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Charity Maodza Correspondent
As the election year beckons, this is the time for potential voters to seriously prepare for the plebiscite in a number of ways that make them eligible to vote and also position themselves to select the best candidate for their constituencies. In order to qualify to vote, it is unavoidable for all prospective voters to register to vote. This is a pivotal step that enables them to claim their inalienable constitutional right to choose their representatives. All potential voters should, therefore, seize the opportunity of the ongoing national biometric voter registration exercise to take the first step towards determining their future.However, registering to vote is not an end in itself. After registering to vote, people should not sit on their laurels, but maintain the electoral momentum by looking at an array of prospective candidates seeking to hold office in their constituencies and vet them for suitability to occupy office. This is the toughest and most critical task for voters as any misstep would end in a nightmare where they would end up with a clueless representative who would fail to articulate issues in Parliament. Voters have to take their time to evaluate the prospective candidates and this review should start with the incumbent legislators who are likely to seek re-election.

A simple evaluation of the current crop of office holders should be enough to give voters a head start in choosing the right person for office in 2018. By simply following current parliamentary sessions or constituency activities, a vigilant voter would be able to endorse or dump the incumbent legislator as a prospective candidate in 2018. A snap review of the performance of incumbent legislators in their constituencies and in Parliament would reveal that while some parliamentarians are religiously seized with their duties, others remain perfunctory in their conduct. When debating issues in Parliament, some legislators are always found offside as they remain hooked on non-representative carnal issues at a time their constituencies are crying for development.

So many opposition legislators have been caught off side, smuggling elite bedroom issues into Parliament at a time their constituents are crying for development in their constituencies. A case in point is that of MDC-T Mashonaland East’s Jane Chifamba, who last week misused her time in Parliament to express her dislike of anal sex. The opposition Senator admitted to have had a regrettable and seemingly rough personal experience on the issue and hence sought to have the practice criminalised. In a move that would promote infidelity in families, Chifamba even urged men to seek the services of commercial sex workers in order to quench their purported desire for anal sex.

She further called on Government to come up with penalties against men found engaging in the practice with their female partners or wives. She recommended that those found liable should be jailed for a minimum of 14 years. Similarly, another MDC-T Senator, Morgen Komichi, last moth sought to impose his personal will on family planning by calling on all women to abandon current family planning methods in a bid to force them to bear a minimum of eight children. Komichi’s outdated submissions would certainly undo decades of investment into family planning by Government and its partners.

During the same term of Parliament, MDC-T Bulawayo East MP, Thabitha Khumalo reportedly stripped in public to ostensibly protest against the alleged abuse of her party supporters. With numerous legal avenues available to her to seek recourse for the alleged political persecution, Khumalo unwittingly chose the streetwise stripping antics that were not in sync with her honourable position in Parliament and motherly role in society.

All these unbecoming parliamentary escapades point to misguided legislators, who are misusing Parliament time to push their peripheral elite views at the expense of people who voted them into Parliament. Surely, in a country that is facing serious challenges in fighting diseases such as cancer, who would expect a right-minded legislator to dwell on carnal matters such as anal sex? Fortunately, such gaffes are very helpful in guiding prospective voters to search for the right candidate to represent them. No one in his/her right mind would re-elect legislators such as Komichi and Chifamba back into Parliament. Pitted against some candidates, who are pushing for empowerment and creation of jobs, the likes of Khumalo, Chifamba and Komichi would surely fail to make the grade of candidates to be re-elected back into the august House.