'Zimbabweans Should Reject Constitutional Amendment (No.2) Bill'

Nkulumane Member of Parliament Kucaca Phulu (MDC Alliance) said Zimbabweans should reject the Constitutional Amendment Bill which has been tabled by the Zanu PF government as it seeks to eliminate government’s accountability to the people.

Speaking during a Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development (ZIMCODD) Public Finance Management (PFM) Reform Indaba held in Bulawayo on Tuesday, Phulu expressed concern over cabinet’s desire to have the authority to approve international treaties without the approval of the Parliament. He said:

If we allow the kind of situation where the Minister can sign whatever he wants disregarding the Parliament’s conditions it will be another way of rendering section 299 obsolete because we have signed a binding agreement another country can sue on the basis of that agreement actually he would be getting the nation into debt, so you can see the debt that we can get into when the Minister can go and sign with third parties what we did not agree on, the people as they were drafting this constitution were not stupid they saw that there was a possibility of this happening.

On the issue of the appointment of judges, Phulu, who is a lawyer, said a clause to authorise the president to directly appoint the chief justice and judge presidents without checks and balances was rejected during the Robert Mugabe era and it is surprising that it has been resurrected under the so-called New Dispensation.

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