Source: Nqobani Ndlovu, NewsDay
LEGISLATIVE watchdog, Veritas, has argued that bond notes should only be in circulation for 180 days, as they were issued under President Robert Mugabe’s “invalid and unconstitutional” Temporary Measures Act, which is only valid for six months.
The bond notes are set to come into circulation this month after Mugabe gazetted Statutory Instrument (SI) 133/2016.
Veritas, in a commentary, said the Presidential Powers (Temporary Measures) Act is unconstitutional, though the government continues to use it to gazette regulations covering a wide range of controversial issues.
“As the title of the Presidential Powers (Temporary Measures) Act suggests, and as the text of the Act confirms, regulations made under the Act are temporary measures only. Unless confirmed by an Act of Parliament, they expire after 180 days,” the legal watchdog said.
“If, as must be the case, the government intends bond notes to be a feature of life in Zimbabwe for longer than 180 days, it will have to go to Parliament with an appropriately worded Bill.”
Veritas said there was no need to resort to the Presidential Powers Act if the government did not have a sinister agenda.
“Even if the Act were constitutional, it empowers the President to make regulations to deal with situations that are so urgent that it is ‘inexpedient’ to wait for Parliament to pass an Act dealing with them. That was not the case here,” it said.
“There was ample time after bond notes were first mooted for a Bill amending the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Act to have been prepared and presented to Parliament. This would have made it unnecessary to resort to the Presidential Powers Act.”
Veritas urged Parliamentarians to devise ways to ensure statutory instruments are not published without adequate consultation and illegally.
“The instrument illustrates the dangers of Parliament giving extensive legislative powers to the Executive,” it continued.
“If the instrument had been drafted as a Bill and introduced into the National Assembly to be passed as an Act of Parliament, there would have been no problems as to its legal validity, and its potential consequences could have been thoroughly debated before it became law.”
Source: Nqobani Ndlovu, NewsDay