By Peter Nyanje
Political Editor
Political Editor
Hell no, I won’t go: Mbeya Urban MP Joseph Mbilinyi resists after Deputy Speaker Job Ndugai ordered him removed from debate chambers. He was subsequently barred from Bunge for five days. PHOTO | FILE
Dodoma. After three weeks of proceedings many Tanzanians are obviously fed up with the way the Budget meeting is being conducted.
Many observers see nothing worth to write home as far as debates in the august House are concerned.
Deputy Speaker Job Ndugai last week suspended six Members of Parliament on a Chama cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo (Chadema) ticket allegedly for undermining his authority.
These were Opposition Chief Whip Tundu Lissu (Singida East), Godbless Lema (Arusha Urban), Joseph Mbilinyi (Mbeya Urban), Rev Peter Msigwa (Iringa Urban), Highness Kiwia (Ilemela) and Ezekiah Wenje (Nyamagana).
Leader of Official Opposition in the House Freeman Mbowe attempted to inquiry nature of the penalty, but hit a hard wall, as Speaker Anne Makinda graced the punishment meted out to the ill-fated lawmakers.
The two conflicting have since been separately trading blame with the Speaker pointing an accusing finger at Chadema for turning the House into a political pulpit.
The MPs on the Chadema ticket have, in turn, been blaming the Speaker and her deputy for running Parliament in favour of the government and the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM).
The controversy does not end there, as the suspended MPs and their party have resolved to take the ‘case’ outside Parliament.
They are now zooming around constituencies ‘charging’ the Speaker and her deputy before wananchi, accusing them of turning Parliament into the government and CCM branch.
Mbowe, who doubles as Chadema national chairman and Hai MP, believes Ndugai erred in suspending his colleagues.
He told a public rally held here last Saturday that Speaker Makinda was unfair to Chadema in Parliament.
“Speaker Makinda has lied to the nation and the world,” he said, explaining that the penalty in question was not provided for in the regulations which Ndugai used for suspend his colleagues.
“As long as Speaker Makinda has decided to use her post to target our party, let her know that we will never retreat from fighting in and outside Parliament until Tanzanians are redeemed from this misery,” Mr Mbowe said.
And in an indication that the altercations between the two sides are not going to end soon, Chadema secretary-general Willibrod Slaa directed the so called ‘errant’ MPs to continue with what led to their suspension.
“I don’t feel sorry for them because they are our heroes,” Dr Slaa said, instructing them to use the suspension for scrutinising pending motions for them to strongly criticise them once they return in the House.
“Show those in the government that they are not critically thinking about quandaries facing Tanzanians,” he said during the rally.
The Chadema MPs’ suspension notwithstanding, last week saw lawmakers using an abusive language to the chagrin of majority of Tanzanians.
Speaker Makinda was not where to be seen in the House to walk her rhetoric that she would never hesitate to expel any MP caught using foul language in the debate chamber.
Observers could not believe their ears, asking themselves if the MPs had reached such a low state of mind.
They were eagerly waiting for the lawmakers to come up with proposals for spicing up the government’s financial plans for the next fiscal year only to witness incredible deeds from them.
Dirty politics might be depriving lawmakers of sanity, some think as they reflect on unconstructive political rivalry going on between MPs of the mainstream parties.
But whoever critically analyses the chaotic House proceedings and correlates them with events outside Parliament realises that the misconduct goes beyond the difference in political ideologies.
The august House being a replica of the society with full of misdemeanours also comprises wayward Members of Parliament.
We will be cheating ourselves to expectangels from a society with a disobedient culture.
Our skewed education system is partly to blame for mentoring members of the society who are never bothered with interests of their nation.
As long as errant members are scattered around all sections of the society, Bunge cannot be an exception.
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