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Parliamentary Roundup Bulletin No. 14 - 2011
Southern African Parliamentary Support Trust
April 05, 2011
Introduction
Parliament set
for the first time yesterday after the tension-filled sitting last
week in which Lovemore Moyo (MDC-T) was re-elected
Speaker of the House of Assembly, beating his rival Simon Khaya
Moyo (ZANU PF) by 105 votes to 93 votes. The House considered two
Bills, namely; General Laws Amendment Bill (H.B. 8, 2010) and Small
Enterprises Development Corporation Amendment Bill (H.B. 9, 2010).
General
Laws Amendment Bill
The Bill seeks
to amend several Acts of Parliament in an omnibus fashion as stated
below. In his second reading speech, the Minister of Justice and
Legal Affairs said the amendments were precipitated by the need
"to correct errors that have been noted in the existing legislation
since the enactment of the General
Laws Amendment Act, 2005 (Act No. 6 of 2005)." He further
stated that the Amendment also sought "to make minor amendments
that may not warrant the introduction of a separate Bill for each
enactment. The nature of the amendments is basically to correct
errors, address administrative issues and to bring consistencies
in statutes affected by other amendments."
1. The Administrative
Court Act (Chapter 7:01)
2. The
Judicial Service Act (Chapter 7:18)
3. The
Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act (Chapter 9:07)
4. The Ombudsman's Act. (Chapter 10:18)
5. Police Act (Chapter 11:10)
6. The Civil Aviation Act (Chapter 13:16)
7. The
Indigenization Act (Chapter 14:33)
8. The Health Services Act (Chapter 15:16)
9. Parks and Wildlife Act (Chapter 20:14)
10. The
Environmental Management Act (Chapter 20:27)
11. The Procurement Act (Chapter 22:14)
12. The
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Act (Chapter 22:15)
13. Printed Publications Act (Chapter 25:14)
14. The
Labour Act (Chapter 28:01)
15. The Rural District Councils Act (Chapter 29:15)
16. Urban
Councils Act (Chapter 29:15)
Of major concern
to the House was the proposed amendment of the Rural Districts Councils
Act and the Urban Councils Act with respect to the procurement procedures
for the local authorities. The amendment seeks to centralize the
procurement processes in local authorities, such that they will
be handled by the State Procurement Board as provided for in the
Procurement Act.
The Chairperson
of the Local Government Portfolio Committee, Hon. Lynette Karenyi
objected to the proposed amendment as she argued that the move was
a step backwards. She observed that the centralization of procurement
processes for local authorities would compromise the quick procurement
of goods, promotion of local shops, companies and entrepreneurs
and the independence of urban councils. Hon. Karenyi also said that
stakeholders who made representations before her committee noted
that the proposed amendment would result in;
- Centralization
- Increased
relocation and closure of factories
- Loss of
jobs and shifted employment opportunities
- Prolonged
delays in service delivery
- Corruption
- Absence of
accountability
Stakeholders
were also concerned whether the State Procurement Board would have
capacity to deal with emergencies in all the 91 local authorities
in the country. Hon. Karenyi further noted that the proposed amendment
was against the spirit of decentralization and devolution of power
to local authorities. She also argued that "there can never
be correlation between centralization and efficiency" and thus
centralizing the procurement process would have ripple effects in
the whole local government procurement system in Zimbabwe.
The Chairman
of the Portfolio Committee on Justice, Legal, Constitutional and
Parliamentary Affairs, Hon. Douglas Mwonzora presented his committee's
report on some clauses of the General Laws Amendment Bill. The major
highlight of his report was in respect to Clause 16 of the Bill,
which seeks to amend the Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Act [Cap
26:05] by making the following public documents or information copyrightable;
(a) official
texts of enactments;
(b) official texts of Bills prepared for presentation in Parliament;
(c) official records of judicial proceedings and decisions;
(d) notices, advertisements and other material published in the
Gazette;
(e) applications, specifications and other matters published in
the Patent and Trade Marks Journal referred to in section 95 of
the Patents Act [Chapter 26:03];
(f) official texts of international conventions, treaties and
agreements to which Zimbabwe is a party;
(g) entries in, and documents that form part of, any register
which is kept in terms of an enactment and is open to public inspection;
(h) such other documents of a public nature as may be prescribed
Hon. Mwonzora
observed that this would violate the BEN Geneva Convention which
stipulates every citizen has the right to free access to all the
laws and statutes of that country. He also noted that the proposed
amendment was in violation of Section 20(1) of the Constitution,
which provides as follows;
Except with
his own consent or by way of parental discipline, no person shall
be hindered in the enjoyment of his freedom of expression, that
is to say, freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart
ideas and information without interference….
After listening
to arguments by Hon. Karenyi and Hon. Mwonzora, the Minister of
Justice and Legal Affairs, Hon. Chinamasa conceded to the House
that the arguments they were advancing made a lot of sense and therefore
agreed to withdraw proposed amendments with respect to the procurement
process in local authorities and the amendment to the Copyright
Act. He said the issue of the procurement process was better dealt
with in a separate legislation and would therefore advise the Ministers
of Finance and Local Government accordingly.
The concession
by Hon. Chinamasa demonstrated what portfolio committees can achieve
in terms of their legislative scrutiny role.
Small
Enterprises Development Corporation Amendment Bill (H.B. 9, 2010)
The House of
Assembly passed the Small Enterprises Development Corporation Amendment
Bill (H.B. 9, 2010) yesterday. The Bill has been transmitted to
the Senate.
Adjournment
of the House
The House adjourned
to Wednesday 6 April 2011. On Wednesdays, the business of the House
of Assembly is dominated by backbenchers business.
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