Command Agriculture 'thief' faces Parly grilling

OPPOSITION MDC-T parliamentarians are ready to cause Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa to be hauled before the august House if he fails to provide the contentious "term sheet" related to Sakunda Holdings' funding of Command Agriculture.

Chinamasa, nearly a year after the programme meant to ensure food self-sustenance in the country was implemented, has not tabled before the National Assembly the terms and conditions of the nearly $500 million agreement as set out in the Public Finance Management Act and the Constitution on public debt contraction.

MDC-T MP and member of the Budget and Finance Committee, Eddie Cross, yesterday said they would continue to push Chinamasa to release the loan deal documents.

"We have tried and asked the minister to provide the term sheet. I hope that by the 17th (of July) when he comes to Parliament, he will produce the documents. If the term sheet is not provided, then he will be summoned to appear before the committee," Cross said.

Chinamasa, at the last Ministers' Question Time in the National Assembly, threw barbs at Higher and Tertiary Education minister Jonathan Moyo for being the loudest critic of the government programme.

"The fact that some people are not in agreement is a non-event when the programme is moving well. Those who speak against it are like barking dogs," he said.

Chinamasa's diatribe was provoked by Moyo's disparaging remarks regarding the implementation of the programme on micro-blogging platform Twitter.

Moyo uses his Twitter handle to label the programme "command ugly culture".

His outbursts are seen as part of a vicious internal power struggle currently engulfing the ruling Zanu-PF party as senior leaders position themselves for a post-President Robert Mugabe era.

Reports claim that the programme, despite being touted as a private investment, is actually being bankrolled by the State through issuance of Treasury Bills and revenue from the fuel levy.