Zimbabwe legislator says MPs should serve two terms only too

A Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front Member of Parliament, Felix Mhona, has called on parliamentarians to serve only two terms, just like presidents, so as to effectively serve the people.

Mhona, who is serving his second term as Chikomba Central legislator, said parliamentarians must know when to exit.

“I might not be popular or famous in this regard, but it is very important and imperative for leaders to know the time to exit office.  As mandated in our Constitution, the President is actually mandated to have two five-year terms, making it 10 years in office,” Mhona said in his contribution to the President’s speech.

“With your indulgence Mr. Speaker Sir, once again, it is my humble request to say, let it be the time as parliamentarians to start thinking seriously about this notion, to say why can we not serve two terms as parliamentarians so that as the President exits, we also exit and allow new minds to come into effect and serve our people….

“Mr. Speaker Sir, it is common within us that we want to die in office but at the end of the day, we do these things for the future generation.”

Mhona also said people must learn to accept defeat and to congratulate those who will have won an election whether at primary or at national level and intra-party or inter-party levels.

“I want to say to this august House that the 2018 elections has gone and we now need to build Zimbabwe.  Mr. Speaker Sir, the idea of us here in Africa, I wanted to say, we have one problem whereby if we run a race, it is given that there is a winner and a loser,” he said.

“In most cases, you will find that there is a spirit of denial and individualism whereby if someone wins, it is a taboo that there is no handshake to say, here you have won.  I am saying let us embrace this spirit as Africans to say, whenever one succeeds, let us congratulate that person.

“Mr. Speaker Sir, this is prevalent even within the intra-party politics where we talk of the primaries – this spirit is quite prevalent there and also inter-party politics whenever we come to the general election.

“This affirms an assertion by one of the renowned authors, Jean Wilkes that ‘as long as leaders worry about who sits at the head table, they have little time for the people they are called to serve’.  We do not see opportunities for services while our eyes are fixed on competition,” he said.

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