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Zimbabwe: Parliament Dissolves
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Financial Gazette (Harare)
27 March 2008
Posted to the web 27 March 2008
Clemence Manyukwe
Harare
THE sixth Parliament of Zimbabwe will be dissolved tomorrow, closing a chapter on a session in which Members of Parliament (MPs) will be remembered for exposing the executive's role in fuelling corruption and sweeping dirt under the carpet.
Ahead of Saturday's election, all presidential candidates -- President Robert Mugabe, Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai and independent candidates Simba Makoni and Langton Towungana -- have spoken against graft.
But it is President Mugabe whose record has been most damaged by the work of the last Parliament, which proved his administration had only paid lip service to fighting the scourge.
Addressing his launch rally at Zimbabwe Grounds early this month, Makoni hit out at President Mugabe for openly criticising corrupt officials within his government, only to fold his hands when action was needed.
Cases of corruption uncovered by MPs beginning in 2005, when the sixth Parliament was constituted, were ignored, with government turning a blind eye to Parliamentary reports that unearthed bribery, smuggling, embezzlement, cronyism, and patronage across government institutions.
During its investigation of Ziscosteel, the state owned steel maker, the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Foreign Affairs, Trade and Industry, urged government to make public a report implicating top officials in illicit dealings at the parastatal.
The session ends tomorrow with nothing having been accomplished.
A motion by the same committee also called for the impeachment of Industry and International Trade Minister Obert Mpofu for allegedly lying under oath and flouting national laws in awarding a management contract to an Indian firm, Global Steel, but his conviction fell away after ministers lobbied against its adoption.
In February last year, deputy Police Commissioner General Godwin Matanga told legislators that after they launched Operation Chikorokoza Chapera/Isitsheketsha Sesiphelile, designed to end illegal gold panning, law enforcement agents discovered that top politicians had been involved in illegal gold dealings. No arrests were made.
During a hearing before the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Mines, Environment and Tourism, small scale miners accused ministry permanent secretary Margaret Sangarwe of promoting panning on her farm in Mashonaland West.
Sangarwe, who was present during the hearing, did not dispute the allegations. But again, no action was taken.
The government also blocked a budget and finance hearing where central bank governor Gideon Gono had intended to release a list of names of officials accused of hoarding cash for foreign currency trading on the black market.
Late last year, a report by the Transport and Communications Committee, chaired by outgoing Makonde legislator Leo Mugabe, questioned the tender process in the Victoria Falls airport construction project.
"The committee observed that the tender process on the Victoria Falls Airport was flawed. It was apparent to the committee that the authority (Civil Aviation) was acting from instructions elsewhere," the report said.
Still, the report was ignored.
Last year, the Public Accounts Committee reported that over the years, the social welfare fund had been looted.
The committee's plea for further investigation went unheeded.
In the few cases where government has pursued corruption cases, it has been proved that most of the cases of state abuse were politically motivated.
One such case was one in which Finance Minister Samuel Mumbengegwi withdrew a tax retention scheme for the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA), saying his aim was to end the abuse of state funds.
But when members of the Public Accounts Committee instituted investigations, they found no evidence of Mumbengegwi's claims, and instead discovered a plot by the minister to get rid of top ZIMRA management.
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"Your committee was told that the reason given by the Ministry of Finance to the board chairman for revoking the retention system was the alleged abuse of funds by ZIMRA...The board chairman said the board, through its internal audit committee, did its own investigations and nothing of the sort was unearthed.
"Also, the Comptroller and Auditor General's report did not mention anything of the sort," the Public Accounts Committee report said.
With a new Parliament to be elected at the weekend, hopes are for a new chapter in which corruption is not only uncovered, but followed up and culprits brought to book.
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