Parliamentarians scrutinise Constitutional Amendment No.3 Bill clause by clause

Story by Panashe Nagoli

AFTER seven days of debate, the Constitutional Amendment No.3 Bill moved into the committee stage this afternoon following the conclusion of debate in the early hours of Wednesday.

The committee stage provides parliamentarians with an opportunity to scrutinise the proposed law clause by clause.

This Wednesday’s proceedings were headlined by the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Honourable Ziyambi Ziyambi, responding to the submissions which had been made by the Honourable Members of Parliament in the last seven days.

The Minister began by breaking down the figures, 187 parliamentarians debated the bill, 111 supported it as a whole, representing majority support for the proposed law.

Minister Ziyambi then addressed concerns around clause 3, which proposes a parliamentary method of electing the President, stating that the proposal does not erode the one man one vote because it doesn’t take away the right of every adult Zimbabwean to vote.

“Mr Speaker Honourable Makumire said this bill erodes one man one vote, but that is not true, this bill actually does not take away the right of any adult Zimbabwean to vote in any election in this country,” he said.

Minister Ziyambi further highlighted that members of Parliament should understand the purpose of Constitutions and that clauses contained in the proposed law strengthen constitutional governance.

“Honourable Kore said this bill does not lower bills, but Mr Speaker, a constitution by its very description is not a grocery list, and so members should understand what it does. Further, Honourable Gumbo said we are coup-proofing that is not so, this bill actually reinstates the functions of the ZDF and does not relax it,” he said.

After Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi’s response to the submissions and questions raised by parliamentarians during debate, the Constitutional Amendment No.3 Bill moved into the Committee Stage, where the house scrutinised the bill clause by clause.

“Mr Speaker l do not support the deletion of clause 2 of this bill because it makes sense for the RG to handle this information as he is the bearer of Information,” a member of parliament said.

“We argue, Mr Speaker, that we are overburdening the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission by giving it all these roles and hence moving the voters’ roll management to the RG makes sense,” another member of parliament said.

The Minister of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage Honourable Kazembe Kazembe clarified that the Registrar-General’s office is fully capacitated to manage the voter’s roll.

“Mr Speaker, the Registrar-General’s office is using the latest technology in terms of data collection, and the office is the original bearer of this data, and so it improves efficiency in the electoral process,” he said.

After the committee stage, the amendments will be presented, paving way for a vote on the Constitutional Amendment No.3 Bill.

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