Member of Parliament for Mutare Central, Innocent Gonese, has pleaded with the Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs ministry to withdraw the proposed Electoral Amendment Bill, claiming it was hastily drafted while some stakeholders’ views were ignored.
Gonese argues there is still time to restart the amendment process and produce a consolidated electoral law that addresses the interests of all citizens.
On the bill’s second reading last week in Parliament, Gonese, the MDC-T Chief Whip, said the Electoral Reform Bill was a “horrible and terrible” piece of law, both procedurally and substantively.
“To say it is not a good Bill is an understatement,” he added, saying Zimbabwe’s history of contentious elections has been exacerbated by weak electoral reforms.
“We had recommendations made by various observer missions. We had a petition which was presented to this august House by the Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN). We have had several other processes so I venture to say that as a starting point, the Bill which has been presented by the Hon. Minister is very narrow in its scope, in its memorandum, it simply refers to the alignment of the Electoral Law with (Constitutional) Amendment No 2.”
Gonese stated this was a challenge in and of itself because the Constitutional Court is currently hearing a challenge to Constitutional Amendment No. 2, the outcome of which is unknown.
The MP said if Zimbabwe was genuinely a new dispensation, it “should have held a consultative process, particularly when dealing with a law as important as an electoral law.”
“Firstly, we had the process set in motion by ZESN. The petition was presented to this august House, it was referred to the Portfolio Committee of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs. We have had several workshops in which the Speaker of the National Assembly was a participant. The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) was a participant, the Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs was a participant through Permanent Secretary and I believe at some stage the Minister was part of that process. This culminated in the drawing up of a model law by ZESN which was presented to the Portfolio Committee,” he said.
“This is a very comprehensive document which was a product of dialogue involving all the MPs in the Portfolio Committee, which come from the three different political parties represented in this Parliament.”
However, the legislator highlighted that when the Bill was gazetted last year, it was extremely restricted and addressed only a few topics.
“This is a flawed process. As a Portfolio Committee, we actually tried to engage ZEC and a copy of the Bill was sent to them. They were supposed to engage with the Portfolio Committee as they alluded to earlier. At the beginning, they were part of the process but all of a sudden they then disappeared; they did not come to the final workshop which was held in Kariba,” Gonese said, adding that the justice ministry was also absent.
“It might appear there was malice afore-thought; they were no longer interested in the process, this inclusive process where we walk together as a nation so that we can have some consensus.”
Gonese claimed suggestions from a tripartite process comprising Zanu PF, MDC-T, and CCC as Parliamentary parties, as well as another process involving members of the Political Actors Dialogue (POLAD), had been “thrown out the window.”
“So it was not just ZESN which has been thrown out of the window but also the political parties’ process represented in this august House,” said the chief whip noting that views from other political parties not in Parliament were not even engaged.
“It was imperative for all those parties to be engaged. I, therefore, submit that because of these procedural flaws, this Bill must be torn into pieces and thrown out and we start afresh.”
Given the importance of the Electoral Amendment Bill, Gonese believes there should have been more than one meeting in each province to address it.
“Instead, the Portfolio Committee was forced to just conduct virtual hearings on Zoom and radio where some people do not have access. As I have already indicated, there is nothing wrong with engagement through those virtual platforms but it must be complemented by the physical engagement of all those who may not be able to connect, either due to connectivity challenges or because they do not have the appropriate gadgets,” he stated.
“As a matter of fact, I understand two other Bills before the Justice Committee are scheduled to go for physical public hearings. I submit that this Bill must be withdrawn and we must speak collectively as a House to say let us withdraw this Bill.”
The legislator added that there was enough time to restart an inclusive and collaborative process, and he pleaded with the Justice Minister to do so.
“This business of bringing in Bills and try to fast track them in the sense that the public consultation process just took place over two days when you have got a Bill which shapes the destiny of this country, when you have got other Bills having had their public hearings – let us rectify that,” Gonese pleaded.
“Let us go back to the drawing board. Let us go back to engagement…”
