Arrest, recall MPs who defy oath - some Nkhanini residents
MPs do not honour their pledge or promises to the people. Once they take the oath in Parliament, they forget their promises to us. They should even be arrested for failure to adhere to the oath they take..
NKHANINI – esidents of Nkhanini have called for the arrest or recall of Members of Parliament (MPs) who fail to uphold their oath of office and promises to the people.
The residents were making sub missions to the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) during a voter and civic education exercise at the area s umphakatsi. Nkhanini Umphakatsi is one the five royal kraals under Lobamba Inkhundla in the Hhohho egion.
oter education means providing citizens of a democratic State with basic information about participat ing in elections. oter education is provided by the State through the EBC therefore it is a politically non partisan exercise.
Though the attendance was not a reflection of a majority of residents in the area, the civic and voter ed ucation exercise continued and members of the community were taught on how to make their vote count. About 60 residents attended the voter and civic education at the community hall near the umphakatsi.
Most of the community members raised concerns on the lack of power to recall a failing MP. The residents raised concerns to the EBC officers that the people elected into Parlia ment sometimes forget the promises they made to their communities and therefore it was important for the people to be able to recall those that were failing.
They further raised concerns that some of the MPs defied their oath of office when they got to Parliament.
Mandla Mkhonta said the MPs who fail to honour their oath as MPs and their promises should be arrested or the power to recall them be given to the people. He said MPs were elected by the people and should therefore be accountable to the people.
He said those who took the oath were actually taking an oath to the people and failure to deliver accord ing to the oath should be deemed a prosecutable offence.
“MPs do not honour their pledge or promises to the people. Once they take the oath in Parliament, they forget their promises to us. They should even be arrested for failure to adhere to the oath they take. The root cause of this is the fact that we do not have the power to recall them. It is time such power is given to the people because without such, the election process becomes use less.
MEETINGS
“Even here, we know that meet ings have not been called for a long time and that is probably the reason behind such small numbers in at tendance today,” he said.
The oath according to Section 128 of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Swaziland (Eswatini) binds the MPs to pay allegiance to His Maj esty King Mswati III, his heirs and successors.
“Every Member of Parliament shall, before taking the seat as such member, take and subscribe before the chamber of which that member is a member the oath of allegiance that is set out in the Second Sched ule or such other oath as may be prescribed,” reads Section 128 of the Constitution.
Mkhonta further questioned the EBC and government for hiring teachers and members of the secu rity forces as polling officers ahead of the unemployed youth. Our sis ter publication, Eswatini 1ews, re ported that the EBC was projecting about 7 000 temporal jobs during the elections this year. According to the commission, the job opportuni ties were open to everyone who was going to apply and qualify.
The residents challenged the fact that such opportunities were taken by those who were still employed by government, yet it was an oppor tunity for the unemployed youth to make an income.
“It does not make sense that dur ing the election year, government opens job opportunities for those that are already employed and under her payroll. This is clear example of a fattening ranch and such should be addressed with immediate ef fect by the commission. The num bers of unemployed young people, some who have tertiary certificates but were unemployable due to lack of experience is growing and this could be their opportunity to gain that experience. It becomes a prob lem if EBC as a government entity overlooks them,” he said.
Sikhumbuzo Fakudze stated that some of the MPs did not understand their role when they got to Parlia ment and it was evident in their behaviour.
MENTIONED
He mentioned that it was important for an MP to be in touch with the people so that any submissions they made in Parliament was aligned to the will of the people.
He made an example of a former MP who used to meet with the resi dents and discuss his submissions in Parliament.
Some of the residents questioned the candidate vetting process and said it was worrying to see an com mitted MP being jailed for a crime he did before he became a legislator.
“I want to propose that the EBC should consider looking at the arrest as compared to the guilty verdict because it is embarrassing when an MP gets jailed for something he did before becoming an MP. These
show that the vetting exercise was lacking and needed to be improved. Maybe we should start considering the arrest based on the prospects of a conviction said a female resident who identified herself as LaDvuba.
The resident said she was not making any specific reference to any MP but was pondering over the issue on her way to the civic education.
Worth mentioning is that the constituency s MP llen tewart was last week sentenced to three years no fine for attempted murder. This was after igh Court Judge oris Tshabalala convicted him of the charge on January and subsequently sentenced him on Friday February .
When the judge delivered the judgment llen was in the company of his wife who also saw him off in the rain as police officers took him to the Correctional centre. Allen committed the offence of attempted murder on October at Moyeni Siteki in the Lubombo egion during the funeral of his brother John Stewart.
He shot Sibusiso Matsenjwa in the arm shortly after -ohn had been buried.
The attendees were having refreshments at the tewart homestead when the shooting happened. At the time of his death -ohn was in a love relationship with Sibusiso's sister Gugu. The couple lived together for a number of years and they had children.
CONVICTION
His conviction meant the residents of Nkhanini will be without an MP in the fifth session of the 11th Parliament.
The royal kraal was also challenged to start calling meetings and ensuring that there were consistent updates given to the community members especially on issues of the elections.
EBC Officer Khetsiwe Vilakati responded to the questions raised by the residents and said the EBC was committed to improving the election process and ensuring that it remained free and fair. he said they were going to engage the commission on some of the issues raised by the residents.
The intention of the commission is to build an election brand that is free and fair. ,ssues such as the hiring of teachers and other civil servants as polling officers by the EBC will be referred to the commission for deliberation.
"We appreciate the questions and the comments made but we also want to state that some issues such as the power to recall remain outside our bounds because there is currently no legislation authorising it.
However we will take it further and hope the laws will be amended but for now it is thathile thathile once choice to the end she said.
Vilakati said the commission was not in a position to change the vetting rules but the matter would be tabled for discussions. he said a person was deemed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Officers from EBC took the residents through the official stages of the election process and the importance of voting. The residents were taught on why it was important for every voter to be registered and how to register.