Ministers turn up to answer questions

THIS week's National Assembly question and answer session, the first after President Emmerson Mnangagwa assumed office, proved to be special for some MPs as the majority of Ministers turned up to answer questions.

During the previous administration, MPs continuously complained that Ministers were bunking question time every Wednesday when Parliament is in session.

After President Mnangagwa assumed office on November 24, there was no question and answer session in the National Assembly the following week as Cabinet stood dissolved, making this week's question time the first one after he assumed power.

A break with the past was not lost on MPs as most Ministers turned up to answer questions.

Lands, Agriculture and Rural Resettlement Minister Air Marshal Perrance Shiri received a standing ovation from backbenchers from across the political divide for his articulation and demonstrable grasp of information falling under his purview.

Buhera South MP Joseph Chinotimba suggested in Parliament that the Ministers' presence was due to President Mnangagwa's way of doing business and hoped it would continue like that.

"If you can see on your left and on your right, you can see that it is a bright day. We want to congratulate the Ministers. We usually had challenges pleading with the Ministers to attend Parliament to answer our questions but today, you have just seen yourself that we should thank them and it should continue like this," said Chinotimba.

"We want to congratulate people like Honourable Perrance Shiri, Honourable Moyo (July) for the new appointments and I wish them well in their new deployments. Even people are saying what is not proper in this House but the truth of the matter is that our President, Hon Mnangagwa did a sterling job as you can see. So I stood up to thank His Excellency, Hon Dambudzo Mnangagwa for what he has done, we should be thankful. We usually have problems with Ministers who do not attend Parliament on Wednesdays to answer questions but today all the Ministers are here."

On Tuesday, President Mnangagwa chaired his first Cabinet meeting and gave ministers a week to present priority projects and quick-win measures under their purview to improve the livelihoods of Zimbabweans in the shortest period.

The President told the 21 ministers who were sworn-in on Monday to get down to business and set priority projects that have visible impact on the ground.

In his opening remarks at the inaugural Cabinet meeting, the Head of State and Government said every minister should "think outside the box" and pursue "high speed programme execution."

"You will recall that my acceptance speech underlined that we will hit the ground running. I used that figure of speech advisedly, all to underline a new ethos in administering and delivering public services and goods which must work to quantifiable and measurable targets which make visible impact on the ground. And the ground is where our people are presently, which means from the ground is where we must raise them starting today," President Mnangagwa said.