HON. SEN. B. MPOFU: Thank you, Hon. Chair. I feel that some of the points that I wanted to raise have already been raised but what I am concerned about is the rubber-stamping persona of this House that the Hon. Minister comes here; he does not want to change. He does not want to change not because we have substantive issues but he does not want to change because he has to go and re-consult like he stated yesterday.
To me, it feels like we are here only for purposes of rubber stamping. I feel that is an indictment to all of us who are here, especially my colleagues as Hon. Senators because what it means is that we come here for purposes of not rubber-stamping from a party perspective but rubber-stamping from a perspective of individual perception of what is and what is not. As Hon. Senators, we need to look deep down at ourselves like Hon. Sen. Mavetera said yesterday, because at the end of the day what has been approved in the Lower House does not have to be approved here. We should and could have variations to it, variations of substance, the substance that Hon. Sen. Mwonzora stated yesterday and if we cannot, then at the end of the day we look at ourselves and say, are we just rubber-stamping what was in the Lower House?
This is what the Hon. Minister wants us to do and I feel personally, I did not debate yesterday for one reason. I feel that when any Bill comes to this House, it comes here like tablets of stone. We cannot allow for Bills to come here as tablets of stone but we should allow ourselves as Hon. Senators, old as we look, believe and old as we are that we should and the Hon. Minister should at least give variation to our concerns. I am appealing to my colleagues that when there is a variation, let us look at the good parts of the Bill and also at the bad parts. The bad parts allow us to vary them. Let them not come here as tablets of stone as if we are here to rubber stamp. We are not here for that – old as we are and please, whether you are ZANU PF, MDC or chiefs, let us not … – [HON. SENATORS: Inaudible interjections.] – Let us not and in no terms allow to be abused for that purpose. Thank you.
