Times Of Swaziland: MPS CLASH OVER NEW PARLIAMENT BUILDING PLANS

MPS CLASH OVER NEW PARLIAMENT BUILDING PLANS
================================================================================
Ntombi Mhlongo on 06/03/2022 08:42:00


LOBAMBA - The proposed construction of a new Parliament building saw Members of
Parliament (MPs) clashing last Thursday.
This was during the portfolio committee debate of annual performance reports of
three entities under the Prime Minister Cleopas Sipho Dlamini’s wing which are
Cabinet, Parliament and the Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS). The clash
emanated from that, while some declared that they supported the proposed plan,
others were against it. Other MPs said they were against the terms and
conditions that come with the loan the country has sought from India for the
project.
Kukhanyeni MP, Malavi Sihlongonyane submitted that he had issues with the
proposed plan. He said a bill to request a loan to construct the new Parliament
came to Parliament.
Sihlongonyane said he did not remember a bill that was tabled requesting
Parliament approval for the project. “I did not see a bill requesting the
construction of a new Parliament building but I saw one which was a request to
seek a loan. I must state that it pained me that on the day the bill for the
loan was debated we were not given a chance to make submissions. There were 56
of us who stood up to show interest that we wanted to contribute. We were not
given a chance,” he said.
Sihlongonyane was interrupted as Kubutha MP Musa Mabuza stood up on a point of
order to state that his colleague was misleading the House as a bill seeking an
approval to build a new Parliament structure was tabled and passed in Parliament
without any objection. Mabuza requested that his colleague (Sihlongonyane)
should withdraw his submission. Nhlambeni MP Manzi Zwane stood up to submit that
the House was losing direction as MP Sihlongonyane needed to be allowed to
debate and finish. Zwane said it was wrong to say that all MPs supported the
proposed plan as he did not.
The chairperson of the portfolio committee advised that the debate should
continue as all MPs supported the idea. Mhlume MP Victor Malambe stood up on a
point of order, saying MP Sihlongonyane should withdraw his submission. “Let
us not promote lies. In Parliament it is all about numbers. When you lose a
vote, it is just that,” said Malambe. The chairperson then advised that the
issue of the new Parliament building should not be touched as MPs dealt with it
and concluded everything. However, Sihlongonyane did not back down as he stood
to submit that it would not be a Parliament if legislators were not allowed to
discuss issues. In vernacular he said, “Ngabe akusiyo iphalamende”. He said
he will discuss the issue any time he felt like doing so and that no one would
stop him as he believed that there were a lot of things that needed to be fixed
in the country. He said he touched on the issue because he was in the committee
dealing with it and that the Ministry of Economic Planning and Development had
invited them for discussions.
Overtaken by events
Once again, the chairperson insisted that Sihlongonyane should stop discussing
the issue as it had been overtaken by events. In the end, MP Nkhanyeti Ngwenya,
in his capacity of the House of Assembly Chair of Chairs, stood up to advise
that once the chairperson of the portfolio committee ruled on a matter, all
members of the House should adhere. The chairperson said it was not good that
the MPs were now dwelling on one and the same issue instead of proceeding with
the debate. MP Sihlongonyane was again advised not to continue with the debate.
Meanwhile, MP Malambe submitted that his colleagues should not say something and
then change tune.
Malambe said it was the MPs themselves who passed a bill for the construction of
the new Parliament and that the terms and conditions of the loan for the project
were there.
“It is not like the conditions are new. If I remember well, there is no one
who submitted that the Parliament should not be constructed. Today we sound like
there are some who lost a vote as they were against the project. All of us were
okay with it,” submitted Malambe. He said the people expected the MPs to take
decisions that they will stand for and defend in future no matter the situation.
Also debating about the same issue was the Nhlambeni MP (Zwane) who said he had
checked with the Ministry of Economic Planning and Development and was advised
that 66 per cent of the loan would not complete the whole project. He said he
also heard that he was concerned that material for the project would come from
India. “I am worried about this because the economy of the country is
currently not in a good state and this scenario means that the money will not
circulate locally,” he said. Zwane said he wished that the loan would be used
to pay civil servants since there was a court ruling which ruled that government
should review their salaries.
Lobamba Lomdzala MP Marwick Khumalo said he had serious reservations about the
fact that 66 per cent of the money to fund the project would be paid by emaSwati
but the money will go back to India since most of the material to be used in the
construction will come from there. “Some of us are not happy with the terms
and conditions but for now we have since there is nothing we can say, let us at
least get proper clarification on the designs of the new Parliament as per an
agreement that they should have an identity of the Kingdom of Eswatini,”
submitted Khumalo.
MPs blast ministries
Meanwhile, most of the MPs decried the act by government ministries not to table
quarterly reports of their performance in the previous financial year. Gilgal MP
Sandla Fakudze said the PM had rightly pointed out that in order to monitor the
performance of the ministries, the quarterly reports were a must. Fakudze said
while he understood that the COVID-19 pandemic had played a role in the failure
by government ministries not to produce the quarterly reports he still felt that
the whole exercise was not prioritised. “The non-tabling of the quarterly
reports robbed us of the chance to play our oversight role as MPs yet it is
described as the cornerstone of democracy,” said Fakudze. Fakudze also asked
to understand the reported raids conducted by police officers countrywide in
people’s homes. He asked to know if the officers were in possession of search
warrants whenever they entered homesteads. He said he heard complaints that some
officers used vulgar language and insults something which he said was wrong.