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Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi

Auxilia Katongomara, Chronicle Reporter
THE Electoral Amendment Bill is expected to be fast-tracked when Parliament resumes sitting on May 8 after a three-week recess, a Cabinet Minister said yesterday.

Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi also allayed fears by opposition parties that the proposed changes might not pass in time for the forthcoming election.

Parliament adjourned last Thursday to make way for the Independence Day celebrations today, the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair next week as well as the Workers’ Day holiday on May 1.

Minister Ziyambi — who is also the leader of Government business in the House — moved a motion for the adjournment of the House before the Electoral Amendment Bill was debated arguing that some MPs who had proposed amendments to the proposed law were away on official business.

He said yesterday that everything was on track to deliver a credible poll as amendments to the electoral law would be effected before voting takes place.

He said when they resume sitting on May 8, they will suspend Parliament’s sitting rules so that the Bill is passed on time.

“I wish to state that Parliament will stand dissolved on the eve of the election. The electoral amendments that we are doing, for as long as we do them before proclamation, can be used for this particular election,” said Minister Ziyambi.

“So I still believe that we can still dispose of these issues in Parliament the week beginning the 8th and have the Act gazetted and sent to the President for assent. All that can be done. And this thing that we do not want to have the so-called amendments I don’t think it’s a correct assessment.”

He dismissed claims by MDC-T Chief whip Mr Innocent Gonese that they were not sincere on the issue of electoral reforms saying they had unanimously settled to debate the Bill on May 8 after consultations.

“I proposed we do it on Thursday and Honourable Gonese said the MDC-T will be engaged with CV vetting and it may be difficult and we have to ensure that we have a quorum that day. And he then said to me with my indulgence can we do it on the 8th of May because there were also other activities on that Thursday.”

“We then agreed that we would do it on that Thursday. Then I mandated the Chief Whips to ensure that they speak to their members that we have adequate attendance,” said Minister Ziyambi.

“We want people to go and celebrate Independence at their various stations. We could have done it next week but next week again there is ZITF. With his concurrence he even agreed that next week was problematic. We debated we could do it the following week, again we realised that the 1st of May is a holiday and again trying to get members to come when we have a holiday in between the week is not the tradition.”

The Minister said they agreed that the only week that does not have any activity when they can then suspend the rules regarding the sitting time is starting on May 8, a Tuesday and that was the agreement between the parties.

Mr Gonese blamed Government for the delays in amending the Electoral Act.

“First and foremost, the cause of the delay is not us; it is the Government which is not sincere on the issue of reform. In terms of time frame, Zanu-PF was not committed to it because most of their members were not in Parliament and the Minister adjourned and we protested. There is nothing we could have done because it’s the Minister who is in charge of the Bill. Even if we had wanted to there was nothing we could do. We hope that when Parliament sits on the 8th of May, we hope we would be able to do it,” said Mr Gonese.

In an interview yesterday, MDC President Professor Welshman Ncube said there was little time to effect the proposed amendments.

“There is pretty little time to implement that amendment except perhaps amendment of how to actually conduct the procedure on Election Day. So it is still important that those amendments, those reforms which go into how campaigning is to be conducted, how the media behaves, how State institutions refrain from playing partisan politics among others be done, all those are still relevant,” said Prof Ncube.

He said his party had put forward suggestions on how the bill can be amended through their legislators who are working with their MDC Alliance partners in Parliament.

@AuxiliaK