Opinion / Columnist
Chinamasa home-truth, bloated parliament 'is unsustainable' stun Right Honourable motor-mouth MP
03 Oct 2017 at 16:39hrs | Views
"Again, Honourable Misihairabwi-Mushonga, I agree with you that we have to reduce the wage bill, but it is not an easy walk in the park. If I came to Parliament and said, for instance what we agreed in the new Constitution is not sustainable, let me be very frank with you; it is not sustainable.
"The size of this Parliament is not sustainable, but if I came and say let us amend, there will be populists' sentiments," he said. Minister Chinamasa said the country's population did not require many legislators.
SA population 55 million, GDP US$294.8 billion has 400 parliament seats. Canada has 35 million GPD US$ 1 530 billion and 338 seats. Zimbabwe has population of 15 million GDP US$ 16.29 billion and a staggering 350 seats. Of all these countries, no doubt that Zimbabwe's parliamentarians are the most expensive to maintain; Zimbabwe's first family alone gobble up in looted wealth more in one year than what the Canadian taxpayers pay their Prime Minister and his entire cabinet in a decade!
For once Minister Chinamasa has been able to shut up the Right Honourable, motor-mouth, Misihairabwi-Mushonga. Of all our politicians, she is certainly one of those excess to requirement; she is a back-door MP with no real constituency. She was one of the beneficiary of the bloated GNU cabinet! In all her years in politics, she has done nothing of substance other than use foul language!
President Mugabe has been obsessed about quantity at the expense of quality; one area he has put his obsession into practice with disastrous consequences is education. The country boast of having 20 Universities chaining out thousands of first degree and hundreds of PhD (some after 3 months) graduates every year most of who cannot write two sentences without making a spelling or grammar mistake. Decades of poor funding has seen the quality of education in Zimbabwe drop through the floor. Those who can afford it, spend their children outside Zimbabwe for their education.
President Mugabe has created a bloated civil service, Army, local government, parliament, cabinet, etc. to create a vast patronage system of people all loyal to him and doing his bidding. The irony is for all Zimbabwe bloated parliament and cabinet they are all utterly useless. The country is in a real economic and political mess because President Mugabe, himself an incompetent, corrupt, vote rigging and murderous tyrant but a control freak megalomania, has done as he pleased. Margaret Dongo once described Zimbabwe's MPs and Ministers as "vakadzi vaMugabe" (Mugabe's subservient concubines). Of course, she was right!
"It is like we are using Parliament as a source of employment and not a platform to represent the interests of the people," said Minister Chinamasa.
I wish I was the fly on wall because what it saw in the august house was priceless – a sea of blank faces looking as sheepishly foolish as they felt. Of course, they knew the Minister was right and there are some truths that cannot be denied and from which there is nowhere to hid. "Shoko rechokwadi museve wafurwa murima, haubvengi!" (Word of truth is an arrow shot in the dark, you will feel it and then it is too late to avoid!)
"The size of this Parliament is not sustainable, but if I came and say let us amend, there will be populists' sentiments," he said. Minister Chinamasa said the country's population did not require many legislators.
SA population 55 million, GDP US$294.8 billion has 400 parliament seats. Canada has 35 million GPD US$ 1 530 billion and 338 seats. Zimbabwe has population of 15 million GDP US$ 16.29 billion and a staggering 350 seats. Of all these countries, no doubt that Zimbabwe's parliamentarians are the most expensive to maintain; Zimbabwe's first family alone gobble up in looted wealth more in one year than what the Canadian taxpayers pay their Prime Minister and his entire cabinet in a decade!
President Mugabe has been obsessed about quantity at the expense of quality; one area he has put his obsession into practice with disastrous consequences is education. The country boast of having 20 Universities chaining out thousands of first degree and hundreds of PhD (some after 3 months) graduates every year most of who cannot write two sentences without making a spelling or grammar mistake. Decades of poor funding has seen the quality of education in Zimbabwe drop through the floor. Those who can afford it, spend their children outside Zimbabwe for their education.
President Mugabe has created a bloated civil service, Army, local government, parliament, cabinet, etc. to create a vast patronage system of people all loyal to him and doing his bidding. The irony is for all Zimbabwe bloated parliament and cabinet they are all utterly useless. The country is in a real economic and political mess because President Mugabe, himself an incompetent, corrupt, vote rigging and murderous tyrant but a control freak megalomania, has done as he pleased. Margaret Dongo once described Zimbabwe's MPs and Ministers as "vakadzi vaMugabe" (Mugabe's subservient concubines). Of course, she was right!
"It is like we are using Parliament as a source of employment and not a platform to represent the interests of the people," said Minister Chinamasa.
I wish I was the fly on wall because what it saw in the august house was priceless – a sea of blank faces looking as sheepishly foolish as they felt. Of course, they knew the Minister was right and there are some truths that cannot be denied and from which there is nowhere to hid. "Shoko rechokwadi museve wafurwa murima, haubvengi!" (Word of truth is an arrow shot in the dark, you will feel it and then it is too late to avoid!)
Source - Nomusa Garikai
All articles and letters published on Bulawayo24 have been independently written by members of Bulawayo24's community. The views of users published on Bulawayo24 are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Bulawayo24. Bulawayo24 editors also reserve the right to edit or delete any and all comments received.
