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Members of the Eighth Parliament of Zimbabwe comprising the National Assembly and Senate were sworn in on Tuesday marking the official start of duty. The Head of State and Government, President Mugabe, is expected to open the first session of the Eighth Parliament on Tuesday. The electorate, as we have said in the past, has high expectations and it is therefore incumbent upon the legislators to deliver.

The Eighth Parliament becomes the first   to   operate   under   the   new Constitution.
The people who voted into office members of the Eighth Parliament want them to use the august House to change their lives for the better.

They want members of both the National Assembly and Senate to come up with progressive laws that consolidate and advance people’s aspirations.

What is comforting is that members of the Eighth Parliament have made an undertaking to do better than their predecessors. The National Assembly members and Senators are servants of the people so their duty is to represent their respective constituencies in Parliament.

People are facing many challenges and it is the responsibility of members of Parliament to bring this to the attention of Government.
It is unfortunate that the MDC-T National Assembly members decided to start the Eighth Parliament by boycotting parliamentary business.

The party’s National Assembly members boycotted the election of presiding officers in the National Assembly   yet   their   colleagues in the Senate saw through both processes.

What the MDC-T National Assembly members should appreciate is that they were elected to serve the people and not to advance personal interests as they seem to be doing. The people who voted them into office want their issues to be brought to the attention of Government and this is not possible if the legislators adopt a confrontational attitude as they have already indicated.

We have said it before that after the elections, the challenge facing all those elected to preside over people’s governance issues is to change people’s livelihoods for the better.

Zanu-PF, MDC-T and MDC members of the Eighth Parliament are all expected to play their role in improving the people’s welfare. What this entails is that the members of Parliament must spearhead development in their respective areas regardless of which political party they represent.

The people are looking forward to revival of industries, improved service delivery in cities and towns, better health institutions in both rural and urban areas, improved road networks especially in rural areas, more schools in resettlement areas and other such facilities. The country can only succeed in addressing many of these challenges if those elected to Parliament have a shared vision.

It is a fact that the members of Parliament were elected to the august House on the tickets of different political parties but their mandate is the same, which is to represent the people.

The politics of boycotts which the MDC-T wants to adopt will not achieve anything but just shortchange the voters. The MDC-T members of Parliament are in fact betraying the mandate they were given by the electorate which, as already stated, has very high expectations.

Those who go to Parliament for self aggrandisement should not expect to be voted back into office come next elections.
We do not want to be persuaded to conclude that the boycott of parliamentary business by MDC-T National Assembly members is a confirmation of one of their party’s resolutions during a closed door meeting of the party’s executive held recently that they want to make the country ungovernable.

The MDC-T should, however, be reminded that given Zanu-PF’s  dominance in both the National Assembly and Senate, it will be business as usual with or without its members.