A number of cabinet ministers are under fire for not participating in Parliament business, a concern that has been raised by Speaker Jacob Mudenda.
During Wednesday's Question and Answer (Q &A) session, Mudenda revealed that quite a number of cabinet ministers had given apologies on the pretext of being on national duty, something he said should be investigated.
The Q & A session is one of the most important Parliament business schedules where the public gets answers to policy questions asked by their constituency representatives (MPs) from cabinet ministers.
In recent years, cabinet ministers and the two VPs have evaded the session, leaving citizens without crucial information needed for development's sake.
Several MPs have raised their concerns since the previous Parliament until now (10th Parliament), with the Speaker at one point having threatened to report culprits to President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
"After listening to this, there are quite clear apologies that have been very consistent to you. And my suspicion is that these ministers who make apologies cannot be on national duty every week.
"I am therefore directing the truck and the staff to make a proper analysis of those ministers who have been consistently telling their apologies," said Mudenda.
He added, "And such apologies do not seem to answer that, actually. And where you have deputy ministers, again, consistently accepting themselves as an apology, that cannot be accepted. Second, in terms of the Constitution, Provisional Section 107, Subsection 2, it is very clear that every Vice President, minister, and deputy minister must attend parliament and parliamentary committees in order to answer questions concerning matters for which he or she is collectively or individually responsible.
Chiwenga and Mohadi rarely come to Parliament during the Q and A session.
He went on, "The challenges government is facing and what government is doing about those challenges. And that erodes public trust in the government of the day. We cannot afford to miss that golden opportunity.
"We should not. And above all, it is the taxpayer who shoulders the responsibilities of us being in our offices. And that must be respected."
The Speaker highlighted that some important written questions had not been answered since 2024 to date.
Said Mudenda, "And the apology must be taken sooner rather than later. That's the first observation. The second observation is that when His Excellency addressed the cabinet, the 25th cabinet session, he made a very telling statement in which he was appealing to all the ministers and their deputies to perform in terms of their contribution on this.
"I have been analysing questions, written questions, which have not been attended to. And I will go through them. A question to the Minister of Industry and Commerce (Mangaliso Ndlovu). One question has been outstanding since the beginning of the programme.
"Then we have three questions outstanding from the Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water, and Rural Development. Outstanding since 27 November 2024 up to February 2012, 2025.
"Then we have six questions that have not been attended to by the honourable Minister of Health and Childcare (Douglas Mombeshora) from 16 October 2024 to 12 February 2025. Another six questions that have not been attended to since 16 October 2024 from the Minister of Public Services and Social Welfare up to 12 February 2025.
"Then we have 11 questions that have not been attended to by the Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion (Mthuli Ncube) from 16 October 2024 right up to 12 February 2025.
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"And so all the questions are outstanding. I have analysed them, and then the Minister of Finance has seven questions outstanding, prepared since 16 October 2024 up to 12 February 2025.
"Three questions meant for Foreign Affairs Ministers then Fredrick Shava now headed by Amon Murwa) prepared from 30 October 2024 up to 12 February 2025.
"There were three questions for the Minister of Local Government and Public Works ( Daniel Garwe)"
As he continued with his list, Mudenda said he was doing this analysis in order to demonstrate that Parliament owes it to the public.
"We owe it to Parliament that these questions of national interest must be dealt with and give the opportunity for other ministers, again as I said, to shine on government policy and indicate to the world that something is happening in spite of the Secretary's concerns.
"l hope and trust I will not be forced to analyse again such reports."
