Zanu PF ministers bad perfomers: Rau

via Zanu PF ministers bad perfomers: Rau November 26, 2013 by Veneranda Langa NewsDay

ZANU PF ministers who have continuously been recycled for Cabinet posts were adjudged as bad performers in the last Parliament by a local think tank, Research and Advocacy Unit (Rau).

Some of those fingered include bigwigs like Didymus Mutasa, then (Presidential Affairs minister in the President’s Office), Obert Mpofu (Mines and Mining Development), Ignatius Chombo (Local Government) and Nicholas Goche (Transport and Infrastructural Development).

These have held Cabinet positions since 1980 or have been ministers for more than three consecutive terms now, and have currently been recycled to the same or different ministries.

According to the Rau report titled What Happened in Parliament, an analysis of the participation of MPs 2012/13 by senior researcher Rumbidzai Dube, the ministers concerned never took Parliament business seriously, and either dodged or did not turn up during question and answer sessions in both Houses of Parliament.

“All the MDC (Welshman Ncube) ministers managed to participate in either House of Assembly or Senate sessions, so did most of the MDC-T ministers with the exception of one minister (Lucia Matibenga, former Public Service minister), while more than a third of Zanu PF ministers never participated in either the House of Assembly or Senate sessions,” the Rau report read.

“The trend is worrying given that they have held ministerial positions for long and question and answer sessions are an important part of the work of Parliament as they are illuminating processes through which Parliament seeks to hold the Executive accountable for its actions.”

Other members of the Executive who are said to have remained mum during the tenure of the Seventh Parliament, included former deputy ministers Reuben Marumahoko (Regional Intergration and International Cooperation), and Hubert Nyanhongo (Energy and Power Development).

Rau said it was imperative for members of the Executive to attend question and answer sessions as they were good for policy scrutiny, exposing administrative lapses, as well as exposing ministers that were not performing satisfactorily.

In the current Eighth Session of Parliament, attendance by ministers during question and answer sessions is still low prompting Senate President Edna Madzongwe to ask Leader of the House Emmerson Mnangagwa to speak to ministers about attendance at Thursday’s question and answer sessions at Senate.

The Rau report also noted that the performance of chiefs in the Senate was poor.

“The chiefs’ performance was particularly bad with seven out of 16 (44%) of the total number of chiefs not speaking at all,” the report said.