PARLIAMENTARY Portfolio Committees resumed sitting
yesterday with only Zanu-PF MPs in attendance while their MDC Alliance
counterparts snubbed the meetings.
The Health Portfolio Committee which is chaired by
opposition MP Ruth Labode met, but was composed of Zanu-PF MPs only who,
however, formed the required quorum.
Labode's committee was one of the those which was
occasionally disrupted by Zanu-PF legislators in a bid to force opposition
legislators to recognise President Emmerson Mnangagwa. This was after MDC
Alliance MPs refused to recognise Mnangagwa in Parliament.
Yesterday's Parliament snub was in protest over the recall
of four MDC Alliance MPs Chalton Hwende (Kuwadzana), Prosper Mutseyami (chief
whip National Assembly), Tabitha Khumalo (leader of the opposition in the
National Assembly), and Lillian Timveous (chief whip in Senate) by Thokozani
Khupe's party.
About 85 MDC Alliance legislators have vowed to support
their party president Nelson Chamisa and to resign from Parliament if the
onslaught on their party members continues.
On Thursday, the Lands and Agriculture Committee chaired by
Gokwe Nembudziya MP Justice Mayor Wadyajena will sit to gather oral evidence
from the Agriculture ministry on financing and preparedness for the 2020 winter
cropping season.
It is not clear whether the MDC Alliance MPs will attend,
given that most of them have exited Parliamentary Portfolio Committee WhatsApp
groups.
Labode yesterday confirmed the snub, vowing to completely
disengage from Parliament if the onslaught on party MPs continued.
"I am at a funeral and did not attend Parliament. MDC
Alliance MPs in my committee also did not attend we are totally disengaging
from Parliament activities," said Labode. Newsday
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