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Budget to be debated Tuesday 6th December - Bill Watch 54/2011
Veritas
December 06, 2011
Both
Houses will sit on Tuesday 6th December
Coming
Up In Parliament This Week
House
of Assembly
Budget Business:
MPs are expected to start debating the Budget
Statement on 6th December - notwithstanding their request last
Thursday to have until the 13th to study it further. Portfolio committee
chairpersons will present their committees’ reports on the
aspects of the Budget affecting the Ministries they oversee, and
individual members will have the opportunity to contribute.
It remains to
be seen whether, even with the already-approved fast-tracking arrangements
in place, it will be possible to deal with the Estimates of Expenditure,
the Appropriation (2012) Bill and the Finance (No. 2) Bill [Electronic
versions available from veritas@mango.zw]
in the day or two available before the House adjourns to allow ZANU-PF
members to attend their party conference in Bulawayo later this
week.
[Comment: MPs
have, correctly, pointed out that the Constitution
doesn’t say that the Budget has to be approved before the
end of the year. But other factors are important: for example, if
the Finance (No. 2) Bill is not promptly passed, the proposed increase
in the tax-free amount for annual bonuses payable for 2011 will
not become law. Do MPs really want to disappoint workers banking
on that exemption being applied to bonuses due later this month?
A question that always arises at this time of year is why one political
party holds its yearly conference at the busiest time of year for
Parliament. The tradition of letting a party conference have priority
over Parliamentary duties should be reconsidered.]
Other business:
There are motions down for debate and, for Wednesday afternoon,
a number of written questions for answers by Ministers. But these
items will only be dealt with if Budget business is completed in
time.
- Motions
include the motion on unconstitutional statements by some service
chiefs and the motion on the indigenisation regulations.
- Questions
include questions for the co-Ministers of Home Affairs about cross-border
cattle rustling affecting the Lower Zambezi Valley and the Chiredzi
district, and police inaction on the invasion of Parliament on
23rd July that disrupted a public hearing on the Zimbabwe
Human Rights Commission Bill
Senate
Budget Bills:
If the two Budget Bills are passed by the House
of Assembly they will be transmitted to the Senate. If satisfied
with the Bills the Senate will pass them in the normal way and they
will then go to the President for his assent. If, however, the Senate
thinks changes are needed, all it can do is to recommend amendments
to the House. [Note: The Senate’s limited powers in relation
to “money Bills” were explained in Bill
Watch 53/2011 of 28th November.]
Other Business:
While the Senate waits for the Budget Bills, it will be able to
deal with other items on its Order Paper:
- Motion to
restore Public Order
and Security Amendment Bill to the Order Paper: Hon Gonese’s
motion is not likely to be dealt with.
- Other motions:
These include Senator Komichi’s motion seeking a thematic
committee investigation of “unethical and unprofessional
activities by the media”.
Prime
Ministers Question Time Cancelled
Under Standing
Orders Prime Minister’s Question Time should be held in the
House of Assembly on the last Wednesday of each month, and in the
Senate on the last Thursday – but if there is no sitting on
the day in question, it is cancelled. So there was no PM’s
Question Time in the House of Assembly on 30th November, because
the House was not sitting on that day – or in the Senate the
previous Thursday, when the Senate sat for only a few minutes because
of the Budget. This means that the current session has seen only
one PM’s Question Time in the House of Assembly, on 26th October,
and none in the Senate; and that the next opportunities for MPs
to question the PM will only be at the end of January – if
Parliament is then sitting. This is unsatisfactory; it is a pity
that a missed PM’s Question Time cannot simply be carried
forward for a week rather than a month. The PM’s appearances
in Parliament are already rare enough. As he is Leader of Government
Business in Parliament [GPA,
Article 20.1.4], it is to be hoped that the PM will not only attend
Parliament more often, but also make a point of ensuring regular
PM’s Question Times in future.
In Parliament
Last Week
Members of both
Houses were involved in a Budget Workshop and special Budget analysis
committee meetings from Monday to Wednesday, so the Houses sat on
Thursday afternoon only.
House
of Assembly
Budget Debate
postponed: Hon Zhanda, chairperson of the Budget Portfolio Committee
informed the Speaker that Portfolio Committees needed more time
to complete their Budget analysis.
MPs walk out
on Minister Welshman Ncube: When Minister of Industry and Commerce
Welshman Ncube rose to propose a motion he received a noisy and
hostile reception from MPs expressing disapproval of remarks he
was reported to have made about Deputy Speaker Nomalanga Khumalo,
MP for Umzingwane, at a rally the previous weekend. According to
Press reports the Minister had said she was no longer a member of
the MDC he leads, having gone over to the MDC led by Professor Mutambara.
Some 20 MPs walked out of the House.
International
agreements approved: Once order had been restored the House passed,
without debate, Minister Ncube’s motions to approve:
- the Second
Revised Cotonou Agreement
- the Trade
Agreement with Kuwait
Restoration
of Bill to Order Paper: The House also approved Minister Ncube’s
motion to revive the National
Incomes and Pricing Commission Amendment Bill, clearing the
way for its Second Reading stage in due course.
