BULAWAYO - Leader of the smaller MDC faction by legislative representation, Welshman Ncube, says most ministers in the coalition government are defying Cabinet decisions, preferring to listen to their political parties instead.

Addressing a Bulawayo civic society meeting to discuss constitution making recently, Ncube said there was no agreement among parties on most Cabinet decisions hence the discord.

“If a minister does not want to implement a Cabinet decision, whether you insult him or not, nothing will change.

“He or she will not implement that decision. Ministers are listening to their political parties and they go along with party positions. That is why we need an election that will be decisive in its outcome so that we have a government that has a structure which is hierarchical, where there is a clear authority,” said Ncube.

“That is the reality on the ground,” Ncube said.

There are three political parties in the coalition government namely the mainstream MDC,
Zanu PF and Ncube’s MDC.

Ncube said Zanu PF was suppressing people’s wishes by rejecting devolution of power in the new constitution.

“There are more than 87 percent of Zimbabweans who said they want devolution in the draft constitution. But we are shocked Zanu PF is running away from what the people said during the outreach exercise,” he said.

President Robert Mugabe has dismissed the concept of devolution of power, saying it will divide Zimbabweans and should not be included in the new constitution.

The MDC parties say devolution of power is the only way to uplift some of the country’s provinces which have remained marginalised since independence in 1980.

Some civic groups accuse the central government of robbing resource rich regions to develop preferred provinces. Most provinces outside Harare, not just Matabeleland, are lagging behind in development and are suffering economic decline as industry remains subdued. - Pindai Dube