MPs To Undergo Mandatory Covid-19 Testing
Parliamentarians in Zimbabwe are set to undergo mandatory Covid-19 testing this week, in preparation for the resumption of sittings, following a month-long adjournment after some legislators tested positive for coronavirus.
Last month, two members of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Transport and Infrastructural Development tested positive forcing the House to suspend business.
A journalist and a driver who travelled with the committee on a field tour were also infected.
The National Assembly subsequently adjourned to August 25 to allow for disinfection of the premises and testing of MPs and Parliamentary staff. Senate adjourned to September 15.
Clerk of Parliament, Kennedy Chokuda, told The Sunday Mail that legislators will be tested before sitting resumes.
He said the National Assembly will sit for the purposes of adjourning business to Tuesday next week, to allow for testing of both MPs and Parliamentary staff.
“We will then conduct testing for all MPs and Parliament staff before sittings resume.”
Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi, who is also leader of Government business in the House, said Parliament will deploy stringent preventative measures in line with World Health Organisation (WHO) protocols.
“What the Parliament administration is doing is looking at modalities for us to safely resume sitting,” said Minister Ziyambi.
“We had closed for the purposes of fumigation and coming up with a strategy, going forward, on how to contain the pandemic within Parliament and among Parliamentarians.
“So, along with the Parliament administration, we agreed that we have to work together with the various Provincial Ministers of State and the rapid response teams so that before we resume business, our MPs are tested.
“That way, when they come back, we will know the status of each and every one of us, as well as that of staff.
“We are looking at mechanisms to enable Parliament to operate as an essential service. There is need to find mechanisms of ensuring that Members of Parliament and staff are tested,” he said.
Minister Ziyambi said Parliament intends to push through 15 Bills that were gazetted, but failed to go through the necessary legislative processes owing to COVID-19-induced interruptions.
Read: Zim rapper Mudiwa savages Tino Chinyani: ‘You prey on grieving widows’