Parliament was forced to adjourn early after legislators protested over unpaid allowances and promised iPads. The protest started after Deputy Speaker of Parliament Mabel Chinomona had announced that all legislators were obliged to attend the 2018 pre-budgetary seminar scheduled for Pandhari Lodge starting tomorrow (20 October).
Elias Mudzuri then proposed that the 2018 pre-budgetary seminar be moved to a day that is not Friday since it is constituency day and MPs want to attend to the issue of voter registration which has been giving people difficulties. Musikavanhu MP Prosper Mutseyami then raised a point of order saying that before MPs deliberate on the 2018 budget their welfare has to be looked into first. He then asked Chinomona why they had not received any of the items promised in the last budget. Said Mutseyami:
The Speaker also told us last year when we were going for Christmas that, each Member was going to get an Ipad and we are now facing the 2017 Christmas and no one has received these promised items. We raise these issues which are related to the welfare of the Members of Parliament and we also said that those members who are responsible for writing these Hansards, the Hansard Reporters are in crowded offices. Their offices are stuffy; they are unhealthy. The Speaker promised us that he was going to look into the welfare of the office space of Hansard officers and the offices were going to be air conditioned or aerated but nothing to date has been done. Definitely, when we go to our offices and we see the great things done by these workers, they are in unhealthy and unhygienic conditions. Please sympathise with them. Please respond to our requests.
In response, Chinomona said that the issue of iPads and the welfare of parliamentarians was being looked into by Parliament Administration. Zvishavane Ngezi legislator John Holder then said that MPs were now under siege from Chinomona who threatens to send them out every time they want to discuss issues to do with their welfare. Said Holder:
Hon. Members have not received Constituency Development Fund (CDF) and their allowances. We need to go and secure our victories to come back to this august House. The problem is that we are under siege where when we speak, we are told to sit down or be sent out.
Hurungwe West MP Keith Guzah sided with Holder and told Chinomona that they should not be told to keep quiet when they raise issues to do with their welfare. Said Guzah:
We do not want to be gagged by the Speaker of Parliament when we speak of issues that are key to our welfare here. You must understand, when we go back to our constituencies back there, people are looking at us. We are using resources from our pockets to sustain our constituents. We should not be barred from speaking our hearts and minds out.
Buhera South legislator Joseph Chinotimba advised the Deputy Speaker to invite the Minister of Finance and Economic Development to come and discuss the issue as the responsible minister. Zanu-PF Chief-whip Lovemore Matuke then proposed for the adjournment of the House because tempers were flaring. Said Matuke:
Before I propose the adjournment of the House, I think the Members are complaining because they are owed by Parliament. They are not greedy because they also need to get their money that is owed to them by Parliament. Furthermore they are entitled to Constituency Development Funds, they deserve it because it is their right. So, because of the tempers that are in this House I do not think we can proceed with the debate. I move that the debate do now adjourn.