HARARE Parliament has failed the nation because it has applied limited effort to facilitate legislative reforms needed to transform the political landscape, says civil society.
In a 54-page report outlining the performance of Zimbabwes 20-month-old coalition government, the Civil Society Monitoring Mechanism (CISOMM), noted that, besides a limited number of encouraging acts by the various parliamentary select committees in exerting their oversight role on the executive and in conducting public hearings, the overall performance by the current Parliament fell short of expected outcome.
On the whole though, the performance of Parliament in delivering real legislative change has been very disappointing, CISOMM said in the document titled Six Month Shadow Report on The Performance of the Inclusive Government of Zimbabwe 2010 published last week. It said the number of Bills passed by Parliament so far fell short of projections in the Short Term Emergency Recovery Programme (STERP) and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirais promises for far-reaching reforms.
The programme commits government to an overhaul of repressive security and media legislations and other laws that are not investor-friendly. These include the controversial Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), Public Order and Security Act (POSA) and the Land Acquisition Act. But so far only the Public Finance Management Bill and the Judicial Service Act have been passed by Parliament while passing of a Private Members Bill to amend POSA has been delayed.
MDC-T Chief Whip Innocent Gonese introduced the POSA Bill in November 2009 to amend the tough security laws and curtail police powers in dealing with political rallies and other public gatherings. But the Bill was only halfway through its second reading in July when Parliament was prorogued, leaving the crucial piece of legislation unreformed.Human rights defenders describe POSA as an insult to democracy amid allegations that it has frequently been used by hardliners from President Robert Mugabes Zanu (PF) to settle political scores against their opponents.
No Zanu (PF) officials or supporters have ever been arrested under POSA, which demonstrates that the law is little more than a tool for political oppression against the MDC-T or anyone perceived to be anti-Mugabe. The CISOMM report also highlighted several cases in which the transitional government has failed to comply with GPA provisions.
Post published in: News