Bill Watch 14/2015 Parliament to Resume Sittings 5th May: 5 May
Bills Awaiting Consideration
BILL WATCH 14/2015
[5th May 2015]
Both Houses of Parliament will Resume on Tuesday 5th May
The Legislative Year So Far
The National Assembly and the Senate assembled for their first sittings of 2015 on 27th January. They sat on 21 days in January, February and March before adjourning on 19th March for the Easter vacation. During that time:
·only one Bill was passed – the Public Accountants and Auditors Amendment Bill. Parliament has sent this Bill to the President for his assent on but it has not yet been gazetted as an Act.
·two other Bills were brought up but not finalised – the Zimbabwe Gender Commission Bill and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (Debt Assumption) Bill[see below].
Proceedings on these Bills are expected to continue during the sittings that start today, Tuesday 5th May.
Bills Already on the Order Paper
There are only two Bills already on the Order Paper. Both are part of the way through the Parliamentary process, as mentioned above:
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (Debt Assumption) Bill
The National Assembly gave this Bill its Second Reading on 17th February at the end of a debate that saw spirited resistance from the Opposition. The start of the Committee Stage was stalled by an Opposition point of order and an attempt by Hon Gonese, MDC-T chief whip, to present a petition against the Bill from civil society organisations. Both the point of order and the attempt to present the petition were dismissed by the Speaker on 18th March[ruling available from Veritas from the addresses given at the end of this bulletin].
The resumption of the Committee Stage of the Bill is therefore expected soon. It is item 1 on the Order Paper.
Minister’s amendments The Minister of Finance and Economic Development has already given notice that he will move three amendments during the Committee Stage:
·to amend clause 3 to include the following provision allowing for payment of interest on the debts to be taken over by the State:
“(d)all prior debts assumed in terms of section 4 shall attract interest at the rate of fiveper centumper annum from the date the debt was contracted till the date of final payment.”
·to insert words in clause 4(4) in order to extend to “any other banking institution” the immunity the clause already proposes for the Reserve Bank itself. Clause 4, as amended, would read as follows [new words underlined]:
“(4) No action or proceeding shall be commenced or continued against the Reserve Bankor any other bankinginstitutionin respect of a prior debt assumed by the Minister on behalf of the State, or any other obligation or claim in connection therewith or arising therefrom.”
This amendment is designed to give effect to a recommendation in the joint report of the two portfolio committees that considered the Bill, namely, that it would be unfair to grant immunity to the Reserve Bank but not to the banks which as the Reserve Bank’s agents had carried out its orders, even if some of those orders have been held to be illegal.
·to replace the Schedule to the Bill. This lists the Reserve Bank’s liabilities proposed to be taken over by the Government under the Bill. The original list in the gazetted Bill named some of the creditors, but omitted the names of the individual creditors owed relatively small amounts, including some MPs. This new version includes many pages listing all the small creditors whose names were not individually listed in the original list.
Zimbabwe Gender Commission Bill
The Acting Minister of Women’s Affairs, Gender and Community Development delivered his Second Reading speech in the National Assembly on 4th February. Debate was then suspended pending the holding of public hearings on the Bill by the relevant portfolio committee and the presentation to the National Assembly of the portfolio committee’s report on the outcome of the public hearings.
Public hearings were eventually held, starting last week in provincial centres and ending with the final hearing in Harare yesterday, Monday 4th May. The portfolio committee should now be able to finalise its report soon, but it remains to be seen whether it will be in a position to present it to the House this week. The Bill has received extensive criticism during the hearings, much of it focussed on the Bill’s tendency to restrict the independence conferred on this important new Commission by the Constitution.
Bills Gazetted and Awaiting Presentation
There are several Bills in this category [listed below in chronological order, by date of gazetting]:
Biological and Toxin Weapons Crimes Bill
Responsible Minister: Defence
Gazetted: 10th January 2014
Marondera State University of AgriculturalSciences Bill
Responsible Minister: Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development
Gazetted: 3rd September 2014
Public Debt Management Bill
Responsible Minister: Finance and Economic Development
Gazetted: 3rd April 2015
Content: This Bill seeks to provide for the management ofpublicdebt in Zimbabwe; to put the Public Debt Management Office of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development on a statutory basis and provide for its functions and administration; to provide for the raising, administration and repayment of loans by the State and for the giving of guarantees in respect of certain loans. There are also consequential amendments to the Public Finance Management Act, which is the legislation presently covering State loans and guarantees.
Criminal Procedure and Evidence Amendment Bill
Responsible Minister:Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs
Gazetted: 3rd April 2015
Content:This very important Bill is intended to deal with the alignment of our law of criminal procedure and evidence to the Constitution. It has been urgently needed ever since the Constitution came into operation. As the Bill is too long to summarise in this bulletin, that will have to be done separately. There is provision to reintroduce the death penalty to the limited extent permitted by the Constitution [the explanatory memorandum to the Bill acknowledges that all current provisions for the death penalty are unconstitutional and have been so since the Declaration of Rights came into operation on 22nd May 2013].
Joint Ventures Bill
Responsible Minister:Finance and Economic Development
Gazetted: 24th April
Content: This Bill seeks to provide for the implementation of joint venture agreements between contracting authorities [Ministries, Government departments or public entities] and “counterparties”. The term “public entity” includes statutory bodies, State-controlled companies, local authorities. There is to be a Joint Ventures Unit in the Ministry ofFinance and Economic Development. The Unit will report to a high-powered Joint Ventures Committee. All joint ventures will require Cabinet approval. A schedule to the Bill lists sixteen types of joint venture agreement, and thirteen classes of joint venture projects.
Note: All the above Bills are available from Veritas at the addresses given at the end of this bulletin.
General Laws Amendment Bill
This much talked-about Bill is at last on the verge of being gazetted, perhaps as early as this week. It will provide for the amendment of many existing laws to align them with the Constitution[soft copy NOT available].
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