Zanu-PF, MDC-T MPs connive to boycott Parly debates

Some National Assembly members from Zanu-PF and MDC-T have allegedly connived to boycott debates in the House to protest Speaker Jacob Mudenda's position that they must not make unsubstantiated claims under the guise of parliamentary priviledges.

The House last sat on Tuesday with only two legislators contributing to debate on President Mugabe's speech. The sitting adjourned after about an hour.

According to the Chronicle, the House is expected to resume sitting next Tuesday but MPs are said to be displeased with the Speaker's "gag" order and will not participate actively.

Mudenda has already clarified that he did not "gag" MPs, but only demanded that they must be factual when debating.

A fortnight ago, Mudenda warned legislators who made unsubstantiated remarks against fellow MPs, Parliament officials and members of the public that they risked contempt of Parliament charges.

He repeated the warning on Tuesday.

Zanu-PF Chief Whip Joram Gumbo said no party legislator would be allowed to boycott the debates.

"The Speaker has not gagged anyone. All he has asked for is that MPs must first research before coming to Parliament and make unsubstantiated allegations hiding behind parliamentary privileges.

"Zanu-PF MPs will not boycott debates. If any one of them wants to do that they can as well go home. Why should they boycott if they have been asked to speak the truth that they swore to?

"Besides, nobody in the party has ever approached me to call for a caucus to deliberate claims that the Speaker has gagged them," said Gumbo.

His MDC-T counterpart, Mr Innocent Gonese, also professed ignorance of the conspiracy.

"I don't know anything about that," he said.

But MPs who spoke to our Harare Bureau on condition of anonymity said they had made a pact not to debate.

"We want to drive a point home that we are not happy. The Speaker seeks to control content of the debate too much. He should be encouraging us to speak out. It is the first time in the history of this Parliament that we have MPs being threatened over what they say in the House," said one long-serving MP.

Another added: "All the MPs want to speak out about corruption because we are people's representatives. We speak on their behalf so why should we be threatened for saying what our constituents want?

"It is the reason MPs were reluctant to debate on Tuesday hence the House adjourned early. All we are asking is that the Speaker allow us to speak out without fear of being charged with contempt."

However, another MP said he was unaware of the conspiracy.

"MPs from both Zanu-PF and the opposition agree that corruption is bad. That is why everyone wants to talk about it.

"But I have not heard about the collusion. What is important is for us as MPs to bring it up with the Speaker through our chief whips.

"We could have a joint caucus to deliberate over it so that our whips can raise it with the Speaker. We cannot claim that the Speaker is out of order by demanding that we should not abuse our priviledges.

"What we would require is for him not to threaten MPs with contempt because sometimes we say things out of belief. We do not deliberately seek to mislead the House or malign other people.

"It's true that there are reservations and MPs are still thinking of what action to take. But boycotting debate is not an option because we will be the greatest losers. We should focus on making sure we investigate so that we bring tangible information to the House," she said.