When the MPs are over-controlled by their party, the wishes of the constituency may not be given priority. Parliament should be about ensuring that all the diverse peoples of our great nation are represented. Democracy is dependent on Parliament flexing its muscles.
Parliament is made up of a bunch of guys who meet up in a posh venue to discuss important issues about how the country should be run. The duties of parliament include making laws, overseeing the work of government as well as working for their own party.
These guys in suits who go to Parliament discuss and agree on important national issues – such as budgets and fiscal policy. In theory, if the President can order the Governor of the Reserve Bank to print money, Parliament has failed in its responsibility towards the people.
Once they are elected into office, MPs, are given a nice car and accommodation in Harare when Parliament is sitting. Their job is no longer among the people who elected them, it is in the capital city. They only visit their constituency when they are on holiday.
This partly explains why a lot of constituents only interact with their MP once every four years – when he or she comes back to campaign for re-election. In effect, we give out mandate to our MPs and get nothing back.
The other very important role of Parliament is to review laws or enact new laws. Your MP is supposed to consider how such laws affect people from his/her constituency.
In Zimbabwe, the MP being elected often does not have a good grasp of their role in parliament. They do not have a good understanding of the issues that affect their constituency and how national laws affect different parts of the country differently.
One constituency elected an MP who was ‘popular’ locally but was also known for sleeping in parliament during important debates. He won a couple of terms despite his reputation for not participating in parliament.
Traditionally Zimbabweans are loyal to a party (not necessarily the policies of that party) or to a tribe. We do not really consider whether the policies (or lack of) of that party are likely to result in improvements in our constituency. As a result of our loyalty to a party, there is no pressure on that party to pursue policies to benefit its constituencies.
Policies and laws being enacted in Parliament have been more or less enforced by the party, not by the people. The result of this flaw has been a one-way system where people’s interests are sacrificed for the interests of top party hierarchy.
Any parliamentary representative who dared challenge party views has been cast out by that party faster than they blink. A good example of this is the recent witc- hunt that haunted MP Tracy Mutinhiri after she was accused of voting for an opposition candidate to become the Speaker.
While Mutinhiri voted for the candidate she felt was the best person for the job, her party Zanu (PF) expected her to vote for its candidate. The result – a mob turned up at the farm she had been allocated to try to evict her.
Parliament has been rendered toothless by the numerous amendments to the Constitution, which have transferred most power into office of the President.
The Government of National Unity has failed to reinstate the role of parliamentarians to represent their constituencies. It has created three separate blocks and an executive that is not accountable to Parliament. The relative stability that we have seen in the past two years has been created by the inability of one single party with majority seats to push anything through Parliament. If MPs did their job properly, we would not be suffering from the notorious laws that were bulldozed through parliament under the former Zanu (PF) regime.
Democracy starts with empowering Parliament.
Post published in: Opinions & Analysis