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NATIONAL ASSEMBLY HANSARD 08 September 2016 42-87

 

PARLIAMENT OF ZIMBABWE

Thursday, 8th September, 2016

The National Assembly met at a Quarter-past Two O’clock p.m

PRAYERS

(THE HON. SPEAKER in the Chair)

ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE HON. SPEAKER

ERROR ON THE ORDER PAPER

THE HON. SPEAKER: I have to draw your attention to an error on the Order Paper where notice of motion No. 2 by the Hon. Minister of Finance and Economic Development should be treated as a ‘take note’ motion as there will be no Bill brought into the House. The entry will be effected accordingly on the corrected Order Paper.

MOTION

RATIFICATION OF THE UNWTO STATUTES AND

FINANCING RULES

THE MINISTER OF SPORT AND RECREATION (HON.

HLONGWANE) on behalf of THE MINISTER OF TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY (HON. ENG. MZEMBI): I rise to move

the motion standing in my name that:

WHEREAS, section 327(2)(a) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe provides that any international treaty which has been concluded or executed by or under the authority of the President does not bind

Zimbabwe until it has been approved by Parliament;

WHEREAS the Republic of Zimbabwe is a member of the United

Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) and party to the 1947

United Nations Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of

Specialised Agencies;

         WHEREAS the Republic of Zimbabwe joined the UNWTO in

1981;

WHEREAS the Republic of Zimbabwe is desirous of ratifying the pending Amendments to the UNWTO Statutes and Financing Rules;         WHEREAS the Republic of Zimbabwe is desirous of acceding to Annex XVIII of the 1947 Convention on Privileges and Immunities relating to UNWTO;

NOW THEREFORE, in terms of Section 327(2)(a) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe,  this House resolves that the aforesaid statutes and Financing Rules and Annex XVIII of the 1947 Convention be and is hereby approved for ratification and accession respectively. Mr. Speaker Sir, the UNWTO a UN specialised agency is responsible for the promotion of responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism worldwide.

Established in 1947 as the leading international organisation in the field of tourism, the UNWTO, promotes tourism as a driver of economic growth, inclusive development, environmental sustainability and offers leadership and support to the sector in advancing knowledge and tourism policies worldwide. Zimbabwe has been a member of the UNWTO since

The UNWTO is committed to promoting tourism as an instrument of achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) especially goals number 8, 12 and 14 which are geared towards promoting decent work and sustained, inclusive and sustainable development, responsible consumption and production, and conservation and sustainable use of natural resources.

The organs of the UNWTO are the General Assembly, Executive Council, Regional Commissions, Committees and the Secretariat. The General Assembly is the principal gathering and decision making organ of the UNWTO which approves the budget and programme of work and debates topics of vital importance to the tourism sector globally.

In 2013, the 20th General Assembly of the UNWTO, which was jointly hosted by Zimbabwe and Zambia, through Resolution 628 (XX)

– [HON. MEMBERS:  Inaudible interjections.] –

THE HON. SPEAKER: Order, Chief Whip, can you make sure

there is order. There is a lot of movement on your side.

Can you bring order to Hon. Members on my right? I cannot proceed whilst both of you are standing.

HON. MATUKE: We are trying to remove those who are not ministers. That is what we are doing.

HON. HLONGWANE: ….. called upon member states to accede

to the Annex XVIII of the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the Specialised Agencies, 1947 (hereinafter, referred to as the “1947

Convention”) relating to the UNWTO in order of the organisation, its officials and experts to be able to enjoy the privileges and immunities provided to it as a specialised agency of the United Nations. The General Assembly also called on its members to ratify all the amendments to the statutes and the Financing Rules that had not yet entered into force.

