Source: Parly gets down to business – DailyNews Live
Mugove Tafirenyika and Blessings Mashaya 25 September 2018
HARARE – The ninth Parliament will commence in earnest today with a busy
schedule which will see it, among other functions, administer over a dozen
bills proposed by President Emmerson Mnangagwa during his State of the
Nation Address last week.
Mnangagwa who also officially opened the ninth Parliament for its first
session came up with a legislative agenda that is premised on the need to
align the country’s laws to the 2013 Constitution which is now long
overdue.
John Makamure, executive director of the Southern African Parliamentary
Support Trust said the ninth Parliament has a huge task to debate Bills
which make impact to the country’s economy.
“The President highlighted about 30 Bills his government expects to bring
to Parliament for consideration during the first session of the Ninth
Parliament. A number of the bills mentioned were either awaiting gazetting
or were already before the Eighth Parliament when it was dissolved.
“The legislative agenda largely relates to the ease of doing business,
completion of the process to align laws with the Constitution, media
reforms, child protection and ratification of international legal
instruments.
“The vision for Zimbabwe to become a middle income economy by 2030 with
per capita income of $3 500, increased investment, decent jobs,
broad-based empowerment, and free from poverty and corruption can only be
realised if Parliament fully exercises its legislative authority as
provided for in sections 130 and 131 of the Constitution.”
Mnangagwa said the ninth Parliament is expected to, inter alia, consider
the Coroner’s Bill, which provides for the establishment of the Coroner’s
Office, the Constitutional Court Bill which, among other things, seeks to
confer additional responsibilities to the Constitutional Court as well as
the Customary Law and Local Courts Bill, which provides for the exclusion
of harmful cultural practices from Customary Law.
The Executive also wants the Legislature to consider the High Court
Amendment Bill, which will provide for clear appeals and referral
procedures from the High Court to the Constitutional Court and establish
their jurisdictional matters.
Furthermore, Mnangagwa proposed that the Rural District Councils Bill
intended to give rural councils greater autonomy in line with the
Constitution be tabled in this august House.
“The Traditional Leaders Act will be amended to bring it into line with
the Constitution and more particularly, to provide for the establishment
of Provincial Assemblies,” Mnangagwa said.
He added that considering the Provincial and Metropolitan Councils Bill
will be prioritised to facilitate the devolution of governmental powers
and responsibilities to provincial and local authorities.
“Through this Bill, provincial and, metropolitan councils will be
reconfigured in accordance with Chapter 14 of the Constitution. This will
further seek to facilitate enhanced coordination between central
government, provincial councils and local authorities, within the context
of the decentralisation and devolution programme.
Mnangagwa said to give life to the idea of devolution, the Public Finance
Management Act will be amended to facilitate the allocation of sufficient
resources for basic social services and economic development at the local
level. At the same time government will also bring forward the Forestry
Amendment Bill for consideration by Parliament “to provide for measures to
effectively foster the sustainable management of the country’s forestry
resource”. My government will also bring for ratification by this
Parliament; the Kigali Amendment to the Nogoya-Kualar Lumpur Supplementary
Protocol on Stability and Redress to the Cartagena Protocol on Bio-Safety,
the accession to the Additional Protocol to the Agreements between States
and the International Atomic Energy Agency for the Application of
Safeguards, the accession to the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent
Fuel Management and the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management,” Mnangagwa
said.
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