NEWLY-elected MPs are most likely to be sworn in next week
in order to allow President Emmerson Mnangagwa to pick his Cabinet ministers
from a group of legislators that have taken oath of office, a senior Zanu PF
official disclosed yesterday.
Zanu PF secretary for legal affairs, Munyaradzi Paul
Mangwana told NewsDay that currently government is being run by Mnangagwa and
his two deputies, Constantino Chiwenga and Kembo Mohadi, hence the need for
swearing-in of MPs as soon as possible so that the President can pick his
ministers from them.
This also comes at a time when independent analysts have
formed a website called the “Zanu PF manifesto meter” to track Mnangagwa’s
delivery, especially pertaining to his electoral promises.
The website has already begun to evaluate government
performance even before Mnangagwa has appointed ministers.
“Monitoring Mnangagwa’s performance by independent analysts
is a good exercise. But I think the analysts are a bit too fast because one
cannot get married and immediately get pregnant and have a baby. So at the
moment there is nothing to monitor as there is no cabinet,” Mangwana said.
“I understand that swearing-in of MPs-elect will be done
next week. After the swearing-in of legislators and the election of the Speaker
of the National Assembly and his deputy and the Senate President and the
deputy, then the President will select his Cabinet from the MPs and the five
that he is allowed by law to select outside Parliament.”
Mangwana said tracking Mnangagwa’s performance now will be
too early as there was nothing to evaluate.
“In the future we (Zanu PF) will also find a way to monitor
and evaluate our performance being guided by the manifesto. Private analysts
are also free to do so and to engage government with their critical analysis of
our performance from three months, up to the five years.
“Let us be patient as there is no government at the moment
and government is currently composed of the President and his deputies.
This came as Women’s Coalition of Zimbabwe (WCoZ) has
challenged Mnangagwa to appoint a new presidium and Cabinet that is gender-inclusive
in order to strengthen the position of women on governance issues.
Addressing journalists in Harare, WCoZ chairperson Ronika
Mumbire said there must be a gender-balanced Executive as well as the
appointment of women in health, finance, and education and defence ministries.
“We urge President Mnangagwa and his administration to
ensure women’s rights are at the centre in the implementation of these
commitments. Of critical importance is ensuring that gender-sensitive and
gender-responsive structures are strengthened and adequately resourced,” she
said.
Mumbire said there was need for the implementation of laws
that eradicate gender-based violence and the acceleration and finalisation of
the Marriage Bill which sets the age of consent to marriage at 18 years.
Mumbire added that WCoZ together with the Women’s Affairs
ministry and other various organisations had established a database of various
competencies that women have across different sectors.
She said the database was submitted to government and the
presidium for consideration in the selection of Cabinet ministers. Newsday
0 comments:
Post a Comment