The Sunday News
22 September 2012
AS the nation prepares for the completion of the constitution-making process and the subsequent holding of the general elections, the electorate is now faced with a bitter task at hand; that of electing representatives who will lead them and represent them in parliament and in councils.
This will be the time when people sit back and reflect on whether their current legislators did anything for them over the past four years.
However, over this period the media has unfortunately been awash with reports of corruption among these representatives, this bringing to the spotlight the issue of the calibre of legislators political parties fielded during the election. the main question being do we need these Members of Parliament at all? Do they add any value to the nation and the people they represent?
Some legislators, who overnight had been turned from being mere political activists to full-scale decision-makers, took this as an opportunity to make money and and engage in personal enrichment rather than serve the people.
Those who used to rely on bicycles as their only mode of transport were suddenly seen driving all sorts of top-of-the-range vehicles, while others who did not have any accommodation moved to elite suburbs.
Councillors were not to be left out in the wave of self-enrichment as they took the opportunity to illegally acquire residential, industrial and commercial stands.
One of the parties in the inclusive Government, the MDC-T, recently gave in to corruption allegations and called for the immediate arrest of their own councillors who engaged in corrupt activities.
On the other hand when some of the legislators from Bulawayo were promoted to become Cabinet ministers the feeling was this would certainly bring some form of development to the region, however, this has disappointingly not been the case.
Currently the city is facing a water crisis that has seen households go for at least 72 hours per week without water, ironically the Minister of Water Resources, Management and Development, Mr Samuel Sipepa Nkomo, is a Member of Parliament for Njube-Lobengula constituency.
To add insult to injury Minister Nkomo has been at the forefront of calls upon residents to use water from the heavily contaminated Khami Dam, a suggestion that has been dismissed as ludicrous by residents.
The Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, Senator David Coltart, is also from the city but honestly have we benefited from this. yes Senator Coltart found an education sector that was in the doldrums but right now there has been some confusion on the issue of teacher incentives and sending students away for unpaid fees.
Again the Minister of Industry and Commerce, Professor Welshman Ncube, hails from the region while he has been vocal over the deindustrialisation affecting the city, the Distressed Industries and Marginalised Areas Fund has been a mere pie in the sky.
Many today have questioned on the actual need of these MPs, furthermore a lot of noise was made when there were a few ministers hailing from the region but have there been any tangible results, can we look back over these past four years and say there has been notable change.
Does the nation really have use for these legislators or they are just mere burdens who want to pamper themselves with more cars, houses and other luxuries.
Many have called for the amendment of the Electoral Act as the current law has been blamed for the alleged corruption levels, lack of basic leadership skills and knowledge of the job at hand.
As we prepare for yet another election, there will be a fresh wave of campaigns from people interested in becoming councillors, Members of the House of Assembly or Senators.
Some parties promised what they termed “real change†but four years on has there been any change at all?
Over these past four years some legislators have been accused of literally disappearing right after being thrust to their respective positions. Others have been accused of focusing on personal enrichment rather than serving their respective constituencies.
Just a few months ago accusations were being thrown around over the manner in which these legislators used their Constituency Development Fund (CDF), this saw government ordering an investigation on all members of the house of assembly to bring to rest allegations that the CDF was grossly abused and had not been used for its intended purpose.
Some of the legislators were arrested on allegations of squandering and misappropiating the fund.
As if this was not enough these legislators were once again the centre of controversy when they demanded new cars from government despite their continuous insistence that the government was broke and their failure to offer civil servants a salary increment citing the unavailability of funds.
With all this considered maybe the major question on everyone’s mouth is does the nation really need these legislators or we can just do away we them and the nation will perform far much better?
Do we really need leaders who will come today campaigning to be voted for and then disappear only to reappear when they want to be voted for again?
Sunday News last week managed to visit various constituencies in the Hwange area and no one was satisfied with the conduct of the MPs there, some even claimed not to know their representatives as they were hardly in the area.
“Right now the area is faced with a severe drought, you would expect that our MP would be here more often to assist those with an urgent need for food aid but honestly we hardly know him, some of us last saw him when he was campaigning for our votes and ever since he has just disappeared into thin air.
“It is so pathetic because we are the very people who voted for them but right now they can’t even stop for us on the road. nothing has changed since 2008, we still have no roads, water and right now we have this severe hunger,’’ said one villager who identified herself as Mrs Loveness Nyoni.
Political analyst and lecturer at the National University of Science and Technology, Dr Lawton Hikwa, said it was unfortunate that the issue of missing Members of Parliament had become a common trend in the country — more of an unwritten culture that had to be done away with.
He said there was a tendency among legislators to focus on self-enrichment and forget what was basically expected of them.
“The electorate should know that they have the right to demand that these legislators report back to them on a more regular basis. we should do away with this unfortunate trend of missing legislators because it is not good for our politics, we need these people to be accountable.
“On the other hand the legislators themselves must be more sincere in their roles. yes we know that they are very much entitled to such benefits as cars but they must be careful because they can’t just give themselves perks when the country’s fiscus doesn’t support this,’’ said Dr Hikwa.
He said in the coming elections the electorate must pay more scrutiny on the representatives they elect as these have a major bearing on their livelihoods for the coming five years.
“Right now we know that the nation is particularly concerned with the economy therefore we need people who will give us a positive blueprint on what they will do for our economy. corruption should not be condoned at all and these people should realise that when they are elected to those offices they are there simply as representatives of the people,’’ said Dr Hikwa.