Harare — Zambia Airways suspended operations on January 10 last year, saddled by a US$29 million debt and rising fuel costs and threw 256 employees onto the streets and the lives of their dependants in limbo.

Before suspending operations, the airline had operated a vibrant domestic and regional service and had been in business since 1948. The problems that Zambian Airways faced were exacerbated by the downturn in the global economy that resulted in a sharp decline in disposable incomes from the traditional air travellers causing great damage to revenues of many airlines.

The problems that resulted in the cessation of operations by Zambia Airways are similar to the ones afflicting national carrier, Air Zimbabwe. Air Zimbabwe is commonly described as the flag carrier of the country and this explains its importance to the nation.

It is common knowledge that the national flag is a revered symbol of nationhood and is thus accorded great respect not only in Zimbabwe but also in every other country in the world.

Desecrating a national flag carries a penalty and therefore the importance Air Zimbabwe has cannot be separated from the respect we accord our national flag.

On Monday, the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee visited Air Zimbabwe and the Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe to get first hand information on the operations of the two parastatals, the challenges they are facing and how they propose to overcome them.

The committee chaired by Kwekwe Central House of Assembly representative, Mr Blessing Chebundo (MDC-T) met with various people from the management and the general employees at the two organisations.

Critically, it is the general observation by Air Zimbabwe employees that unless Government intervened urgently to recapitalise Air Zimbabwe, the airline might end up just like Zambia Airways.

Air Zimbabwe has a debt burden of over US$40 million and has obsolete equipment that urgently needs replacement. Granted that the illegal sanctions and the global recession have adversely effected operations, it is worthwhile that Government demonstrates the importance of the airline by adopting greater involvement in its affairs as the shareholder.

The national airline is important in our economic turnaround thrust and the aviation infrastructure that has been built over the years cannot simply be left to go to waste.

Over and above this, Zimbabwe has talented people in the aviation industry and its products are sought after worldwide. It will be difficult to resuscitate the airline once it is allowed to fold.

As one pilot told the Committee during the hearing, it is difficult if not impossible to re-establish an airline or attract customers once you cease operations and then try to resume later. His argument was that, the aviation industry is mainly premised on retaining customers' trust and confidence thus these have to be maintained at all costs if any airliner is to remain viable.

Hence, if the airline collapses it would be very difficult to resuscitate it and still regain the confidence of the customers. The long and short of it is that Government has to move to ensure that the airline remains aloft.

Government can adopt the national airline's debt so that it starts on a clean slate and compete with other airlines. The airline accrued debt between 2000 and 2008 at the height of the inflation and the mismatch between fares it charged and the realities that obtained on the ground.

The national airline charged economically meaningless fares and thus accrued huge debts in the process as the pricing regime then did not allow the use of foreign currency. Because of this, Government should therefore adopt Air Zimbabwe's debt.

The Air Zimbabwe employees also noted that in the 2010 Budget presented last year they were not allocated a dime, a disturbing scenario given the importance of the airline.

Major airlines like South African Airways, the British Airways, Emirates and others from the developed world have been supported by their respective Governments to ride the difficulties caused by the recession. This makes it important for Government to do likewise otherwise we run the real risk of not having a national airline to talk about in the near future.

Air Zimbabwe is a national symbol that we should all strive to restore to its former glory. Still on the tours by Parliament's committees, the Senate's Thematic Committee visited Harare Central Prison on a fact-finding mission on the conditions at the prison especially the living conditions of the 1 221 inmates currently serving time at the institution.

However, it was the visit to the inmates on death row that will be my focus here. There are currently 49 people facing the death penalty and there has been debate whether or not that form of punishment should still be allowed in our statutes.

This is a controversial matter and it is likely to come up during the outreach programme of the current constitution making process. One of the inmates told the Thematic Committee that he has been on the death row for the past 13 years. He passionately described the trauma that he has been under in that period and at one stage begged for forgiveness from the legislators thinking they had the authority to pardon him.

Opponents of the death penalty have often argued that it is no longer an acceptable form of punishment in the modern day society while those who support it say it is a deterrent measure and should be retained. Whether it is deterrent, though, will always be contentious.

Obviously those facing the hang man committed gruesome murders and one has to look at the recent case of the Sanyati man who murdered a businesswoman and went on to rape the corpse. This is barbaric and sometimes people want the "ultimate" punishment for such crimes.

Others have argued that it has bad psychological effect of those who carry out the actual execution and other prisoners left behind and so on. This is obviously a contentious issue and its debate cannot be exhausted on this column. So food for thought for you readers and hopefully you will contribute to this issue as we move towards the outreach programme.

The controversial RBZ Amendment Bill that had been in Senate in the past three months was finally passed on Tuesday without any further amendments. Senator Monica Mutsvangwa had proposed wholesale amendments to the RBZ Amendment Bill but on the back of behind-the-scenes discussions, it was passed without any further alterations.

The Bill will restrict the work of the Central Bank to monetary policy formulation and bank supervision without venturing into the fiscal policy matters. The politics surrounding the tenure of RBZ governor Dr Gideon Gono at the Central Bank had threatened the passage of the Bill in Parliament with Zanu-PF legislators viewing it as Finance Minister Tendai Biti's personal war against Dr Gono.

The Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement between South Africa and Zimbabwe was ratified in the Senate following a similar approval in the House of Assembly. The agreement is meant to cement business interaction between the two countries and provide the security required by investors before they invest their money.

While the agreement has been welcomed by a everyone as a positive development especially on the country's quest to attract foreign direct investment, what is left is to ensure that real investment that increases the country's productivity comes through.

As Senator Chief Fortune Charumbira argued, the agreement should not see an increase in investment in the retail sector that does not bring meaningful benefit to the country.