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MPs must respect the title honourable if they want to be respected, instead of behaving like run-of-the-mill citizens

Lloyd Gumbo
This column has for the past two-and-a-half years that it has been in existence religiously focused on policy issues and ignored human interest goings on among our Parliamentarians, but donkeys are the only consistent creatures as was asserted by one good Professor a few years ago.

Mr Speaker Sir and followers of this column, please pardon me for it is important that we digress a bit and focus on some housekeeping issues that have been going on for some time now with no sign of redress.

It is critical that I state from the onset that MPs are human beings who are bound to err, just like other humans, but it becomes a problem when what was initially a mistake becomes a trend.

The notorious senator chief

Mr Speaker Sir, MPs by virtue of being referred to as honourables, MPs must conduct themselves in an honourable manner whether they like it or not.

I am told there is a senator chief from Mashonaland West who is notorious for hooking up with women of easy virtue in the Avenues area.

Coincidentally, I have bumped into the said senator chief on several occasions at a convenience shop at a filling station along Samora Machel buying condoms, which is a plus for him though at least, he knows the consequences of being reckless with a loose waist.

But the issue is not necessarily about protecting himself or his ladies against HIV infection, but the implications of his actions in the event of a deal going sour as those ladies can be nasty and explosive if recent stories in the tabloid H-Metro are anything to go by.

Mr Speaker Sir, it is not our duty to determine who one beds, but it becomes a concern when our representatives make it their duty to go about bedding ladies of the night, bringing the name of the Legislature into disrepute.

In the event that one of the days, these ladies decide to play dirty; imagine the damage it will cause to the MPs in general and senator chiefs in particular?

What will the constituents think of MPs in general and senator chiefs in particular?

What of claims that some MPs died as a result of cardiac arrest due to sex enhancers?

These are the complications and implications that this behaviour by our representatives has on the honourable House that has to stop forthwith.

Nude pictures MP

There is that Harare lady MP holding a leadership position in her political party in the province, whose pictures in her birthday suit have gone viral, which begs the question as to why she went that far to take nude pictures of herself.

MPs must respect the title honourable if they want to be respected.

They cannot go about behaving like commoners when they should be role models.

Imagine if those pictures were to leak to children in Chitungwiza where she is probably known, how will this go down with these kids?

These are some of the things that our MPs must consider before playing naughty, because the issue is not about themselves only but other people around them.

Freebies MPs

Mr Speaker Sir, I hear some of your MPs whose portfolio committee on Youth, Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment toured Econet on Wednesday, were very angry when they received gift bags hoping to find mobile phone handsets only to discover a promotional T-shirt and a pen.

The tour was highly subscribed at the back of mobile handsets that were given to MPs from another portfolio committee who toured the same company last year.

So, about 20 MPs could not miss the tour for anything hoping to get handsets.

I am sure some of them went as far as cursing Econet as if the company was obligated to give them something.

Mr Speaker Sir, MPs must stop this craving for freebies from these organisations because it takes away their integrity from officials in these companies.

Playing an oversight role does not mean that organisations that they tour have to give them something in return because they are paid for every hour that they are doing Parliamentary work.

The controversial minister

Lastly Mr Speaker Sir, there is also the latest controversial MP who is a minister from Manicaland, whose wife seems to be running the show at parastatals that are under her husband’s ambit.

She has the audacity to confront her husband who is the minister in front of his subordinates, some of them commoners such as cleaners.

The minister’s wife calls herself the “first lady’’ of the Ministry and is said to be the brains behind a number of controversial decisions that her husband is said to be making.

Mr Speaker Sir, it is important for the minister to rein-in his wife because when he was sworn in as minister it was only him who took oath of office.

This business of her harassing officials in parastatals that are under her husband’s ministry turns the ministry into a circus.

The minister’s wife must know that Government business is different from family business where she can equally play a role.

If the minister cannot rein-in his wife then it would be fair to say he is not fit for that Government position.

The least he should have done was to tell the President on appointment that he was weak and could not control his wife.

Government has a structured system in place with a clear mandate of who does what, and in that structure the minister’s wife is non-existent, so she should confine herself to her home or family business, not this tendency of going about abusing other people’s names in order to strike fear in Government officials.

Mr Speaker Sir, the moment spouses are allowed to interfere with operations of ministries by virtue of their links to other people, Government ceases to be Government and it turns the country into a banana republic.

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