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Parliamentary update for April - Bill Watch 18/2011
Veritas
April 27, 2011
The Senate
has adjourned to Tuesday 10th May
The House
of Assembly has adjourned to Tuesday 17th May
In Parliament
this Month
Senate
The Senate did
not sit this month. Its last sitting was on the 31st March.
House
of Assembly
The House of
Assembly sat on 5th, 6th and 7th April. It passed two Bills and
sent them to the Senate to be considered in May. On Wednesday 6th
April Ministers dealt with members’ questions.
Bills
passed and Sent to Senate
Small Enterprises
Development Corporation Amendment Bill – this was passed without
amendment.
General Laws
Amendment Bill – this was passed with several amendments,
including the dropping of the clause on Government copyright in
legislation, court judgments and various other official documents
and the clause on local authority procurement procedures, and the
addition of three new clauses seeking to amend the National Biotechnology
Authority Act and the Banking Act, and to backdate the legal practitioners
US dollar fees tariff of 2011 to 1st February 2009. For details
see Bill
Watch 17/2011 of 19th April. Electronic version of Bill as passed
by the House available.
Bills carried
forward to May - awaiting Second Reading
Parliamentary
Legal Committee [PLC] – presented non-adverse reports on:
- National
Incomes and Pricing Commission Amendment Bill
- General
Laws Amendment Bill as amended by the House
- Statutory
instruments gazetted during February.
Members
Question Time
Questions dealt
with by Ministers included:
Mount Darwin
Mass Exhumations Deputy Prime Minister Mutambara said concerns about
these exhumations would be addressed by the Ministry of Home Affairs
which had now taken over responsibility for the matter.
School text-books
The Minister of Education stoutly defended his Ministry’s
arrangements for the supply of school textbooks, pointing out that
by handing over the procurement process to UNICEF significant economies
of scale had been achieved, a considerable sum saved and some 30
million text-books produced and delivered, resulting in every primary
school child having his or her own English, Maths, indigenous language
and environmental sciences textbook. He also rejected allegations
that the books supplied were not acceptable to schools, saying they
were all approved by the Ministry’s curriculum development
unit.
Boosting Bulawayo
industrial sector The Deputy Minister of Economic Planning and Investment
Promotion gave a detailed response to a question about Government’s
plans to boost Bulawayo industry to stop imminent closures of factories
that had ceased to be viable.
Parliamentary
Committees
Senate Thematic
and House of Assembly Portfolio Committees sat until 15th April,
then adjourned until the week commencing 9th May.
Update
on Legislation
Bills Passed
and Awaiting Presidential Assent and/or Gazetting as Acts
Bills
in Parliament
Senate
- Public
Order and Security Amendment Bill – this Private Member’s
Bill still awaits its Second Reading [Electronic version available.]
- General Laws
Amendment Bill – awaiting Second Reading
- Small Enterprises
Development Corporation Amendment Bill – awaiting Second
Reading
House
of Assembly
- Deposit Protection
Corporation Amendment Bill – awaiting Second Reading
- National
Incomes and Pricing Commission Amendment Bill – awaiting
Second Reading
Bills Gazetted
and Awaiting Presentation in Parliament – None
Bills Being
Printed for Presentation in Parliament
- Older Persons
Bill [this is a Bill from the Ministry of Labour and Social Services
– text and summary not yet available.]
Bills Referred
for Drafting after Approval in Principle by Cabinet
- State Enterprises
Restructuring Agency Bill
- State Enterprises
and Parastatals Management Bill
- Zimbabwe
Investment Authority Amendment Bill.
Requests for
electronic versions that have been offered should be emailed to
veritas@yoafrica.com
Statutory
Instruments and General Notices
Statutory
Instruments
No statutory
instruments were published in the Gazette of 8th April, and none
of any significance in the Gazettes of 15th and 22nd April.
General
Notices
Government
financial statements for January and February
Published as
supplements to the Government Gazette of 8th March were the Government’s
consolidated financial statements for January and February 2011,
as prepared by the Accountant-General. The ten-page statements give
Government income and expenditure, broken down under a number of
sub-headings. So it is possible, for instance, to ascertain the
official figures for revenue from mining royalties [$6 717 155 for
January, $6 370 500 for February]. [Please note: Electronic copies
of these financial statements are not available from Veritas. Hard
copies are available from the Government Printer’s outlets.]
According to section 34(3) of the Public Finance Management Act
the Ministry should have been publishing such statements every month
since April 2010, when the Act came into operation, but these are
the first to appear. Concerned citizens are entitled to demand that
statements for the preceding seven months of 2010 are published
now, even if somewhat belatedly. And it is to be hoped that there
will be no further lapses in compliance with this important statutory
obligation, because the point of making such information publicly
available is to promote transparency and accountability in the handling
of public money.
MDC-T
3rd National Congress: 28th to 30th April [new dates]
The Congress
has been moved forward by one day to ensure that senior party officials
will be free to take part in Workers Day functions on 1st May. It
will be held in Bulawayo. Guest of honour will be Kenyan Prime Minister
Raila Odinga. The agenda includes election of the national leadership;
Mr Tsvangirai is set to continue as party President as the only
nominee for the post. Some of the party’s provincial elections
have been marred by violence between rival factions. The Congress
will not interfere with Parliamentary business, as both Houses and
all Parliamentary committees will still be in recess at that time.
Veritas
makes every effort to ensure reliable information, but cannot take
legal responsibility for information supplied
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