Source: Govt blasts ‘insensitive’ legislators – DailyNews Live
Blessings Mashaya 4 October 2018
HARARE – Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs minister Ziyambi Ziyambi
has blasted insensitive legislators saying they have to wait a bit longer
to get their cars.
This comes after legislators from both Zanu PF and the MDC expressed anger
at government’s decision to suspend the purchase of new vehicles for them
– with the money budgeted for that now earmarked to fight the deadly
cholera outbreak which has claimed dozens of lives and left thousands of
people requiring treatment.
Ziyambi told the Daily News yesterday that it is too early for the
legislators to demand cars.
“It is surprising that they are demanding cars despite that Parliament has
just set the committee on standing rules and orders which is required to
discuss their affairs,” Ziyambi said.
“They must not complain because it’s just few weeks after they have been
sworn in, I don’t think they have received their first salary yet. It’s
too early for them to demand cars.
“But I think it is important that the country must deal with the cholera
outbreak and there is nothing bad about that. There was no official
communication which announced that they are not going to get their cars.
Legislators must not rely on speculation. If there is any official
communication, the minister will communicate with Parliament
administration.”
President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration declared the cholera
epidemic a national emergency, as it struggles to raise about $60 million
needed to contain the highly infectious disease.
MPs from both the ruling party and the opposition said government’s
decision to suspend the purchasing of the vehicles and instead channel
that money to fighting cholera was a “travesty” of justice as they were
entitled to all their benefits.
Outspoken and independent legislator for Norton Temba Mliswa led the
chorus of disapproval over the decision saying it was wrong for the
government to suspend the MPs’ entitlements simply because there was a
disease outbreak.
“You cannot suspend people’s salaries because there is a cholera outbreak.
The problem is that councils are mismanaged. This is an issue of
mismanagement,” Mliswa said last week.
“The issue is also about land barons taking over and there is no master
plan anymore. The city (of Harare) has lost order. Town councils are so
corrupt and at times people are building on wetlands using septic tanks
that will get into water sources … and all this has nothing to do with
people’s benefits,” Mliswa said.
“There are new MPs who don’t have what we have. You cannot say we are
building a nation by destroying the other arm. I have told them (the
government) to source cars locally but they have not listened. What is not
in doubt is that Parliament is under-funded already. What we need are
reserves for such emergencies,” he added.
Although Mliswa was fighting for his colleagues, he is renowned for having
consistently refused to accept a parliamentary vehicle ever since he
became an MP.
Under the Parliamentary Vehicle Loan Scheme, Treasury purchases the cars
for the MPs – who in turn pay back the money as a loan during their
five-year tenure in the National Assembly.
Generally, the legislators buy the brand new, all-terrain SUVs for a song
– as the repayment terms are extremely friendly and flexible.
Zimbabwe has more than 350 MPs despite having a relatively small
population of just over 15 million people.
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