Mr. Speaker, I want to go to another issue, the issue of this Parliament. If you look at the order of precedence of this country, there is the Presidency and I am talking of His Excellency and his two deputies. That office on the national presidency is followed by the Office of the Speaker of Parliament and then the head of the Judiciary, the Chief Justice. In other jurisdictions, we had a Constitution like that some time back. In the event of the President being incapacitated, the Speaker of Parliament would take over for three months until an election has been done.
I also remember, growing up in Mabvuku, we would go to a field somewhere near Mutare Road and we then had Prime Minister and the President. When the President, Cde. Banana was not in the country, President of the Senate, Nolan Makombe would act as the President and we would hear those outriders, the motorbikes going to his farm. Mr. Speaker, today our Speaker of Parliament, a person who comes as second on the order of precedence of the country, when he travels, he does not have protocol, he does not have security and yet we have a Minister, who when he is travelling, has a lead car and backup car. Why does a Minister need board guards and security?
I am talking of a Minister of Local Government, a Minister of State Security. Who is going to kill a Minister of State Security, who is going to kill a Minister Local Government? The Speaker of Parliament is more important because he leads an institution of the State. A person becomes a minister because the President has just favoured you with that appointment and the President can disappoint you anytime. He can work-up today and say that I no longer want the entire Cabinet and he will appoint new members. The President can even appoint me as a Minister because he is allowed to do that – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.] – Mr. Speaker, President Mugabe is under no obligation to appoint Minister Chinamasa, Minister of Finance. He is under no obligation appointing Hon. Zindi, Minister of Women’s Affairs. The President can even appoint out of Parliament because the Constitution allows him to do that.
If there is one person the President cannot appoint or disappoint it is the Speaker of Parliament. The position of Speaker of Parliament is a creation of the Constitution and not even the President can touch it. That is why I think Parliament should be given precedence. More money should be allocated to Parliament – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.] – We are treated as Members of Parliament, it is because of the capture of the President even Members of Parliament we are treated as ugly cousins from the village by Ministers who think that they are superior. There is nothing superior about Ministers Mr. Speaker, because these people are appointed by the President and they can be fired anytime. What we are telling Ministers is that when you sit in Cabinet with the President, please tell him the truth and do not tell him what you think he wants to hear.
Mr. Speaker, in conclusion, because my time is almost up, let me talk about the Budget of Parliament which is very little. When a Minister is appointed, they get two vehicles, an off-roader which is now a Range Rover, autobiography and a Mercedes Benz E-class. Those they normally get within a week. When MPs are appointed, it takes three years for them to get a vehicle. Let me give you an example, Hon. Mayor Wadyajena …
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