THE MDC has defended its MPs who recently attended a government organised pre-budget seminar in Victoria Falls during which some US$5 million was blown in less than a week.<\/p>\n
Amid a backlash from its supporters who argued the MDC had displayed hunger to live lavishly at a time ordinary Zimbabweans were struggling to make ends meet, party\u2019s chief chip Prosper Mutseyami argued Parliament and the Executive were different.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is in line with that mandate that we went to Victoria Falls to articulate the position of the people at a forum that was due to take place anyway, even if we had chosen not to go.<\/p>\n
\u201cZimbabweans who voted for us wanted their views to be heard at that forum and as the MDC parliamentary caucus, we are the servants of the people and at the pre-budget seminar, and we raised key issues affecting the ordinary people,\u201d Mutseyami said in a statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe raised to government the crisis in the health services sector and the legitimate concerns of the doctors and other medical staff, which concerns must be resolved as a matter of urgency.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mutseyami said the MDC wanted to defend the will of the people.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe raised the issues of fuel shortages, the low morale among teachers and other civil servants, the soaring cost of electricity on the few occasions that it is available as well as the proscription of the people\u2019s democratic rights,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The opposition MPs, according to Mutseyami, also raised issues around human rights abuses that he argued government\u2019s re-engagement efforts would be greatly enhanced if they stopped.<\/p>\n
Mutseyami said the MDC has used Parliament as a platform to highlight Mnangagwa\u2019s illegitimacy.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have stood tall on the side of the people who want us at every step to raise the issue of Mr. Emmerson Mnangagwa\u2019s illegitimacy, which has cost us our allowances for several months, putting paid to the false narrative that we are lured by cheap trinkets and luxury.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the past one year, we have turned Parliament into a cogent arena of the people\u2019s struggle. That is why we have effectively used that platform to showcase Mr. Mnangagwa\u2019s illegitimacy, especially after the closure of other democratic spaces for the people to express themselves,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The MDC parliamentarians have walked out on Mnangagwa twice since last year\u2019s general elections, the latest which forced Speaker of the National Assembly to deduct several months\u2019 allowances due to them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is exactly what we went to do in Victoria Falls. We are the people\u2019s representatives. We do not shy away from any platform to articulate their concerns. We will never abdicate our key national mandate of playing the oversight role on the executive,\u201d said Mutseyami.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
THE MDC has defended its MPs who recently attended a government organised pre-budget seminar in Victoria Falls during which some US$5 million was blown in less than a week. Amid a backlash from its supporters who argued the MDC had displayed hunger to live lavishly at a time ordinary Zimbabweans were struggling to make ends […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":8631,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,10],"tags":[113,88,120],"class_list":{"0":"post-15614","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-all-news","8":"category-parties","9":"tag-chamisa","10":"tag-mdc","11":"tag-parties"},"yoast_head":"\n