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Mr Zvoma

Zvamaida Murwira Senior Reporter
PARLIAMENT is considering a new system where legislators would take turns to come into the House to make contributions for debate as part of efforts to deal with accommodation crisis.Several legislators have expressed concern on how their sitting arrangement would be like in the National Assembly as the Chamber could no longer accommodate the new legislators.

Clerk of Parliament Mr Austin Zvoma said they were also considering having party Chief Whips submit names of those who would be speaking on a given day so that they have their seats reserved.

Mr Zvoma was responding to a number of questions raised by legislators who were attending an induction workshop on Tuesday aimed at appraising them on various issues related to Parliament.

“I think we will devise a way whether Chief Whips can produce a speaking list for debate on that day and some members may have to wait in the (Speaker’s) gallery while waiting to come down to participate,” said Mr Zvoma.

“The question of a permanent solution, I believe, we should have some indications as to which direction we are taking by the authorities.”
Mr Zvoma said the Parliament building has become too small to accommodate the number of legislators that have increased and described it as the “worst parliament building in the world.”

He discouraged legislators from absenting themselves from attending parliament  saying not only would that be recorded by the administration of Parliament but it was a bad indictment for their constituencies they represent.

“We encourage members to attend not only because your names will be missing on the attendance list but your constituency would want to know whether you are an MP or a Missing Person,” he said.

The Lower House can officially accommodate about 160 members at a given time. The National Assembly is composed of 270 legislators, 210 elected in constituencies and 60 additional female members who were elected into the House following the adoption of the new Constitution which provides for a quota system.

In the last session, the Lower House had 214 legislators who would squeeze to fit in during major parliamentary events such as official opening and national budget presentation.

However, the problem of space is not found in the Upper House as the number of Senators has been reduced from 99 in the last session to 80, in terms of the new Constitution.

Meanwhile the August House has started the process of constituting portfolio committees and Thematic Committees for both Members of National Assembly and Senate as part of its oversight role.

Leadership of political parties in Parliament have since started holding meetings to look on which legislators could go in the various committees that shadow several Government Ministries.

Zanu-PF Chief Whip, Cde Joram Gumbo yesterday said the process to constitute portfolio committees, which play an oversight role, had started.

“We want MPs to make their choice of portfolio committees that they want to belong. We were due to hold one meeting today (Wednesday) but failed because there was the swearing in ceremony of new Cabinet Ministers and their deputies,” he said.

The MDC-T however, held its meeting yesterday where MPs were asked to make indications of committees they want to belong while Zanu-PF deferred its meeting scheduled for yesterday.

Zanu-PF commands a comfortable majority in Parliament after it secured more than two thirds of the available seats.