Zimbabwe Parliament- What they said about the Belarus fire tender deal- Part 3

Secondly, when fire tenders are being bought, are there any statistics that are so compelling that have made the Government lose sleep over the fact that there have been so many fire outbreaks that require us to go and buy these fire tenders? Mr. Speaker, we presented water statistics but the fire statistics were not presented which now cost $500 thousand per fire tender. We need those statistics from the Minister and that should inform their decision.

My last question is that there is nothing that can be accepted by the Zimbabwean people except apologising for what has been done wrong. Hon. Biti said bilateral agreements that make Zimbabwe have financial obligations in other countries cannot be signed without having been approved by Parliament. The Minister said that the fire tender came into being because of the bilateral agreement. We do not want the Minister to defend because that was wrong. They made bilateral agreements based on an agreement that was not approved by Parliament. On the bilateral agreement between Zimbabwe and Belarus, is there provision that shows that the bilateral agreement will enable Zimbabwe to buy fire tenders? If it is not there, it means the Minister has not been honest with us. Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.

HON. CHIKOMBO:  Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.  My question is directed to the Deputy Minister of Local Government, Hon. Chombo.  My challenge with the Minister is that they are not following the Constitution.  Everything that we do is guided by Section 2 of the Constitution.  If you look at how they bought the fire tenders, they did not consult the people who have been elected into local authorities.  Section 274 to 278 of the Constitution articulates the hierarchy of leadership in local authorities.

THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER:  Hon. Member, can you please seek clarification.

HON. CHIKOMBO:  Hon. Speaker, I plead with you that you be patient.  We were listening when the Hon. Minister was talking.  The Ministry of Local Government is number one in disrespecting the Constitution.  Firstly, they do not respect the local authorities and secondly, the Hon. Minister is saying the money to pay for the fire tenders is coming from devolution funds.  She is aware that we do not have an Act that governs how devolution funds are used.  Section 301 of the Constitution says that there should be an Act of Parliament concerning …

THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER:  Hon. Member, you are repeating what has already been said.

HON. CHIKOMBO:  We asked the same question yesterday and she said it will be presented today in the Statement.

THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER:  The Chair is guiding you.

HON. CHIKOMBO:  Thank you Hon. Chair for the correction.  The Minister did not follow the Constitution.  I do not know where you got the powers to buy fire tenders on behalf of local authorities without following the Public Procurement Act.  Where did you get that power from?  The other issue is: the local authorities that we are talking about do not have people who have the capacity to use fire tenders.

Lastly, what has been articulated in this House is that even if there is an agreement between this country and Belarus, Section 327 of the Constitution says that the agreements that are made are supposed to be ratified here in Parliament – all that has not been followed.  That is why I said there is need to look at how the Constitution is being disrespected by the Minister of Local Government.  Thank you Hon. Speaker.

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