Chamisa MPs snub Parly committees

PARLIAMENTARY Portfolio Committees resumed sitting yesterday with only Zanu PF MPs in attendance while their MDC Alliance counterparts snubbed the meetings.

The Health Portfolio Committee which is chaired by opposition MP Ruth Labode met, but was composed of Zanu PF MPs only who, however, formed the required quorum.

Labode's committee was one of the those which was occasionally disrupted by Zanu PF legislators in a bid to force opposition legislators to recognise President Emmerson Mnangagwa. This was after MDC Alliance MPs refused to recognise Mnangagwa in Parliament.

Yesterday’s Parliament snub was in protest over the recall of four MDC Alliance MPs Chalton Hwende (Kuwadzana), Prosper Mutseyami (chief whip National Assembly), Tabitha Khumalo (leader of the opposition in the National Assembly), and Lillian Timveous (chief whip in Senate) by Thokozani Khupe's party.

About 85 MDC Alliance legislators have vowed to support their party president Nelson Chamisa and to resign from Parliament if the onslaught on their party members continues.

On Thursday, the Lands and Agriculture Committee chaired by Gokwe Nembudziya MP Justice Mayor Wadyajena will sit to gather oral evidence from the Agriculture ministry on financing and preparedness for the 2020 winter cropping season.

It is not clear whether the MDC Alliance MPs will attend, given that most of them have exited Parliamentary Portfolio Committee WhatsApp groups.

Labode yesterday confirmed the snub, vowing to completely disengage from Parliament if the onslaught on party MPs continued.

“I am at a funeral and did not attend Parliament. MDC Alliance MPs in my committee also did not attend we are totally disengaging from Parliament activities,” said Labode.