HARARE – The row over provincial governors and the subsequent early adjournment of Zimbabwe’s Senate could hurt the MDC-T’s legislative agenda amid fears that ZANU PF would use the row to block reforms pushed by the former opposition party, analysts have warned.

Zimbabwe’s senate has been adjourned until February 8 next year following a protest by lawmakers from Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC-T over the unilateral appointment of provincial governors by President Robert Mugabe.

The decision to adjourn senate sitting was taken after MDC-T senators disrupted proceedings in the Upper House for two days last week in protest at what they said was the presence of “intruders”.

The MDC lawmakers were protesting the presence of members of Mugabe’s ZANU PF who were appointed provincial governors by the veteran leader last month without consulting his partners in a power-sharing government formed in 2009.

Under a power-sharing pact signed by Mugabe, Tsvangirai and the leader of a breakaway MDC faction in 2008, the 86-year-old Zimbabwean president should consult his coalition partners before appointing senior regime officials.

Mugabe has refused to implement a formula agreed by the three political leaders last year on how to allocate the country’s 10 provincial governor positions among their parties.

Under the formula, Tsvangirai’s MDC was supposed to nominate five governors by virtue of being the party with the largest number of parliamentary seats. ZANU PF would get four positions while the smaller MDC faction led by Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara gets one appointment.

Presently all the 10 governors are ZANU PF members.

The MDC-T has vowed to continue disrupting senate proceedings until the contentious issue of the governors is addressed.

Provincial governors are ex-officio members of the Zimbabwean senate.

Veritas, a Harare-based non-governmental organisation that monitors Zimbabwe’s legal climate, said the suspension of senate business would likely delay the passing of pending bills, which require the consent of both the Senate and House of Assembly.

“During the adjournment of the Senate it will be impossible for Parliament to complete the passage of any Bills in the ordinary way, i.e. with both Houses assenting to them,” the group said.

Nevertheless Schedule 4, paragraph 5, of the Constitution contains special provision for the enactment – without Senate approval – of a Bill certified by a Vice-President or Minister to be “so urgent that it is not in the national interest to delay its enactment”.

“But it is difficult to see any of the Bills presently awaiting attention qualifying for that description,” Veritas said.

If a Bill not certified as urgent by a Vice-President or Minister has been passed by the House of Assembly but not by the Senate, it may be sent to the President for assent, but only after the expiry of 90 days.

This means that most of the Bills may not become law until mid-February 2011, which may be too late if Mugabe goes ahead with his threat to dissolve the coalition government within the next three months.

Bills already in Parliament include the Zimbabwe National Security Council Amendment Bill, which was passed by the House of Assembly last week and transmitted to the Senate, the Public Order and Security Act (POSA) Amendment Bill and the Attorney General’s Office Bill.

The POSA Amendment Bill is still awaiting the committee stage in the House of Assembly while the Attorney-General’s Office Bill is being perused by the parliamentary legal committee.

Veritas said an early recall of the Senate was possible if the issue of provincial governors was resolved before 8 February 2011.

“Senate Standing Order 187 empowers the President of the Senate, at the request of President Mugabe, to recall the Senate for an earlier meeting if the “public interest” so requires,” the group said.

This is unlikely to happen since Mugabe and ZANU PF have resisted moves by the MDC-T to push for legislative reforms seen as key to levelling the political playing field.

By Zimonline