MARTIN MAWAYA
HARARE- President Mnangagwa has implored Parliament to speedily conclude the Private Voluntary Organizations (PVO) Bill during the first session of the Tenth Parliament.
Mnangagwa said this during the State of the Nation Address at the official opening of the First Session of the Tenth Parliament which was boycotted by the opposition legislatures in Harare today.
“The Private Voluntary Organizations Bill, the Mines and Minerals Amendment Bill; Public Finance Management Amendment Bill; Medical Services Amendment Bill and Insurance Bill, which were outstanding from the ninth Parliament must be concluded during the First session of this Parliament,” he said.
The President, reportedly sent back the PVO Bill back to Parliament before the 2023 harmonized elections and it was not clear why he did that.
As the norm, the 10th parliament has to start afresh and deliberate on the Government sponsored bill.
Previously, the PVO Bill rattled the NGO sector and opposition cycles who dismissed the new amendments as unprogressive and aimed to curtail the operations of the civic society.
The previous Bill sailed through the National Assembly in December 2022, before it was passed in the Senate early February this year.
The amendments to the PVO Act, are aimed at curbing money laundering and terrorist funding, criminal financing of political activities as well as to improve financial discipline in the NGO sector, the Government had said.
However, the Bill was described as retrogressive by the international community including the UN Agencies who implored the Government not to shrink the democratic space.
