The complete debate on why Zimbabwe MPs opposed the National Competitiveness Commission Bill

*HON. MARIDADI: What I am saying is that he has done something which is taboo such as talking about the root of a stone which is something none existent and taboo to see. The Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee also made recommendations, but there is no coherence and co-existence between the speech and the recommendation. It is like you are talking of somebody whom we describe the attire they are putting on and end up saying, this person is nicely dressed, has big breasts but the person is a man.  There is no coherence.  I believe that when the Committee has gone on an outreach programme, they should introduce to the House the information that has been said by the people whom they visited during the outreach programme.  What the Committee Chairperson has done is quite different from what he is saying.  If the people whom they visited were to listen to the speech presented by the Chairperson of the Committee, they will be surprised as to where that speech came from.

I am pleading with the Minister responsible to listen and he should know that he is an industrialist who is into the human resources.  He was also the Chairperson of Air Zimbabwe and human resources and is quite aware of the situation in Zimbabwe.  He knows the stance which is taken by Parliament – he brings the Bill to the House, it is debated and passed into an Act.  What we need is for you to bring in Bills which are very constructive and that can be debated.  I think the Minister is just indulging in child’s play because he is not serious about the Bill that he brought.

*THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER:  Hon. Maridadi, we should use parliamentary language and not the negative language because you are attacking the Minister in person.  I think this is very wrong.  You must use parliamentary and respectful language.

*HON. MARIDADI:  Madam Speaker, I did not use derogative language, but I am simply advising the Minister that when he brings a Bill, he should not just follow the bandwagon, because other Ministers have introduced Bills that have succeeded in the House and he feels left out.  As such, he has to bring his Bill that does not make sense and lacks coherence.

Madam Speaker, I am not going to talk about the cost drivers because other Members have debated that.  Let me be clear about this Bill.  This Bill lacked thorough elaboration when it was crafted.  When the Pricing Commission was introduced, they did not indulge in anything besides corruption.  They would go into Makro Wholesalers and say that this television is expensive, please reduce the price and that fridge is expensive, please reduce the price.  Outside, there will be their fellow members or cronies who when the prices have been reduced, they would come into Makro and buy those items.  The Minister is following the same route and we believe that there are not going to be any committees or bodies of ten women or ten men who are going to talk about price reduction.  Whether the board members are appointed in consultation with the Minister and the President, that makes no difference because the electricity price is going to be the same.

I am advising the Minister to stop writing notes.  The best he can do is simply remove the Bill from the Order Paper and go back to the drawing board and re-craft it.  The Minister is trying to introduce something whereby the Commission is going to be appointed by him and he is telling Parliament that he is going to appoint the Commission and step down from his portfolio or I will keep my portfolio and do away with the Committee.  Hence, my advice to the Minister is that, he should drop this Bill, go back to his Ministry and do the job he was appointed to do.  Zimbabwe is going bankrupt because we have wrong politics and policies.  I will repeat, what the Minister is doing is simply child’s play.  He is playing with the Members’ minds.  He should work on the policies that are there to develop the country’s economy.

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