MEMBER of Parliament for Chikanga Lynette Karenyi-Kore has fired a salvo at Constitutional Amendment Bill No. 3, (CAB3) declaring she will not support a law she says ignores the cries of ordinary Zimbabweans for jobs, food and service delivery.
Debating the Bill in Parliament last week, the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) legislator said there was a disconnect between Parliament's agenda and what her constituents face daily.
"When I travel across my constituency, I do not hear people asking for constitutional amendments, I do not hear mothers asking for CAB3, I do not hear unemployed youths demanding CAB3... Mr Speaker, what I hear are cries for jobs... calls for affordable education, pleas for food on the table Mr Speaker," Karenyi-Kore said.
She argued the timing was wrong as families battle poverty, school dropouts, unemployment and drug abuse.
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"Mr Speaker, people want bread, not political engineering, they want opportunities and not constitutional experiments, they want service delivery, not extension of political power," she said.
The MP questioned the Bill's purpose, saying it fails to solve any pressing national problem.
"The question before us is very simple Mr Speaker, 'whose problem is CAB3 solving?' It does not create a single job Mr Speaker. It does not lower the price of mealie-meal. It does not improve the state of our hospitals Mr Speaker," she said.
Karenyi-Kore further warned that the amendment undermines democracy by diluting the people's right to elect the President.
"This amendment takes away the power of the people to elect the highest office of the land, it is unnecessary, undemocratic and totally uncalled for Mr Speaker... authority to govern must come from the people," she said.
"Our constitution is not the cause of poverty... The challenge before us is not a constitutional crisis Mr Speaker, it is a governance crisis...For these reasons Mr Speaker, I reject this Bill," she said.
