News / National
MDC Alliance MPs defy Chamisa's Parly resignation directive
16 Oct 2020 at 12:54hrs | Views
Some MDC Alliance legislators have refused to resign from parliament in defiance of their leader Nelson Chamisa's directive.
According to a contact, the MDC Alliance formation directed that party's legislators should resign en masse so that the parliament would be seen as an illegitimate house.
Some legislators who spoke to this publication on condition of anonymity vowed not to resign arguing that if they did so they would lose some parliamentary benefits. Some legislators also said they used a lot of their resources to finance their 2018 election campaigns hence they should not be forced to resign by someone who did not sponsor them.
"My brother, I cannot risk losing all parliamentary benefits just to please someone. The hard reality is that for many of us it (Parliament) is our sole source of income. We are in a terrible bind. We would rather wait for (Thokozani) Khupe to fire us than resign on our own. We used a lot of resources to get into parliament and we cannot resign before we recoup all our financial resources we used in 2018 elections," said one Harare MDC Alliance legislator.
Another legislator said resigning from parliament as directed by Chamisa will result in him losing his top of the range vehicle he got from parliament.
"If I resign from parliament, I will be expected to repay the full amount of the loan that was advanced to me when I acquired the vehicle including all the payable duty. I don't think I will be able to repay the loan on my own and I know that the party has no money to assist us in repaying the loan. Because of this, I think resigning as suggested by the president (Chamisa) is out of question," added another legislator.
Another troubled legislator said they were being unfairly asked to make the "impossible decision of choosing between our livelihoods and our political careers".
The legislator said defying the directive to resign would mean the end of his political career beyond this current term in the event that Chamisa finally triumphs over Khupe.
The MDC formations are in a bitter leadership wrangle pitting Chamisa and Khupe. Khupe who is the acting leader of the MDC T pending congress, has been wielding the axe on legislators who are not pledging loyalty to her. This has weakened his hand.
According to a contact, the MDC Alliance formation directed that party's legislators should resign en masse so that the parliament would be seen as an illegitimate house.
Some legislators who spoke to this publication on condition of anonymity vowed not to resign arguing that if they did so they would lose some parliamentary benefits. Some legislators also said they used a lot of their resources to finance their 2018 election campaigns hence they should not be forced to resign by someone who did not sponsor them.
"My brother, I cannot risk losing all parliamentary benefits just to please someone. The hard reality is that for many of us it (Parliament) is our sole source of income. We are in a terrible bind. We would rather wait for (Thokozani) Khupe to fire us than resign on our own. We used a lot of resources to get into parliament and we cannot resign before we recoup all our financial resources we used in 2018 elections," said one Harare MDC Alliance legislator.
Another legislator said resigning from parliament as directed by Chamisa will result in him losing his top of the range vehicle he got from parliament.
"If I resign from parliament, I will be expected to repay the full amount of the loan that was advanced to me when I acquired the vehicle including all the payable duty. I don't think I will be able to repay the loan on my own and I know that the party has no money to assist us in repaying the loan. Because of this, I think resigning as suggested by the president (Chamisa) is out of question," added another legislator.
Another troubled legislator said they were being unfairly asked to make the "impossible decision of choosing between our livelihoods and our political careers".
The legislator said defying the directive to resign would mean the end of his political career beyond this current term in the event that Chamisa finally triumphs over Khupe.
The MDC formations are in a bitter leadership wrangle pitting Chamisa and Khupe. Khupe who is the acting leader of the MDC T pending congress, has been wielding the axe on legislators who are not pledging loyalty to her. This has weakened his hand.
Source - Innocent Mujeri