Senate
The Senate’s
48-minute sitting was devoted to oral questions without notice.
In the absence of the responsible Ministers, Deputy Minister of
Public Works Senator Georgias and Deputy Minister of Justice and
Legal Affairs Senator Gutu valiantly responded to a variety of questions,
hardly any of which related to their own Ministries, e.g. Senator
Georgias spoke about unemployed nursing graduates and Senator Gutu
about agricultural problems. Belatedly, the Deputy President of
the Senate pointed out that questions should focus on the Ministries
in which the Deputy Ministers serve. Answering a question about
prisons, which come under the Ministry of Justice and Legal Affairs,
Senator Gutu was enthusiastic about the recent improvement in prison
conditions countrywide, and described the new Mazowe Prison complex
as a model prison by international standards.
MPs
to Receive Sitting Allowance Arrears
Deputy Prime
Minister Arthur Mutambara has announced that members of the House
of Assembly and Senators will be paid their sitting allowances [$75
per sitting] back to the commencement of the present Parliament
in 2008. This followed his undertaking to the House during Question
Time on 22nd November to take the matter up with the President and
the Prime Minister. Parliamentarians had been angered by the earlier
decision of the party principals that the allowances would only
be paid for sittings from 1st November 2011 onwards.
House
Rejects Allegations Against Portfolio Committee Chair Zhanda
On 24th November
the Speaker ruled that that there was a prima facie case of breach
of privilege or contempt of Parliament against Hon Zhanda, chairperson
of the Portfolio Committee on Budget, Finance and Economic Development.
The ruling followed the receipt of a letter from the Governor of
the Reserve Bank alleging misconduct on the part of Mr Zhanda in
relation to the Portfolio Committee’s investigation of the
affairs of the Reserve Bank. Despite the Speaker’s ruling,
the House expressed its confidence in Hon Zhanda by rejecting, without
debate, a motion to appoint a Committee of Privileges to go into
the allegations.
Alleged
Contempt of Parliament: Privileges Committee Appointed
On 24th November
the Speaker announced the appointment by the Committee on Standing
Rules and Orders of the members of a Committee on Privileges to
investigate allegations of contempt of Parliament against Mr Gwaradzimba,
the Government-appointed administrator of Shabani Mashaba Mines
[SMM] under the Reconstruction of State-Indebted Insolvent Companies
Act. The members are Hon Mangwana [chairperson], Hon Mnangagwa,
Hon Majome, Hon Mushonga and Hon P. Dube. The allegations arise
from disparaging remarks about the Portfolio Committee on Mines
and Energy allegedly made by Mr Gwaradzimba in the course of a press
interview; at the time the Portfolio Committee was investigating
the state of affairs at SMM.
Status
of Bills
[Electronic
versions of Bills are available from veritas@mango.zw]
Bill
awaiting Second Reading
- National
Incomes and Pricing Commission Amendment Bill [restored to the
Order Paper 1st December]
Bill
Gazetted and Awaiting Presentation
- Older
Persons Bill [gazetted 9th September]
- Finance (No.
2) Bill [gazetted 2nd December]
- Appropriation
(2012) Bill [gazetted 2nd December]
Bill
being Printed for Gazetting
Lapsed Bills
awaiting restoration to the Order Paper
- Public Order
and Security [POSA] Amendment Bill [Private Member’s Bill
– Hon Gonese]
- Electoral
Amendment Bill
- Zimbabwe
Human Rights Commission Amendment Bill
Bills
Passed by Parliament awaiting gazetting as Acts
- Deposit
Protection Corporation Bill [final reading in Parliament –
2nd August. The discovery of an error has necessitated reprinting
before submission to the President.]
- Small Enterprises
Development Corporation Amendment Bill [final reading in Parliament
– 12th July. Sent to President’s Office – 30th
September] [Gazetting of this Act seems long overdue. The Constitution
requires the President to assent or not within 21 days of a Bill
reaching him.]
Government
Gazette
Customs and
excise duty: SI 142/2011 of 30th November specifies the new duties
on cigarettes, effective 1st December, announced by the Minister
of Finance in the Budget Statement.
Changes re left-hand
drive vehicles and second-hand vehicles: SI 140/2011, dated 25th
November, amends sections 10 [steering system] and 65 [type approval
of motor vehicle] of SI 154/2010, the Road Traffic (Construction,
Equipment and Use) Regulations. The effect is as follows:
- to repeal
the ban on importing second-hand vehicles more than 5 years old
- to repeal
the ban on the use of left-hand drive heavy vehicles after 2015
- to maintain
the ban on importing left-hand drive vehicles [that ban came into
effect on 31st October 2011].
[In other words,
no left-hand drive vehicles at all can be imported, but all left-hand
drive vehicles, heavy or light, already registered in Zimbabwe before
31st October 2011 can continue to be used indefinitely.] [Electronic
version of SI available.]
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