HARARE – Zimbabwe’s legislators say they have gone for nine months without receiving fuel and other allowances from government, a situation they blamed for increased absenteeism among their colleagues in the house.
Speaking in parliament on Thursday, Rushinga MP Tendai Nyabani said parliamentarians have been reduced to beggars as they were not getting their dues.
“We must not be begging as Members of Parliament,” he said, adding, “If we were promised to be given something, then it must come right on time.
“For example, if we are getting travelling allowances, fuel, I cannot remember when we last received those allowances.”
Nyabani said failure to receive their fuel allowances from Treasury has also affected mobility to their respective constituencies to discharge their community-based roles as legislators.
“We are talking about allowances which allow us to go to our constituencies to reach out to our people. Should we continue begging!” he said.
Nyabani said as MPs, they have also not received their Constituency Development Funds (CDF) to champion different programmes within their areas.
“We want the whole country to know that the CDF amounting to US$50,000 that we were told and which we were supposed to be given has not yet been received,” he said.
Marondera Central MP Caston Matewu also said legislators were now absconding parliament because they have not been paid since January this year.
“I want to stress that it has been nine months since we got our allowances. I am not sure about you (deputy speaker) but the Members of Parliament in this House have had nine months without any allowance.
“That is why you see this House is half empty. It is half empty because sometimes most of us are now going into business, which is really killing the work of this parliament because we need to survive and our families also need to survive.”
Deputy Speaker Tsitsi Gezi chose to defer her response pending consultation with relevant offices.
“Your points have been noted but for today, I have no comment on that. We are going to consult so that we bring comprehensive information and adequate responses explaining the different points that you mentioned. I will not lie to you, but I want to consult and bring a concrete response next week but one,” she said.
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