The Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) opposition party has said once voted into office, it will introduce laws to empower voters to recall non-performing elected public officials.
While officiating at the launch of CCC’s manifesto in
Bulawayo recently, party leader, Nelson Chamisa said the party would enact laws
that allow people to recall poor performing officials.
“We are going to introduce the right of recall,” Chamisa
said.
“If you are a MP or councillor and don’t perform, we will
look at the number of people who voted for you. If two thirds write a petition
either to the Speaker or to the relevant chamber to say our representative has
gone AWOL or is a missing person, we will allow them to recall you and allow
them to choose a new representative.”
Chamisa further said the CCC would also implement a new
public barometer system to rate the performance of all public officers.
“If you are a minister or MP, there is going to be a public
barometer to rate you. At the end of the year, you must be rated to see how you
fared. You go to Parliament but don’t even cough or sneeze but still want to
remain in Parliament. MPs must debate national issues.”
Currently the right of recall is limited to political
parties, as stated in Section 129 (K) of Zimbabwe’s constitution.
Section 129 (K) reads: “If a Member has ceased to belong to
the political party of which he or she was a member when elected to Parliament
and the political party concerned, by written notice to the Speaker or the
President of the Senate, as the case may be, has declared that the Member has
ceased to belong to it.”
In 2020, the MDC-T, led by Douglas Mwonzora, recalled
dozens of elected MPs and councillors, accusing them of supporting Chamisa, his
political adversary.
This resulted in empty seats in various parliamentary and
council seats around Zimbabwe, leaving the electorate disenfranchised and
underrepresented.
By-elections had to be held on March 26, 2022, and later on
in the year because citizens had no representatives in Parliament and council.
Chamisa added that Parliament must also reserve a seat for
the leader of the official opposition party for oversight.
“The official opposition leader has to be invited officially
to all the national functions not this business of reducing national functions
to a party affair,” said the presidential challenger who said once in power CCC
would separate the state from the political party.
“One of the things that we promise you as a new government
is to separate the State from the party, what political scientists call
‘batocracy,’ which is the State and party conflation. The Government is the
common denominator, and your political party is the enumerator, we are all one
people.”
He also said a new government will make sure people do not
abuse their political party card to access government services.
“You must access government services because you are a
citizen and deserve the service either due to your age, disability or certain
marginalisation that you have suffered in the past. We want to equalise this.
This is our humble submission for a government we are proposing,” said the CCC
leader.
The CCC leader also mentioned that one in government the
party will update and modernise telecommunications systems.
“We are going to revolutionarise Parliament immediately
when we become a government.
Parliamentary debates will be shown on TV, and you will see what is
debated in Parliament and see where laws are made,” Chamisa claimed.
“We will have a television channel set aside for
parliamentary debates and televisions in communities for municipal debates in
the chambers so that people are brought closer to lawmaking closer to decision
making.”
Last year a Harare resident petitioned Parliament to allow
members of the public to recall failing elected politicians rather than
political parties.
Claud Kaharo of Budiriro said that for democracy to
succeed, non-performers must be shown the door, while elected politicians must
perform to the expectations of those who voted for them, failing which they must
be recalled.
“As the voting public, we must have the right to vote for
our representatives to council and parliament and also have the right to recall
them if they are inept and not to wait for five years while they continue to do
lots of damage,” Kaharo wrote in his petition. CITE
0 comments:
Post a Comment