Harare — LAST week I talked about the various Parliamentary Committees that exist and the purposes they serve.

The spotlight was however, on the Parliamentary Portfolio Committees and the recently established Senate Thematic Committees.

For obvious reasons and those that I mentioned last week these two are the most visible, especially the Portfolio Committees given the nature of their work.

These two mainly function as watchdogs of the various Government ministries and departments and it is from their work that most Parliamentary business is generated.

It is the work that they do that will be the area of focus this week.

A number of readers may have come across or better still attended some public meetings that were held and are being held in various parts of the country by the Portfolio Committees on Local Government, Rural and Urban Development and that of Defence and Home Affairs.

The former is going round the country gathering evidence on the management of various local authorities while the latter is collecting views on the proposed amendments to the Public Order and Security Act.

I attended one such meeting in Chitungwiza by the committee on local government and what happened there had me thinking about what really is the role of those that we elect to represent us be it at the levels of councillors up to the legislative assemblies.

It is also important to note that while people were aware of the broad functions of Parliament, most of them were however, ignorant of the role of the committees or even their existence.

This ignorance is worsened by the failure by representatives to constantly keep in touch with their electorate.

Chitungwiza has five House of Assembly constituencies and like any other legislators, it is their duty to represent the concerns of the people that elected them.

It is the duty of the committees from time to time to gather such views from the populace but the representatives of the areas are the ones that should lead in exposing any abuse of public office or non-performance in their areas of jurisdiction.

A drive around Chitungwiza will show a sorry sight ranging from uncollected refuse, blocked sewers and generally unhygienic conditions that provide fertile ground for outbreaks of diseases like cholera.

I think every Zimbabwean would remember the 2008 outbreak that claimed over 4 000 lives and left scores hospitalised.

The point here is that a number of legislators seem to forget their constituencies once they are elected into Parliament.

One resident, while acknowledging the difficult conditions the local authorities and the nation at large are experiencing, pointed out that some of the problems in Chitungwiza were not a result of shortage of resources but instead their abuse and lack of supervision.

The resident alleged that council workers can spend the whole day slashing 10 square metres of grass or half a day cleaning a public toilet and so on.

This lackadaisical approach to work, the resident argued, has contributed significantly to the decline in service delivery.

However, this cannot be rectified if the elected officials, who carry the mandate of the people do nothing about it.

It is this supervisory role that legislators can also carry out to ensure that those people mandated to deliver services to the public do so.

From what was said by the Chitungwiza residents, there is lack of co-ordination of efforts among the elected people that are expected to champion the causes of their constituencies.

The media have generally exposed the gulf between the salaries most council officials are getting and services they deliver.

It is therefore the duty of the MPs to bring such issues to the House for debate because it is essentially what they were voted for.

The committees will continue with their outreach programmes that would take them to Matabeleland South, Manicaland and Masvingo as they strive to bring Parliament to the people.

It is also important for readers and all Zimbabweans really to also note that they can approach the committees, especially on the matters they oversee and give their views, to ensure that they also carry out their oversight role effectively.

This is essential, as communication is vital in resolving any challenges we face as a country.

We will keep on updating you on what transpires as the committees proceed with their outreach programmes.

Since both Houses took a break two weeks ago, the main business in Parliament was in the committees where various officials from different ministries gave evidence on a range of issues.

The Public Accounts Committee again raised concern over the manner in which some ministries are managing public assets.

Again as stated above, we are facing a myriad of challenges and the resources we have, have to be prudently managed.

As is now obvious to most people the sanctions imposed by the European Union and the United States continue to have a debilitating effect on efforts to turn around the economy and therefore require every one of us to play their part as responsible citizens.

The Chiadzwa diamonds again still hog the limelight with officials from the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe, the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation and Mines and Mining Development Deputy Minister Murisi Zwizwai appearing before the committee to give evidence on the mining of the mineral in Manicaland.

Small-scale miners also urged Government to allocate them claims at the Chiadzwa diamond fields.

Given the Government thrust on Indigenisation, this should be given the attention it deserves to ensure that Zimbabweans benefit from their resources.

The Zimbabwe National Road Authority told the Committee on Transport, Communication and Infrastructure Development that they have so far collected US$6,7 million in revenue since the collection of toll fees started last year.

What is important is for legislators to keep track of the actual road maintenance projects that are being carried out to prevent any leaks or abuse of the funds collected.

Zimbabwe's road network is in dire need of attention and given the money involved, it is likely that there are some with sticky fingers involved in the management of the money so Parliament has to keep an eagle eye on the manner in which the money is used.

House of Assembly Speaker Mr Lovemore Moyo and Clerk of Parliament Mr Austin Zvoma were in the news once again over the manner in which Zanu-PF Mwenezi East representative Cde Kudakwashe Bhasikiti moved his motion on the illegal economic sanctions.

This motion caused pandemonium in the House of Assembly a fortnight ago with Cde Bhasikiti calling on Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and his deputy Arthur Mutambara to engage the West on the removal of sanctions.

The Speaker is of the view that he should have been consulted before the Bill was presented while the Clerk on the contrary said there were no provisions in the standing orders of Parliament requiring that the motions be presented to the Speaker before presentation in the House.

These differences in the technicalities, I believe, should not shadow the broader picture of the illegality of the sanctions and the adverse effects they have had on the population.

The motion caused chaos in the House especially among MDC-T and Zanu-PF legislators with the former who have as a matter of policy refused to acknowledge the existence of the sanctions and their effects.

This is one thing that has continued to boggle our minds in that the MDC-T does not want to accept the effects of the sanctions and at the same time maintain that they be maintained so that they essentially attain their political goals.

This basically means attaining power at the expense of the suffering generality of Zimbabwe's population.

We just hope that the Speaker, who is from MDC-T, is not being prejudiced in his judgment by this view of his party.

Meanwhile, a US Congressional delegation is in Zimbabwe to assess, ostensibly the progress made by the inclusive Government and economic reforms.

They will meet various political leaders including those at Parliament like they did in their last visit six months ago and we hope they will give an honest assessment of the progress made by the inclusive Government and not concentrate on the differences.

Given the diametrically opposite ideological views held by the three parties in Government it is expected that they will have areas of differences and contention but this should not prevent people from acknowledging the great strides that have been made.

What is needed is the total removal of the illegal economic sanctions.