Brian Rungano Temba
Leader of Movement for Democratic Change-Tsvangirai (MDC-T) Douglas Mwonzora has defended his members of parliament (MPs) saying the progressive contents outweighed those perceived to be negative.
Mwonzora, who is leader of the opposition in parliament said his legislators made a sound decision in the interest of women empowerment and inclusion of youths in decision making.
Among the 191 MPs who voted for Ammendment Bill No 2, were MDC-T members and they have been getting backlash from the opposition media.
“The number of MDC-T MPs who voted yes and those who voted no is equal. The vote was either for the the Amendment bill as a whole or against it as a whole and we could not select specific clauses out of the Bill at this stage,” said Mwonzora.
The clauses within Amendment Bill No.2 touched on issues like; President’s running mate, appointment of judges, extension of the women’s quota, inclusion of women’s quota on local councils, inclusion of a youth representative in government from each province and devolution.
MDC-T as a party has been skeptic around the running mate issue.
“However since at this stage we were supposed to either side for or against the whole clause we were met with a dilemma,” said Mwonzora.
Mwonzora said Zimbabweans will thank his party later.
“Some of the issues in the bill benefit the people of Zimbabwe and we want them to know we always have their interests at heart,” added Mwonzora.
“Women need to be part of the legislature in order to proceed into the executive. Therefore in our view the women’s quota advances democracy,” he added.
The MDC-T Womens Assembly met on April 17, 2021 and the Youth Assembly met on the April 18, 2021 and both agreed to support the clauses that deliver their interests.
“Our philosophy as the MDC-T is that the youths are not leaders of tomorrow but leaders of today.
This is why we move that they be represented and acknowledged as a significant demographic,” said Mwonzora.
Mwonzora said that the majority of MPs making a lot of noise over the passing of the bill are hypocrites.
“In the committee the clauses of the bill are voted for and if there are those who are against the clauses they ask for a division of the house.
“We noticed that some of the MPs who are complaining did not attend this stage for reasons only known to them,” said Mwonzora.
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