MPs back down on car scheme

But the MPs started collecting the vehicles last week after Biti told them that the government was broke and would not be able to import the top-of-the-range vehicles some of the lawmakers wanted.

The minister also said MPs who intended to import their own vehicles would be forced to pay import duty.

The MPs started collecting the vehicles this week, Biti said last Friday. We told them that we didnt have money to import the vehicles they wanted and also that if they were to use their own resources, they will pay duty.

Information gathered by Zimonline revealed that by last 49 of the over 300 lawmakers had collected the Mazda BT-50 double cab vehicles and that more vehicles would be distributed to the legislators on Monday.

Biti structured a vehicle allocation scheme with Willowvale to ease transport problems for lawmakers but his plan was initially met with resistance from both opposition and Zanu PF and Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) parliamentarians.

A row ensued three months ago after Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor Gideon Gono issued the MPs with secondhand vehicles from the central bank for use a move that was rejected by Biti who described it as a continuation of the banks quasi-fiscal activities which brought the economy to its knees. Biti ordered the MPs to return the vehicles, but he was snubbed.

The MPs, especially from the MDC, argued that Biti and other cabinet ministers had no right to stop them from getting vehicles from the central bank because they had also benefited from vehicles from the same source. The lawmakers accused the executive of duplicity.

A fortnight ago when the MPs rejected the Willowvale offer they also come under fire from the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions for their quest for luxurious vehicles at a time when the country was battling to raise scarce foreign currency to turnaround the comatose economy.