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Rumbidzayi Zinyuke Manicaland Bureau

NEWLY-elected Members of Parliament in Manicaland say it is imperative to engage all stakeholders across the political divide and work towards the province’s development in line with the constitutional provision for devolution of power to provincial level.

The legislators have also pledged to represent the electorate across the political divide to promote development.

Devolution of power is in line with Section (2) of the country’s Constitution under which central government should cede more powers to provincial councils so they can determine their development priorities.

Newly elected MDC Alliance legislator for Mutasa South Mr Regai Tsunga said the most important task at hand was bringing all stakeholders together to come up with sustainable solutions to problems in the province.

“We look forward to working with all stakeholders in the constituency so that we can develop together. We believe in oneness of purpose and tolerance so that we are able to work together to bring about development. We have a common agenda to develop our province and our country,” he said.

“The Constitution speaks to the issue of devolution, so we are together in that. We must now convert that into an opportunity to work together as a province, as a country and as a people so that the principles of devolution are implemented to the letter and spirit. We hope that together with our compatriots from other political parties, industry and commerce, and other stakeholders, we will all work together towards developing our province looking especially at our needs that we must identify together and try to proffer solutions.”

He said there was need to plan on how natural resources found in Manicaland could be utilised to benefit the province.

“We have been prejudiced quite a bit in the past. Our mineral resources, notably diamonds, have not been accounted for to our satisfaction and we hope that with devolution, we will be able to get our fair share of the revenues from natural resources so that we are able to develop our province,” he said.

MDC Alliance Member of Parliament for Mutare Central Mr Innocent Gonese also said he would represent the interests of all the residents of Sakubva regardless of political affiliation.

He said it was high time the livelihood of Sakubva residents changed for the better.

“I am a Member of Parliament for all the people in Mutare Central irrespective of their political persuasion. I would like to unite the people of Mutare Central because as you know, Sakubva, which forms the larger part of the constituency, is an impoverished area. We have dilapidated infrastructure and it is something which we have been striving to improve over the past years but we have not been able to succeed because Central Government has not been able to follow up on its policies,” he said.

“I am hoping as we move forward, we will be able to deal with serious challenges facing the people of Mutare, in particular issues relating to unemployment. If our industries can reopen, that would go a long way in alleviating the plight of the people who live in the constituency.”

Mutasa South and Mutare Central cover part of the residential areas around Mutare as well as the industrial, commercial farming and mining areas.