[Bill-Watch] Bill Watch 40/2014 of 26th October [Second Parliamentary Session Starts 28th October; Legislative Business of First Session]

[Veritas Bill Watch]

BILL WATCH 40/2014
[26th October 2014]
The President Will Officially Open the Second Session of Parliament
on Tuesday 28th October 
Last month both Houses passed resolutions that the First Session of
Parliament would end on 25th September and that the President would be
invited to open the Second Session [see Bill Watch 37/2014 of 24th
September].  On 25th September the National Assembly and the Senate
adjourned to 28th October, fixing 2.15 pm and 2.30 pm, respectively, as the
starting times for their next sittings.  
Note: The Constitution now leaves it to Parliament to decide when its
sittings will begin and end, and limits the President's power to decide when
Parliament will meet to two instances: when Parliament will meet for the
first time after a general election and when he wishes to summon Parliament
to conduct "special business". [Constitution, section 146].  
Opening of Second Session of Eighth Parliament
Presidential Proclamation 2 of 2014 [Statutory Instrument 152A/2014,
gazetted on 22nd October] summons Parliament to meet at 12 noon on 28th
October, citing the President's power to summon Parliament to "conduct
special business" [proclamation available from the addresses given at the
end of this bulletin].  The President's proclamation serves the purpose of
getting Parliament to meet two hours before it would have reassembled in
terms of the resolutions passed by both Houses on 25th September.  
Opening ceremony  The lead-up to the President's opening speech will follow
the traditional pomp and ceremony, including a procession of MPs and judges,
a mounted escort for the Presidential limousine, an inspection of a guard of
honour and a 21-gun salute and flypast before the President enters
Parliament. 
Special sitting of Parliament  fixed for 12 noon  President Mugabe will
enter the National Assembly in time to begin his speech at 12 noon.  
President's speech and legislative agenda  The President's speech is
expected to follow the traditional format, outlining achievements of the
past year, plans and policies for the coming year and the legislative agenda
for the coming session - i.e., the Bills his Government plans to bring to
Parliament during the session.
Comment:  Although the term "session" has disappeared from the Constitution,
Parliament has chosen, as a matter of tradition and convenience, to
perpetuate the use of the term as denoting a Parliamentary year [embracing a
group of sittings over a period of approximately 12 months].  We are
following this terminology and note that the media and other followers of
Parliamentary proceedings are also doing so.  
Legislative Business Completed in the First Session 
17th September 2013 to 24th September 2014 
The five-year life of the present Parliament began on 22nd August 2013, when
the new Constitution came fully into operation with the swearing-in of the
President after the holding of the harmonised elections on 31st July.
Members were sworn in, and presiding officers elected, on 3rd September, but
the opening and start of business proper was on 17th September.   The Senate
sat on 88 days during the session, the National Assembly on 90.
Bills Passed During First Session
2013
No Bills were passed between the opening of Parliament and the end of the
year.
2014
9 Bills were passed from January to the end of the Session: 
Finance Bill [passed on 5th February]
Appropriation Bill [passed on 11th February]
Financial Adjustments Bill [passed on 13th May]
Trafficking in Persons Bill [passed on 22nd May]
National Prosecuting Authority Bill [passed on 28th May]
Electoral Amendment Bill [passed on 28th May]
Sovereign Wealth Fund of Zimbabwe Bill [passed 23rd September] [not yet
gazetted as Act] 
Finance (No. 2) Bill [[passed on 24th September]
Appropriation (Supplementary) Bill [passed 25th September]
Bills Presented but Not Dealt With
The following three Bills were presented late in the Session, and were still
under consideration by the Parliamentary Legal Committee when the Session
ended:
Gender Commission of Zimbabwe Bill
Public Accountants and Auditors Amendment Bill
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (Debt Assumption) Bill.
Also still on the National Assembly Order Paper at the end of the Session
was the Income Tax Bill, which was passed by the Seventh Parliament in June
2013 and returned to Parliament for reconsideration in December.  There has
been no movement on this item since it was first listed on 20th December
2013.  
Acts Gazetted
>From the previous [Seventh] Parliament
Securities Amendment Act [gazetted as Act 2/2013 on 30th August 2013]
Microfinance Act [gazetted as Act 3/2013 on 30th August 2013]
Electricity Amendment Act [gazetted as Act 4/2013 on 18th October 2013]
>From this Parliament
Finance Act [gazetted as Act 1/2014 on 4th April]
Appropriation Act [gazetted as Act 2/2014 on 4th April].
Financial Adjustments Bill [gazetted as Act 3/2014 on 13th June]
Trafficking in Persons Act [gazetted as Act 4/2014 on 13th June]
National Prosecuting Authority Act [gazetted as Act 5/2014 on 11th July]
[not yet in force]
Electoral Amendment Act [gazetted as Act 6/2014 on 20th August]
Finance (No. 2) Act [gazetted as Act 8/2014 on 17th October]
Appropriation (2014) Act [gazetted as Act 9/2014 on 17th October].
Did This Fulfil the President's Legislative Agenda for the First Session?
The output described above fell far short of the 27 Bills named by the
President on 17th September 2013 as the Bills his Government intended to
bring before Parliament during the First Session.  
Bills on legislative agenda that were presented to Parliament 
Only four of the 27 Bills mentioned at the beginning of the Session were
presented to Parliament; three of them were passed:
National Prosecuting Authority Bill 
Trafficking in Persons Bill 
