Bill Watch /2019
2019
BILL WATCH 62/2019
[21st November 2019]
Both Houses of Parliament Have Adjourned
The National Assembly Will Meet Again on Tuesday 26th November
The Senate Will Not Meet until Tuesday 3rd November
The 2020 National Budget Presentation on 14th November, noted briefly in Bill
Watch 59/2019 [link], was not the only important event of the last Parliamentary
week. This bulletin is to update readers on other noteworthy developments in
the National Assembly that occurred last week.
Progress on Bills
Restoration of Six Lapsed Bills to the Order Paper
On 12th November the National Assembly approved a motion by the Minister
of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs the restoration of six lapsed
uncompleted Bills to the Order Paper at the stages they had reached in the last
session. [See Bill Watch 58/2019 [link] for a list of these Bills and the stage
reached for each Bill in the last session.]
Introduction of Bills and Referral to PLC
On 13th November the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs
presented three Bills, which immediately received their First Readings and
were referred to the Parliamentary Legal Committee [PLC] for its report on
their consistency or otherwise with the Constitution:
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Amendment Bill [link]
Constitutional Court Bill [link]
International Treaties Bill [link] – for commentary on this Bill see Bill Watch
56/2019 Bill [link].
The PLC initially has three weeks within which to submit its reports, but can
ask the Speaker for an extension of this period.
Approval of Agreement for an Economic Partnership Agreement [EPA]
between the United Kingdom and Eastern and Southern African States
[ESA]
This Agreement was approved on Tuesday 12th November 2019. If it is also
approved by the Senate, the President will then be able to ratify it. The
Agreement provides for continuity in the UK’s trade relationship with
Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles and Zimbabwe under the present EPA
between the European Union [EU] and these states. It will only come into force
when/if the UK leaves the EU. This continuity includes replication of the
language of the Cotonou Agreement and the present EPA to ensure that
respect for human rights, democratic principles and the rule of law, and good
governance remain as essential and fundamental elements of the ESA EPA;