare to gather people’s views on the Local Government Laws Amendment Bill.
The Bill became highly politicised with the opposition and different residents’ unions regarding it as a ploy by Local Government Minister Saviour Kasukuwere to pave the way for him to wrest more land from local authorities in order to dish it out to the people to buy support for Zanu PF during the 2018 elections.
“Parliament must beef up security during public hearings because I was severely beaten up when I made my contributions that did not go down well with views of others. People sloganeer and some come ready for a fight after getting instructions from political parties, and this deters other citizens from wanting to attend public hearings to air their views,” Ngadziore said.
“At times Parliament invites members of the public to attend public hearings at Parliament building, and entering that building is too restrictive because they require national identity cards. Those that lost their IDs cannot enter to participate in public hearings.”
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Ngadziore said public hearings on Bills were a waste of tax payer’s money because very often during crafting of the Bill the people’s views were ignored.
“These are public funds where Parliament and organisations that support it spend millions of dollars to gather views, but very often participation is low because MPs do not go to their constituents before the public hearings to educate people about the implications of the Bill and how members of the public can participate in the law making process. The result is often very low turnout in these public hearings,” he said.
The most recent victims of violence during a public hearing were the chairperson of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Justice Jessie Majome, and members of the committee Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga and Innocent Gonese. Majome was beaten up in Mutare, and Misihairabwi-Mushonga and Gonese were threatened, and their notes torn.
The Bill that was being discussed had to do with electoral amendments and emotions were very high as different political parties in the country viewed it as an important piece of legislation that would influence the forthcoming 2018 national elections.
Zachariah Mushawatu, a political science university graduate and former Zinasu spokesperson, said Parliament must ensure that they choose its venues that can be easily accessed by members of the public.
“Parliament building is a very stringent place to enter in terms of security and how they then treat people. There is also the issue of space where very often public hearings are held in the Senate which is too small to take in a high turnout,” Mushawatu said.
He said one of the biggest challenges with parliamentary public hearings on Bills was that the people were not informed about the meetings on time.
“Some invitations by Parliamentary Portfolio Committees to attend public hearings on Bills are sent a day before that meeting is held. Other venues that they use are hotels and some people with low incomes might not be comfortable to access those places,” he said.
Gweru resident, Silver Bhebe said he was unhappy that at times members of the public were consulted to air their views when government has already implemented the law.
“An example is the issue of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Amendment Bill to make the use of bond notes effective where Parliament consulted people in public hearings when the bond notes were already in circulation. It totally disrespects the people. They cannot consult people for public hearings when it is already too late,” he said.
“Parliament must be sincere and consult people on time. Consulting people when something has already been implemented is not proper as their views will not be considered. The impression we are given is that Parliament is just a rubber stamp of laws already crafted by the Executive. Maybe it is an issue of lack of funding for MPs to move around collecting our views, because we have observed that some remote places are not visited when collecting views.”
Besides conducting public hearings, Parliament has other methods such as feeding comments on their website and written submissions that they use to collect views from the public on Bills and other issues.
In his recent blog post on the Parliament website, clerk of Parliament Kennedy Chokuda said there were successes in terms of people’s views being considered when crafting Bills.
“It has been a widely held view and, I must concede, sometimes not without justification, that Parliament is oftentimes a rubber stamp institution incapable of holding the Executive to account for its actions. There has also been a growing perception that the input by the public in the legislative process is not taken seriously either by the Executive or Parliament itself.
“Regrettably, members of the public have opted to shun public hearings by Parliamentary Committees on important legislation that affects their livelihoods owing to this ‘mis-perception.’ I am proud to report that the outcome of public hearings conducted during the Third Session of the Eighth Parliament have confounded this long-held belief,” Chokuda said.
He said an example was the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission Bill which was withdrawn by the Executive as a result of concerns raised by members of the public during public hearings on the Bill.
“The concerned Ministry is now working on an improved draft which takes into account the issues raised by the public during the public consultations. In addition, public input was used by the Executive to effect amendments to such Bills as the Finance Bill No. 2 of 2016, the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Amendment Bill, the Labour Amendment Bill and the General Laws Amendment Bill all of which are now Acts of Parliament.”
The Clerk of Parliament said there were several Bills that were amended following submissions by the public, adding participating in public hearings by members of the public was imperative.
