HARARE - President Robert Mugabe is stalling the legislative agenda by failing to officially open the Fifth Session of Parliament, Speaker of the House of Assembly Lovemore Moyo has said.

He said as a result, Parliament had resorted to sitting on an adhoc basis until Mugabe decides to act.
Moyo said not much should be expected from the current ad hoc sittings.

“According to the Parliament sitting schedule we sit down as the business executive of Parliament and decide what business we expect to do within this period. Normally our sitting is around 65 days per session to 70 days,” he said.

“By now (the sitting schedule) indicates we should have done the official opening of which we communicated with his Excellency. Unfortunately the Office of the President was unable to do the official opening on the particular date that was proposed. We keep our fingers crossed that it will be within this month,” said Moyo.

The Fourth Session of Zimbabwe was supposed to end on 24 July after which Mugabe would have opened a new session.

During the current session, only five Bills were passed and include the Electoral Amendment Bill, the Zimbabwe Human Rights Bill, the Older Persons Bill, Finance Bill (2012) and Appropriation Bill (2012).
The Bills will become law after being signed by Mugabe.

Moyo said he was unaware when portfolio committees will resume sittings.

“I do not have information on the sittings of the committees. I am aware that the portfolio committee on Agriculture, Water, Lands and Resettlement is still pursuing the public hearing for Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono,” said Moyo.

Meanwhile, Parliament yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding with the Women’s University in Africa (Wua).

The agreement is meant to enhance the chances of MPs and parliamentary staff to enrol at Wua for further education.