Sovereign Wealth Fund Bill 
The fourth, the Gender Commission of Zimbabwe Bill, was presented late in
the session, and the report from the Parliamentary Legal Committee is still
awaited.
Bills on legislative agenda not presented to Parliament 
The 23 Bills on the President's list that had not been presented to
Parliament by the end of the First Session are:
Land Commission Bill [the Constitution requires an Act to set up the Land
Commission] 
3 Bills for new health sector Acts to regulate Health Services, Medical
Services and Public Health 
Anti-Corruption Commission Amendment Bill 
4 financial sector Bills: to amend the Banking Act, the Insurance Act, the
Pension and Provident Funds Act and the Insurance and Pensions Commission
Act 
Consumer Protection Bill
Zimbabwe Quality Standards Regulatory Authority Bill
Public-Private Development Partnership Bill
Mines and Minerals Bill 
Border Posts Authority Bill
Road Tolls Amendment Bill
2 Bills on labour matters: Tripartite Negotiating Forum Bill and Labour Laws
Harmonisation Bill
Savings and Credit Cooperative Societies Bill
Cooperative Societies Amendment Bill 
Occupational Health and Safety Laws Consolidation Bill
Common Facility Centres Bill
Gwanda State University Bill 
Marondera University of Agricultural Science and Technology Bill 
Constituency Development Fund Bill.
It remains to be seen whether all these Bills will be carried over to the
Legislative Agenda for the 2014-2015 session, and what other Bills will be
added.  
It is hoped that there will be more Bills actually presented to Parliament,
especially Bills aligning laws to the Constitution.
Disappointing First Session
The meagre output of Bills by Parliament over the thirteen months of the
First Session reflects the Government's general lack of preparedness for
legislation to fulfil its legislative agenda, its election manifesto,
ZIMASSET, and its duty to implement the Constitution.  
As a result of this dearth of legislative work from the Government, and
Government Ministers so often not turning up to respond to written
questions, and a conspicuous lack of Ministerial presence in both Houses
when debates affecting their Ministries took place, Parliamentarians were
left largely to their own devices.  Although there were some extremely
lively debates on controversial motions introduced by backbenchers, there
seemed to be little resulting impact.  In both Houses, but particularly in
the Senate, the lack of government business and presence led to some very
short sittings - with an appreciable number of "afternoon" sittings lasting
for less than an hour.  
Alignment of Laws to the Constitution
Lack of Government commitment to the Constitution was perhaps predictable as
in the President's opening of the First Session only 6 of the 27 Bills he
mentioned had anything to do with aligning existing laws to the new
Constitution or underpinning new constitutional structures and institutions
[see Bill Watch 47/2013].  Nevertheless it was hoped that although there had
been lack of planning for such Bills at the beginning of the year, that
Ministries during the year would have expedited Bills to implement the
Constitution.  
But, only two of the Bills passed tackled this urgent need.  These were the
National Prosecuting Authority Bill [passed but, regrettably, still not
brought into operation by the President] and the Electoral Amendment Bill
[which repeated the temporary Presidential Powers Regulations, which had
merely aligned the Electoral Law to permit last year's elections to comply
with new constitutional provisions, e.g. proportional representation, but
fell far short of a complete alignment of the Electoral Law with the
Constitution].  
Statutory Instruments 22nd and 24th October
[available from the addresses given at the end of this bulletin.]
22nd October
Proclamation summoning Parliament  SI 152A/2014 [see above]
24th October
Electoral regulations  SI 153/2014 prescribes new forms for nomination of
candidates for all elections, from Presidential elections down to local
authority elections.  The regulations came from the Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission with the approval of the Minister of Justice, Legal and
Parliamentary Affairs.
Legal profession - contingency fees  SI 154/2014 enacts the Legal
Practitioners (Contingency Fee Agreements) Regulations made by the Minister
of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, after consultation with the
Chief Justice and the Law Society of Zimbabwe.  A contingency fee agreement
is one between legal practitioner and client in which it is agreed that no
fee will be paid for the legal practitioner's professional services in civil
proceedings before courts, tribunals, arbitrators and certain functionaries,
unless the proceedings result in a decision or settlement wholly or partly
in the client's favour [the client still pays court fees].  Criminal
proceedings are expressly excluded.  There are strict controls to protect
clients from exploitation.  A higher than normal fee may be agreed on but
must not exceed 200% of normal.  In court proceedings a settlement will need
the approval of the court.  A client may refer an agreement to the Law
Society for review, and, if unhappy with the Society's decision, take it to
court on review or appeal.  
 
Veritas makes every effort to ensure reliable information, but cannot take
legal responsibility for information supplied
To subscribe or unsubscribe from this mailing list please email
<mailto:veritas at mango.zw> billwatch at mango.zw
If you wish to contact Veritas please email  <mailto:veritas at mango.zw>
veritas at mango.zw 
If you are requesting legislation please email  <mailto:veritas at mango.zw>
veritas at mango.zw or look for it on  <http://www.veritaszim.net>
www.veritaszim.net 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mail.veritas.co.zw/mailman/public/bill-watch/attachments/20141027/19b0c26c/attachment.html