Parliament resumes sitting as MP’s slam slow pace of reforms

By Lance Guma
16 June 2009

Parliament resumed sitting Tuesday with several MP’s slamming the slow pace of reforms by the country’s coalition government. Mbizo legislator Settlement Chikwinya moved a motion decrying the lack of any meaningful progress in opening up the media. He called on the Executive arm of government to comply with the provisions of the Global Political Agreement signed by both ZANU PF and the MDC which calls for independent players to operate in the media environment.

Chikwinya also took a swipe at Information Minister Webster Shamu for failing to comply with a High Court order that barred him from interfering with journalists who wanted to cover the recent COMESA summit. The court ruled that the Media and Information Commission was now defunct and no journalist should have to be accredited by the body. Shamu however ignored this and went on to give a list of accredited journalists to security details manning the conference venue. The journalists who refused to accredit with the defunct MIC were eventually barred from the summit, despite the court order.

The motion by the MP also raised concerns about the continued abuse of the State media by ZANU PF. Chikwinya is calling on the Standing Rules and Orders Committee and the Minister of Media, Information and Publicity to constitute the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ), which ‘should start granting licenses to other players by 6 August 2009.’

Makoni West MP Webber Chinyadza also moved a motion in parliament criticising the lack of development in the rural areas. Both his and Chikwinya’s motion will be debated on Wednesday. Another motion already previously debated but adopted Tuesday was that of Nyanga North MP Douglas Mwonzora. He is calling for a transparent system of distributing inputs to disadvantaged rural farmers. In the past army officers and ZANU PF officials have been manipulating the system to reward their supporters. Mwonzora is suggesting that elected officials should oversee the process.

Newsreel spoke to MDC Chief Whip Innocent Gonese and asked him why parliamentary sessions were few and far in between. He said this was because there was no government business coming to parliament. ‘The sitting schedule of parliament depends on government business,’ he told us. He said this is why the MDC at its annual national conference criticized the slow pace of reforms. Gonese said parliament’s main business is the crafting of laws yet they were mainly debating motions. He said they hoped the next session of parliament will start repealing repressive legislation.