Legislators must serve people

http://www.dailynews.co.zw

HARARE – As parliament resumed seating this week, it has its hands full with fundamental policy debates on the table.

The long-overdue amendments to Public Order and Security Act (Posa) need not remain a matter of contention forever.

It is not a secret that Posa is a bad law and it has to go now. It belongs to fascist regimes. The Zanu PF controlled Senate has stonewalled amendments to Posa for obvious reasons, inflaming tensions by exploiting its superior numerical advantage in the upper house.

Now the MDC will have to go begging, cap in hand to Zanu PF for the amendments to sail through. They will have to surrender something.

It is pathetic. The sad thing is most of these Zanu PF senators who are blocking the amendments were not voted into office by the people. Yet they have the audacity of resisting the people’s will to have that law go.

These appointees in the upper house are using veto power against the will of the people.

Ironically this senate, which is blocking amendments to Posa, had the audacity to summon the minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Eric Matinenga on Tuesday to explain why they are not getting $50 000 for Constituency Development Funds!

They want the hard-pressed taxpayer to fork out another $50 000 to them in constituency development funds which are being misused by their counterparts in the lower house.

As we reported on Tuesday, MDC chief whip Innocent Gonese says they will have to negotiate with Zanu PF to have the Posa Amendment Bill reinstated on the Senate order paper.

But we all know what happens in these negotiated solutions.

They are followed by delays in implementation emblematic of a fundamental deficit of political will to achieve real reform on the part of Zanu PF.

This Parliament needs to stop taking people for granted and start serving the people.

The fact that out of 24 bills on the last session of Parliament’s legislative agenda, only seven were tabled in the august house means someone is sleeping on the job.

Legislators need to know they are servants of the people.

They were elected to serve the people.

If only seven Bills were brought to the house out of the 24 originally envisaged, it means Zimbabwe’s legislature is operating at less than 30 percent capacity. And that’s not pleasing at all.