PARLIAMENT has enacted a new rule which bans legislators from singing in the chambers, the Daily News reports.
Speaking in the Senate recently, Parliamentary Affairs minister Ziyambi Ziyambi, said the rule would bring order in the august House.
“I move the motion standing in my name that Standing Order No. 79 of the Senate Standing Orders be reconsidered and that this house resolves that the 2020 Edition of the Standing Orders of the Senate be adopted;
“That the Senate Standing Order No. 79 be amended to allow synchronisation with the corresponding National Assembly Standing Order which bans singing in the Chamber and consequently this house resolves that the 2020 Edition of the Senate Standing Orders as amended be adopted,” he said before the motion was adopted.
The new rule that would, among other things, force MPs —-
including those from the opposition bench — to recognise President Emmerson
Mnangagwa as the legitimately elected head of the executive, were approved on
Tuesday after Zanu PF MPs adopted them without debate in the absence of
boycotting MDC legislators.
“The committee agreed that new Standing Order Number 86 be
inserted to read as follows; members shall observe utmost dignity and decorum
during the president’s address” and that “a Member shall not disrupt or
interrupt the president’s address through disorderly conduct”, part of the
rules read.
The new one which provides that a member is deemed to have
committed an act of disorderly conduct if he or she “defies a ruling or
direction of the Speaker or chairperson of committee, attempts to or causes
disorder of whatever nature during the attendance of the president or a
visiting dignitary in terms of Standing Order 85; or during an address by the
president in terms of Standing Order 86”.
Some of the actions the party has taken to show their disdain for Mnangagwa include walking out on him at public functions, including Parliament.
In August last year, the opposition backbenchers refused to stand up in the president’s honour when he entered the National Assembly to present his State of the Nation address (Sona) before walking out as soon as he began his address.
An MP is also deemed to have acted in contempt for
Parliament if he or she declines to retract words ruled un-parliamentary by the
Speaker, or declines to offer an apology, when ordered to do so.
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