Bill Watch 31/2019
Progress on Bills
21 June 2019
BILL WATCH 31/2019
[21st June 2019]
Progress on Bills 11th – 21st June
Next Sitting of National Assembly: Tuesday 25th June
Next Sitting of Senate: Tuesday 16th July
Both the National Assembly and the Senate sat last week and this week. Two Bills
were passed and progress made on two others.
Bills Passed
Consumer Protection Bill
Following the announcement of the PLC’s non-adverse report on the extensive
Committee Stage amendments made previously, the National Assembly passed the
amended Bill on 13th June. The amendments [link] upgrade the proposed Consumer
Protection Agency from a department of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce to
a fully-fledged Commission called the Consumer Protection Commission that will
be independent and not merely part of the Ministry. The Bill was then sent to the
Senate.
Microfinance Amendment Bill.
This Bill, too, received a non-adverse report from the PLC on the Committee Stage
amendments made previously [link]. The National Assembly passed it on 13th June
and sent it to the Senate.
As both Bills had been passed by the National Assembly with amendments, Senators
were provided with reprinted versions of the Bills incorporating those amendments.
On Tuesday 18th June, in the absence of the responsible Ministers [Industry and
Commerce, and Finance and Economic Development] the Minister of Justice, Legal
and Parliamentary Affairs steered both Bills through all stages, delivering the Second
Reading speeches and moving the required motions. Senators did not raise any
substantive issues or engage in debate or suggest amendments but passed both
Bills as received from the National Assembly. The Bills will now be prepared for
signing by the President and then gazetted as Acts.
Bills Still in the National Assembly – but Making Progress
Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agency Bill [link]
This Bill [the “ZIDA Bill”] was given its First Reading and sent to the Parliamentary
Legal Committee [PLC] on 9th May. The PLC’s non-adverse report was
announced on 13th June. The Second Reading stage started in the National
Assembly on Tuesday 18th June, when the Minister of Justice, Legal and
Parliamentary Affairs – having just steered two Bills through the Senate as
related above, and again standing in for the absent Minister of Industry and
Commerce – presented the Second Reading speech outlining the objectives of
this Bill in support of the motion that the Bill be read for the second time, i.e.,
approved in principle. Debate was then adjourned to await the report of the
Portfolio Committees on Industry and Commerce and Foreign Affairs and
International Trade on their joint public hearings on the Bill held from 3rd to 7th
June.