via Parliament Will Resume Sitting on Tuesday 25th November 25 November 2014 by Veritas
BILL WATCH 44/2014
[24th November 2014]
Parliament Will Resume Sitting on Tuesday 25th November
The 2015 Budget Will be Presented on Thursday 27th November
¬ Pre-Budget Parliamentary Business This Week
Tuesday 25th November will see the second sittings of the Houses in the current second session of the Eighth Parliament of Zimbabwe. The only non-Budget items of business so far listed for both Houses are the debates on the customary motions to thank the President for his speech opening the session on 28th October.
Bills
Uncompleted business from the First Session is expected to be restored to the Order Paper in due course. This includes the three Bills that were still under consideration by the Parliamentary Legal Committee [PLC] when the First Session ended on 25th September:
• Gender Commission of Zimbabwe Bill [this is expected to receive a qualified non-adverse report from the PLC after discussions with the responsible Minister led to a Government undertaking to make amendments to the Bill to satisfy reservations expressed by the PLC]
• Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (Debt Assumption) Bill [non-adverse report expected]
• Public Accountants and Auditors Amendment Bill [non-adverse report expected].
Question Time
The Standing Orders of both Houses set aside two hours per week for Question Time – on Wednesday afternoons for the National Assembly and on Thursday afternoon for the Senate. The first hour is for questions without notice, during which backbenchers may put questions to Ministers about government policy in their fields of responsibility. The next hour is for questions with notice, which are listed on the Order Paper and usually call for detailed information on matters of fact, such as why promised roadworks in an MP’s constituency have not been completed. The thinking behind this division is that Ministers should be able to field questions on policy matters affecting their Ministries without warning, but should have reasonable time within which to investigate and obtain information from their officials about matters of detail.
National Assembly There are no questions with notice listed for Wednesday afternoon, 26th November, but if the National Assembly meets that day, the first hour of the sitting will be available for questions without notice.
Senate Question time in the Senate is on Thursday afternoons. As the Senate usually adjourns to allow Senators listen to the Budget presentation, Ministers are unlikely to be grilled by Senators this week.
Budget Presentation: Thursday 27th November
The Minister of Finance and Economic Development will present the 2015 Budget Statement in the National Assembly on Thursday 27th November. The statement will cover fiscal and economic performance in 2014, projections for 2015, Government’s expenditure plans for 2015 and proposals for raising revenue to finance Government operations for the coming year. At the conclusion of his presentation the Minister will table the Estimates of Expenditure for 2015 [the “Blue Book”]. It is also customary to make available a departmental draft of a Finance Bill to give effect to his revenue proposals. This procedure is in accordance with section 305 of the Constitution, which states that every year the Minister responsible for finance must present to the National Assembly a statement of the estimated revenues and expenditures of the Government in the next financial year.
After the Budget presentation, Parliament will adjourn for just over two weeks, to allow ZANU-PF members to attend the party’s Congress, which will take place in Harare during the period Tuesday 2nd to Sunday 7th December, and to make the following week available for the committee work that must precede consideration of the Budget in plenary sittings.
An opportunity for public input The adjournment will also give the public time to digest the Budget proposals and prepare representations about them for submission to portfolio committees, and to lobby individual MPs before Parliamentary consideration of the proposals begins after the adjournment [see December Parliamentary Programme below].
Form of the Estimates of Expenditure
Section 305(3) of the Constitution requires that separate estimates of expenditure be given each Commission established by the Constitution [Judicial Service Commission and the other service Commissions, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, the Media Commission, etc,]; the office of the Auditor-General; the National Prosecuting Authority; and the Council of Chiefs. This calls for Estimates that are separate from the Estimates for an entity’s parent Ministry.
December Parliamentary Programme
The outline of the programme for Parliamentary budget activities after the two-week adjournment is:
Post-Budget Seminar for Parliamentarians
Monday 8th December
Stakeholder consultations
Tuesday 9th to Friday 12th December
Portfolio committees will hold open meetings at which stakeholders and members of the public will be permitted to make representations about the Budget proposals. The committees will then meet in closed session to prepare reports to be presented to the National Assembly the following week when the Budget and the Estimates of Expenditure for 2015 are expected to be approved and the Appropriation and Finance Bills to put them into effect passed by both Houses.
The detailed programme for these consultative meetings will be circulated as soon as it becomes available.
Sittings of both Houses
Both Houses will sit during this week.
National Assembly
In the National Assembly there will be:
• debate on the Budget presentation, involving the presentation of the reports from the portfolio committees, contributions from individual backbenchers and the Minister of Finance and Economic Development closing remarks replying to points raised during the debate. This stage is concluded by the approval of the Minister’s motion for leave to bring in a Bill to make provision for the revenues and public funds of Zimbabwe and related matters.
• consideration and passage of the Finance Bill
• consideration of the Estimates of Expenditure and, if they are approved, passage of the Appropriation (2015) Bill giving effect to them.
Senate
The Senate’s role in Budget business is a limited one, because the Finance Bill and the Appropriation (2015) Bill are both “money Bills”. Both Bills will come to it after they have been passed by the National Assembly, but under the Constitution the Senate cannot amend either of them. Its powers are limited by the Constitution to recommending amendments for consideration by the National Assembly or refusing to pass the Bills at all. If it recommends amendments, the recommendations must be considered by the National Assembly but do not have to be accepted. If it refuses to pass either Bill, the Bill may nevertheless be signed by the President and gazetted as law in the form in which it was passed by the National Assembly.
Tenure of Office of a Vice-President
Enquires have been received on this question. Until 2023 any Vice-President [there can be two] is appointed by the incumbent President and holds office at the President’s pleasure [Constitution, Sixth Schedule, paragraph 14(1)]. This means that the President can remove a Vice-President whenever he pleases.
Government Gazette of 21st November
Tax amnesty SI 163/2014 contains the somewhat overdue Finance Act (Tax Amnesty) Regulations, which supplement the relevant provisions of the Finance (No. 2) Act, 2014 [Act 8/2014]. [SI available from the addresses given at the end of this bulletin.] Two forms are prescribed by, but not set out in, the regulations: form TA01 – Tax Amnesty Application Form; TA02 – Payment Schedule Form. The forms can be obtained free of charge from any ZIMRA office throughout Zimbabwe or on the ZIMRA website: www.zimra.co.zw
Customs duty suspension SI 164/2014 grants 3-year suspensions to two named mining companies vis-à-vis two specific mining locations.
Customs duty rebate for relief organisations SIs 165 and 166/2014 provides for strictly-controlled rebates on goods imported for free distribution among persons in need by any international or regional organisation, body or agency designated by the Minister of Finance and Economic Development as a relief organisation, body or agency.
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