At this point in time, we are not asking for more than the $163 million. We are simply saying, that $163 million – which maybe inadequate but that is the minimum, that is our starting point. In fact, if it were possible, we would actually be asking the Hon. Minister to increase the allocation to Parliament above $163 million. In the overall scheme of things, Hon. Minister Sir, look at what has been allocated to the various Ministries. You will find that a lot of the individual Ministries have much more than that which is going to be allocated to Parliament.
When we talk of Parliament, the Hon. Minister must also bear in mind that we have staff of Parliament and at this point in time, Parliament is actually understaffed. They have actually asked for Treasury concurrence to fill posts which are vacant as a result of the freeze and I want to emphasise to the Hon. Minister that he has also to factor that into account issues relating to staff of Parliament and their remuneration. Whenever we sit late, dedicated members of staff actually do not have transport to go home and they have challenges in relation to transport. So, we want to ensure that not only the Members of Parliament are catered for but also the supporting staff which makes Parliament tick because without those vital cogs in the engine, this institution cannot function.
So, I want to reiterate to the Hon. Minister that, if he looks at what has been asked for by Parliament, in the overall scheme of things, it is actually a pittance. The least that the Hon. Minister can do is to accede to the original bid, of which he was part of collectively as a Member of the Committee on Standing Rules and Orders. This is the reason why I am saying that, whilst the Hon. Minister may be of the view that we are going to be happy with $120 million, to the contrary, there is general consensus across the political divide that we must get what we bid for -which may even be inadequate, but in the circumstances, it is the minimum that this House can accept.
Otherwise, I want to reiterate what my colleague Hon. P. D. Sibanda has said. The Hon. Minister can be rest assured that if he does not accede to our request in this instance, Parliament is now going to bare its teeth. It has teeth which can bite and this budget cannot pass without the approval of Parliament. That is my point Mr. Chairman. I thank you for giving me this opportunity.
THE MINISTER OF FINANCE AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT (HON. PROF. M. NCUBE): Thank you Hon. Speaker Sir. First of all let me thank the Hon. Members for their spirited and rightly spirited contributions about the role of Parliament; its oversight role and their resource needs. After causing and reflecting with my staff who help me manage the budget, I now propose to increase the Vote for Parliament up to a $145 million – (HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.) –
HON. NDUNA: Mr. Chair, I do not want to disagree with the Minister and I applaud him. Mr. Chair, what I want for Parliament to do is to embrace what is called digitalisation or computerisation in distributing that money that it has been given by the Minister of Finance and Economic Development. What we see here is a situation where Members of Parliament are belittled in their modus operandi in the way they carry out their mandate. They are belittled when they get coupons from Accounts Department. Why does a Member of Parliament have to go and queue to get coupons? We need to make sure that the distribution of that allowance called coupons is computerised – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] –
THE DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON: Order, order.
HON. NDUNA: Thank you Mr. Chair. We have about 270 Members of Parliament here. This is 210 elected and 60 proportional representatives and every Thursday, they go under dehumanising conditions where they have to get coupons and they go into a queue where an accountant on accounting operation distributes those coupons in a manual way. My suggestion is that, let that money go into our accounts and make sure that we do not leave anything to chance and make sure that Members of Parliament do not go under dehumanising conditions.
I also ask that Parliament adheres to the ethos and values of PFMS because there is an Auditor General’s report that says, Parliament needs to adhere to the PFMS dictates and conditions. If we are computerising our revenue generating and distribution mechanisms, we adhere to what the Auditor General has pointed out. Therefore Mr. Chair, I ask that today be the last time that we get coupons distributed to Members of Parliament in a dehumanising manner because, we will be left with egg in our face. Let us computerise and avoid the distribution of coupons in a manual way. I thank you.
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