Mashonaland West Province Senator Prisca Mupfumira has told the Deputy Minister of Public Service and Social Welfare Mercy Dinha to bring facts in Parliament and not guesswork.
Deputy Minister Dinha was struggling to respond to questions on how the government was assisting drought victims.
Mupfumira was not happy with the way the deputy minister was struggling to give clear answers and at some point getting the names of programs wrong.
Below is the full text of what Honourable Mupfumira said in the Senate:
HONOURABLE SENATOR PRISCA MUPFUMIRA: The issue at hand is very important Hon. Minister. The manner in which you are answering, I believe that you need to come up with a well-researched statement to deal with the first issue. ZIMVAC is what you wanted to talk about when you were mentioning ZIMLAC, Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment. It assesses the crop situation, what we planted, and what we are expecting to harvest. We need information in this Senate, you must get assistance in terms of the grain situation that we have. Does it enable you to feed the rural people that you have mentioned? Further, we also want to find out the issue of distribution which has always been problematic. What measures have you put in place to ensure that there is a smooth distribution of food to the people?
As I speak, there are a lot of groanings and pleas from the areas where we come from. The lists are being compiled by people from the district administrator. The people of Kamonde are 100 km away and there are no Social Welfare officers to supervise this.
Please go and sit down and come back with factual information. We do not need guesswork on the issue of the drought relief programme because it is a reality.
Let me also further reiterate the issue raised by Hon. Sen. Zindi in terms of urban areas because His Excellency the President said no one and no place must be left behind, whether in the city or rural areas. So, please go and get the correct information.
