The parliament was composed of members from the Government of
National Unity, comprising the two MDC formations and Zanu (PF).

Both the MDC-T and Zanu (PF) are on record saying the GNU is dysfunctional and elections are necessary to put it
to an end.
One of the MPs, Settlement Chikwinya, recently remarked during a debate organised by the Media Centre that parliament was a victim of the GNU.
“I feel ashamed for having been part of that parliament because MPs went to the House only to rubber stamp executive positions,” said Chikwinya.
Interviewed analysts said policy inconsistencies and lack of a clear
ideology largely impacted the ability of the Parliament to contribute positively towards the
country’s social, economic and political development.
Tug of war
This year, the Parliament endorsed the draft constitution, paving the way
for a new charter, a move the parties concurred was a land mark
 achievement.
 Analysts are, however, of the view that parliament
could have performed much better had it not been for the lack of unity
of purpose.
Political analyst, Maxwell Hove, said Zimbabwe’s executive was involved
in some form of tug of war since the inception of the Inclusive
government and the development cascaded down to Parliament.
“Parliament receives legislation proposals from the Executive and
there was not much coming from the Executive because the GNU is
 characterised by different ideologies.

On that basis, we can say Parliament did not perform but the real
source of the problem was the dysfunctional GNU,” said Hove.
Hamstrung by GPA
The Director of the Zimbabwe Democracy Institute, Pedzisayi Ruhanya,
said:
“Parliament did not make any substantive contribution to the
democratisation process in the country, particularly because they were
hamstrung by the existence of the GPA.
“Decisions were made at Executive or party level and Parliament would
simply rubber stamp them. It was one of the most useless Parliaments in the
history of our country and there is no one you can point at as an
outstanding MP. Look at how the Constituency Development Funds
were looted,” said Ruhanya.
Another political analyst, Gabriel Chaibva, described the parliament as a “disaster” due to its inability to pay attention to
issues critical for the development of the country.
Give it credit
“The Parliament was characterised by insults,
heckling and absenteeism with little focus on social, economic and
political conditions prevailing in our country. There was no attention
given to the desires of the people and the MPs would focus more on
their allowances.

The failure is a result of the caliber of some of the MPs,”
said Chaibva.
However, another political analyst, Joseph Kurebwa, said the parliament deserved credit as its performance surpassed that of the
two previous ones.
“I think it was a better Parliament than the last two. If you
look at the Parliaments that came into office from 2000 to 2005 and
the one between 2005 and 2008, they were characterised
by bickering.
But this one has done a lot of constructive work, especially the
writing of the new constitution and the passing of new legislation. In
addition to that, the Parliament has also been responsible for the
identification of Commissioners for the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission
as well as the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission,” said Kurebwa.
Post published in: News