By Staff Writer
THE Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum (The Forum) has called on government to drop all unfinished bills which were pending before the 9th Parliament in line with lawmaking best practices.
The First Session of the Tenth Parliament of Zimbabwe will be officially opened on October 3 2023.
According to section 145(1) of the Constitution, the First Session of Parliament after a general election must take place at a time and place determined by the President and “being a date no later than thirty days after the President elect assumes office.
There were several bills which were placed before the 9th Parly but were not finalised when its term of office lapsed.
The Bills include the Insurance Bill, the Medical Services Amendment Bill, the Mines and Minerals Bill, the Insurance Bill and the Insurance and Pensions Commission Amendment Bill and the Financial Adjustments Bill.
There are some Bills which were passed in Parliament, but had not been gazette into Acts, These include: The Child Justice Bill, the Institute of Chartered Loss Control and Private Security Management Bill and the Police Amendment Bill.
The Forum acting director Wilbert Mandinde told the media this week that there were important questions which needed to be addressed over the Bills.
“In terms of the law, any Bill which was under consideration by the 9th Parliament would have lapsed on 27 August. As it stands the PVOs Bill was deemed to have lapsed and there is nothing that the President will be referring to Parliament.
“We are having the 10th Parliament and ordinarily we know that the President sets out the legislative agenda. What’s important to note is that there is no Bill,” he said.
Legal think tank also contends that when Parliament was dissolved on the 22nd August, immediately before polling day in the general election, there was no longer a Bill for the President to refer back to Parliament, however, justified his reservations about it may have been.
Veritas further said all the Bills which failed to pass in the National Assembly or Senate before Parliament was dissolved became invalid.
