Opinion / Columnist
Parliamentarians letting the citizens down
12 May 2022 at 04:45hrs | Views
It is now clear that Zimbabwe's MPs or parliamentarians are not playing their role to fix the mess that our country's economic financial service is in. The Zimbabwean government has had Statutory Instruments (SI) after SI being introduced year in year out hoping that the nation's financial crisis will be miraculously solved.
We are now the only country on earth, where the US Dollar trades at seven different exchange rates, in reality we have :-
$1 = auction rate
$1 = interbank rate
$1 = black market rate
$1 = ecocash
$1 = rtgs swipe
$1 = bond cash
$1 = nostro bank transfer
It is literally impossible to have a company budget for your organization or simply to make a living out of this current status quo.
Zimbabwe's parliament has three core functions
1. to represent citizens' interests.
2. to pass laws
3. to monitor the actions of the government.
As a citizen of Zimbabwe, my question is, are the nation's parliamentarians or MPs paying their assigned role. Do we have toothless parliamentarians? What role are our MPs playing to salvage the economic crisis in this country?
It is time for the citizens, including the business community to start demanding dialogue and question the role of our MPs. We are in this mess because our MPs and parliamentarians are not playing their elected role. They are watching from the sideline. Why are decisions being made before their eyes and yet they are not questioning these decisions.
No citizen should blame His Excellency President ED Mnangagwa, Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube or the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ), blame the MP who are elected to represent the people and protect the interests of the nations. We also have to blame the citizens and the businesses community who are not demanding accountability from their elected members. Their major role being to question decisions that are made.
We have had a five year cycle from a US dollar to a Zim dollar and back to a US dollar then a 1 to 1 to back to a Zim dollar and the cycle continues. We are in deep trouble, this will not end until citizens and businesses demand accountability and elect MPs who understand the three core functions of parliament.
The Zimbabwean Government needs advice and solutions and our MPs are not playing their part.
We are now the only country on earth, where the US Dollar trades at seven different exchange rates, in reality we have :-
$1 = auction rate
$1 = interbank rate
$1 = black market rate
$1 = ecocash
$1 = rtgs swipe
$1 = bond cash
$1 = nostro bank transfer
It is literally impossible to have a company budget for your organization or simply to make a living out of this current status quo.
Zimbabwe's parliament has three core functions
1. to represent citizens' interests.
2. to pass laws
3. to monitor the actions of the government.
As a citizen of Zimbabwe, my question is, are the nation's parliamentarians or MPs paying their assigned role. Do we have toothless parliamentarians? What role are our MPs playing to salvage the economic crisis in this country?
It is time for the citizens, including the business community to start demanding dialogue and question the role of our MPs. We are in this mess because our MPs and parliamentarians are not playing their elected role. They are watching from the sideline. Why are decisions being made before their eyes and yet they are not questioning these decisions.
No citizen should blame His Excellency President ED Mnangagwa, Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube or the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ), blame the MP who are elected to represent the people and protect the interests of the nations. We also have to blame the citizens and the businesses community who are not demanding accountability from their elected members. Their major role being to question decisions that are made.
We have had a five year cycle from a US dollar to a Zim dollar and back to a US dollar then a 1 to 1 to back to a Zim dollar and the cycle continues. We are in deep trouble, this will not end until citizens and businesses demand accountability and elect MPs who understand the three core functions of parliament.
The Zimbabwean Government needs advice and solutions and our MPs are not playing their part.
Source - Engineer Jacob Kudzayi Mutisi
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