ZANU-PF MP asks why harass gold panners when you cannot arrest anyone for the missing $15 billion diamonds?

HON. HOLDER: Thank you Mr. Speaker. I would like to contribute towards the Presidential Speech that the President announced in this august House, setting the agenda for us as legislators on this Fifth Session. There are many points that His Excellency touched on. I am going to touch on just a few issues of concern. The President spoke about the success of Command Agriculture. I was impressed that the other day while I was reading the newspaper, I discovered that one million tons of maize was delivered to the GMB.

Mr. Speaker, there are few things that we need to polish on the Command Agriculture issues. It is a good initiative but I think it would be better for the farmers to receive the inputs on time in order for the Command Agriculture to be successful.  The last time what happened Mr. Speaker was that some farmers did not receive adequate fertilizer on time and some farmers did not receive the inputs on time.  So I think when the President alluded to the success of the Command Agriculture Programme, I think it is wise for us to try and encourage the Executive to make sure that these inputs are there on time.

Mr. Speaker, we know that we have four seasons a year.  This time we are expecting a lot of rain but if the rain does not come and our dams are still silted the way they are, we are going to face a challenge of water.  I think as Hon. Members of Parliament, we need to encourage our community on water harvesting.

 Mr. Speaker, the President also spoke about the Estate Administrations Amendment Bill.  There are issues that are happening when people pass away.  Some of these issues affect our relatives, our people and the general public where corruption seems to take the lead.  Corruption is also in the offices of Government.  Why do I say that?  If one person agrees to do something which is not right, I think with this Amendment Bill coming to this House, we need to debate and scrutinize the Bill so that these issues of corruption will be dealt with.

 Mr. Speaker, in the ease of doing business in this country, out of 190 countries on the World Bank report, we are on 161.   Due to the bureaucracy that is in place, we still do not have the one stop shop.  When foreigners come into this country and want to invest, there is no one stop shop.  So, we need to look at that.

Mr. Speaker, the Public Entities Corporate Governance Bill is a very important Bill and I feel that the sooner this Bill comes to this House and debate on it, the better it will be.  We would not have issues like what happened in the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development with Professor Gudyanga where he chairs all the boards and he has no one who oversees him.  It becomes a real problem especially in terms of corporate governance.

Mr. Speaker, the Land Developers Bill, we read in the papers a lot of issues that are taking place, especially to do with land.  You find that people are buying land and are being quote as third parties, where things are not clear.  As a result, you find that a person loses his money, the land or houses are demolished.  So, the sooner this Bill comes to this House, I think we as Hon. Members of Parliament should debate it robustly and make sure that there is no loophole that would be left open.

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