News / National
Zimbabwe legislators refuse to sign vehicle loan repayment contracts
03 Jun 2011 at 21:12hrs | Views
About 300 senators and Members of the House of Assembly who got vehicles from the Ministry of Finance are now refusing to sign loan repayment contracts, arguing the cars offset outstanding funds they are owed in unpaid sitting allowances.
The legislators have not been receiving sitting allowances ever since Parliament started sitting in 2008 after the harmonised elections.
Minister Biti had in 2009 by-passed Parliament in distributing vehicles to members of the House of Assembly and Senate, a responsibility that has always been done by Parliament administration.
Legislators who have accommodation in Harare are entitled to US$50, while those from other parts of the country have their accommodation paid for directly by Parliament.
They are also entitled to a US$75 sitting allowance and fuel proportional to distance travelled to Harare from their constituencies.
When Parliament resumed sitting in 2008, the House of Assembly had 210 members while the Senate had 87.
The Ministry of Finance set a ceiling of US$30 000 for MPs' vehicles and encouraged them to buy Mazda BT50 models.
It is understood that after Minister Biti failed to make a breakthrough with the MPs, his Ministry then approached Parliament asking it to instruct MPs to sign loan contracts acknowledging receiving vehicles from the ministry.
However, sources said Parliament distanced itself from the deal, arguing that it was not involved in the case.
MPs from Zanu-PF and MDC-T are said to have held separate caucuses and agreed not to sign the loan contracts.
In an interview on Tuesday, Zanu-PF Chief Whip, Joram Gumbo, confirmed the development saying the Clerk of Parliament; Austin Zvoma had called the three Chief Whips to brief them of the development.
"Clerk of Parliament (Zvoma) called the three Chief Whips, myself (Zanu-PF), (Innocent) Gonese (MDC-T) and (Siyabonga) Ncube representing (Edward) Mkhosi (MDC) to inform us of the development.
"He said the Ministry of Finance had made a mistake by giving themselves a responsibility that fell outside their mandate.
"Parliament has a vehicle scheme for the MPs, where Parliament used to receive money from Treasury and then facilitate the purchase of cars by MPs. The agreement would then be between MPs and Parliament.
"However, when Minister Biti came in, he changed that arrangement to a situation where MPs got the vehicles straight from the Ministry of Finance without involving Parliament.
"MPs did not sign contracts when they received the vehicles and now the Ministry is saying MPs should sign the contracts," Gumbo said.
He said MPs were now taking advantage by demanding that Government also acknowledges that it owed MPs.
Gumbo said parties represented in Parliament were expected to hold a joint caucus in due course to educate all their MPs on the position taken by the parties.
"However, because MPs have been coming for Parliament sitting since 2008 without sitting allowances up to now, the MPs are now saying before they sign the contracts - Government through the Ministry of Finance - should acknowledge that they owe them (MPs).
"They are saying books should be balanced by calculating how much MPs should have been paid since 2008 up to now and then compare that to the money that was paid for the vehicles," Gumbo said.
On Wednesday, Gonese (MDC-T) declined to comment without giving reasons.
Ncube who attended the meeting with other Chief Whips concurred with Gumbo saying the MPs were concerned with their conditions of service.
"It's true that MPs are saying they want to be paid their allowances first. We agreed as MPs across the political divide that Government has to acknowledge that they owe us," Ncube said.
MPs from the three political parties, who spoke to reporters but requested anonymity, said they were not going to sign the contracts until they have been paid.
"We are not denying that we received the cars. We acknowledge that, but we are not going to sign the contracts until they have paid us our allowances since 2008," said a source from MDC-T.
Another source from the MDC-T added: "We have been patient with the Government going for years without being paid.
"We could have gone on strike but we decided against it and we served the country but now that the Ministry of Finance seems to have the flexibility, we are now calling on them to calculate our money.
"After they have calculated and seen how much they owe us, they can then deduct the money for vehicles and give us the difference.
"From our calculations, those who have been consistently coming to Parliament should be in the range of US$50 000 meaning they would have to be paid the difference of US$20 000. Until (Minister) Biti agrees to that, we are not signing the contracts."
A member, who is in the MPs welfare committee said, the MPs across the divide were in consensus on the matter.
"All MPs from Zanu-PF, MDC-T and MDC are in agreement no one should sign the contracts until we have been paid. We have been impoverished while serving the country. The vehicles that they want us to acknowledge receiving most of them are now in bad state after we used them during Copac meetings," said the source.
Contacted for comment on Wednesday, Minister Biti referred The Herald to Principal Director (Budgets) Pfungwa Kunaka.
Kunaka confirmed that MPs from both House except nine received vehicles.
He said the issue of signing contracts had been discussed with Zvoma.
In 2009, Minister Biti was embroiled in a wrangle with MPs whom he wanted to buy vehicles (BT50) from the Willowvale Mazda Motor Industries-a local supplier to boost the local industry - a condition the lawmakers opposed arguing the vehicle was ill-suited for rough terrain.
After a stand-off that lasted more than a month, Minister Biti convened a joint caucus meeting where he told the MPs that they were free to obtain the vehicles from sources of their choice.
But he told the MPs that the WMMI deal had the advantage that they would also be in a position to import another vehicle duty-free.
Some MPs bought the vehicles from WMMI while others opted for other sources.
It is not the first time that Minister Biti has been at loggerheads with MPs over vehicles.
At one point Minister Biti is reported to have instructed the MPs who got other vehicles from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe to return the vehicles arguing that the latter had no authority to give MPs cars.
The RBZ had given some MPs including those from MDC-T vehicles pending the purchase of their vehicles by the Ministry of Finance.
However, when the Finance Ministry finally provided funds for the purchase of vehicles, MPs refused to return the vehicles arguing that Minister Biti was a beneficiary of three official vehicles yet he did not want MPs to get two.
The legislators have not been receiving sitting allowances ever since Parliament started sitting in 2008 after the harmonised elections.
Minister Biti had in 2009 by-passed Parliament in distributing vehicles to members of the House of Assembly and Senate, a responsibility that has always been done by Parliament administration.
Legislators who have accommodation in Harare are entitled to US$50, while those from other parts of the country have their accommodation paid for directly by Parliament.
They are also entitled to a US$75 sitting allowance and fuel proportional to distance travelled to Harare from their constituencies.
When Parliament resumed sitting in 2008, the House of Assembly had 210 members while the Senate had 87.
The Ministry of Finance set a ceiling of US$30 000 for MPs' vehicles and encouraged them to buy Mazda BT50 models.
It is understood that after Minister Biti failed to make a breakthrough with the MPs, his Ministry then approached Parliament asking it to instruct MPs to sign loan contracts acknowledging receiving vehicles from the ministry.
However, sources said Parliament distanced itself from the deal, arguing that it was not involved in the case.
MPs from Zanu-PF and MDC-T are said to have held separate caucuses and agreed not to sign the loan contracts.
In an interview on Tuesday, Zanu-PF Chief Whip, Joram Gumbo, confirmed the development saying the Clerk of Parliament; Austin Zvoma had called the three Chief Whips to brief them of the development.
"Clerk of Parliament (Zvoma) called the three Chief Whips, myself (Zanu-PF), (Innocent) Gonese (MDC-T) and (Siyabonga) Ncube representing (Edward) Mkhosi (MDC) to inform us of the development.
"He said the Ministry of Finance had made a mistake by giving themselves a responsibility that fell outside their mandate.
"Parliament has a vehicle scheme for the MPs, where Parliament used to receive money from Treasury and then facilitate the purchase of cars by MPs. The agreement would then be between MPs and Parliament.
"However, when Minister Biti came in, he changed that arrangement to a situation where MPs got the vehicles straight from the Ministry of Finance without involving Parliament.
"MPs did not sign contracts when they received the vehicles and now the Ministry is saying MPs should sign the contracts," Gumbo said.
He said MPs were now taking advantage by demanding that Government also acknowledges that it owed MPs.
Gumbo said parties represented in Parliament were expected to hold a joint caucus in due course to educate all their MPs on the position taken by the parties.
"However, because MPs have been coming for Parliament sitting since 2008 without sitting allowances up to now, the MPs are now saying before they sign the contracts - Government through the Ministry of Finance - should acknowledge that they owe them (MPs).
"They are saying books should be balanced by calculating how much MPs should have been paid since 2008 up to now and then compare that to the money that was paid for the vehicles," Gumbo said.
On Wednesday, Gonese (MDC-T) declined to comment without giving reasons.
"It's true that MPs are saying they want to be paid their allowances first. We agreed as MPs across the political divide that Government has to acknowledge that they owe us," Ncube said.
MPs from the three political parties, who spoke to reporters but requested anonymity, said they were not going to sign the contracts until they have been paid.
"We are not denying that we received the cars. We acknowledge that, but we are not going to sign the contracts until they have paid us our allowances since 2008," said a source from MDC-T.
Another source from the MDC-T added: "We have been patient with the Government going for years without being paid.
"We could have gone on strike but we decided against it and we served the country but now that the Ministry of Finance seems to have the flexibility, we are now calling on them to calculate our money.
"After they have calculated and seen how much they owe us, they can then deduct the money for vehicles and give us the difference.
"From our calculations, those who have been consistently coming to Parliament should be in the range of US$50 000 meaning they would have to be paid the difference of US$20 000. Until (Minister) Biti agrees to that, we are not signing the contracts."
A member, who is in the MPs welfare committee said, the MPs across the divide were in consensus on the matter.
"All MPs from Zanu-PF, MDC-T and MDC are in agreement no one should sign the contracts until we have been paid. We have been impoverished while serving the country. The vehicles that they want us to acknowledge receiving most of them are now in bad state after we used them during Copac meetings," said the source.
Contacted for comment on Wednesday, Minister Biti referred The Herald to Principal Director (Budgets) Pfungwa Kunaka.
Kunaka confirmed that MPs from both House except nine received vehicles.
He said the issue of signing contracts had been discussed with Zvoma.
In 2009, Minister Biti was embroiled in a wrangle with MPs whom he wanted to buy vehicles (BT50) from the Willowvale Mazda Motor Industries-a local supplier to boost the local industry - a condition the lawmakers opposed arguing the vehicle was ill-suited for rough terrain.
After a stand-off that lasted more than a month, Minister Biti convened a joint caucus meeting where he told the MPs that they were free to obtain the vehicles from sources of their choice.
But he told the MPs that the WMMI deal had the advantage that they would also be in a position to import another vehicle duty-free.
Some MPs bought the vehicles from WMMI while others opted for other sources.
It is not the first time that Minister Biti has been at loggerheads with MPs over vehicles.
At one point Minister Biti is reported to have instructed the MPs who got other vehicles from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe to return the vehicles arguing that the latter had no authority to give MPs cars.
The RBZ had given some MPs including those from MDC-T vehicles pending the purchase of their vehicles by the Ministry of Finance.
However, when the Finance Ministry finally provided funds for the purchase of vehicles, MPs refused to return the vehicles arguing that Minister Biti was a beneficiary of three official vehicles yet he did not want MPs to get two.
Source - Parliament