CURRENT SITUATION OF AMENDMENTS OF THE

STATUTES AND FINANCING RULES AND THE CONVENTION

ON PRIVILEGES AND IMMUNITIES

Ratification of the Amendments to the Statutes and the

Financing Rules

The Financing Rules govern issues such as payment of subscriptions by members, handling of arrears in the payment of member subscription and entail, inter alia, that a member which has one or more years in arrear payment may not be elected to the Executive Council or hold office within the organs of the General Assembly and shall be deprived of the privileges enjoyed by other members in the form of services and the right to vote.

The amendments to the UNWTO statutes include the following:

  • No immediate renewal of membership of the Executive Council – thus the amendment provides for non-automatic renewal of membership of the council upon expiration, unless an immediate renewal of membership is essential to safeguard fair and equitable geographical distribution. The request for immediate renewal shall be subject to obtaining of a majority of the votes of the full members present and by voting.
  • Appointment of the Secretary General and term of office which seeks to limit the term of office of the Secretary General to four years renewable only once.
  • Adoption of Chinese as an official language of the UNWTO to include Chinese language as an official language of the

UNWTO together with English, Arabic, French, Russian and Spanish language – [HON. MEMBERS:  Inaudible

interjections.] –

THE HON. SPEAKER: Hon. Gonese what is the problem.

HON. GONESE: On a point of order Mr. Speaker Sir, I am telling Hon. Members – I think we are all aware of the sitting arrangements in this august House and even me I do not have anywhere to sit. I am asking them to make way.

THE HON. SPEAKER: Hon Zindi and Hon. Wadyajena, please

move to the right side. You are on my right.

HON. HLONGWANE: Change of depositary from Government

of Switzerland which was the depositary prior to the General Assembly resolution of September 1981, to the Government of Spain which is the current host of the UNWTO Headquarters.

Awarding of a permanent seat to Spain in the Executive Council which provides for the host State of the UNWTO Headquarters to have a permanent additional seat on the Executive Council which shall not be affected by the geographical distribution of the Council seats, thus in respect of the financing rules.

Accession to the 1947 UN Convention on the Privileges and

Immunities of the Specialised Agencies relating to the UNWTO

The 1947 UN Convention on the Privileges and Immunities provides that the organisation, its officials and representatives shall enjoy in the territory of each of the Members such privileges and immunities as a necessary fulfillment of its purposes such as being immune from legal process, exemption from taxation on salaries, immune from national service obligations.

Article 63 of the UN Charter provides for a special relationship between the UN and its various specialised agencies with wide international responsibilities as defined in their various mandates and to coordinate activities of the special agencies, the UNWTO being one such.

Since Annex XVII to the 1947 Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the UN Specialised Agencies relating to the UNWTO came into force on 30 July 2008, nine countries have acceded to the Convention, namely Angola, Bulgaria, Germany, Morocco, Portugal, San Marino, Serbia, Switzerland and Seychelles.

Hon. Speaker Sir, Zimbabwe became party to the 1947 UN Convention on the Privileges and Immunities on Specialised Agencies on 5 March 1991 and has already acceded and given effect in the domestic legal system in respect of UN Specialised Agencies such as the ILO, FAO, ICAO, WHO, UNESCO and the IMF.  Thus therefore, acceding to Annex 18 relating to the UNWTO should not present any foreseeable practical problems.  I so submit Hon. Mr. Speaker Sir –

[HON. MEMBERS:  Inaudible interjections.] -

THE HON. SPEAKER:  Order, order.  I shall be forced to send a couple of Hon. Members out of the House.  Can we have our proceedings in silence? – [HON. MEMBERS:  Inaudible interjections.] -

Order, Hon. Member next to Hon. Guzah, can you get out – the lady.  Yes, the lady next to Hon. Guzah.  Can you get out of the House now!  Can you get out of the House and you should not be eating in the House.

Hon.  Makari was ordered out of the House.

HON. NDUNA:  Thank you Mr. Speaker.  Good afternoon Mr. Speaker – [Laughter.]-  Mr. Speaker, I want to applaud the Minister for bringing this Convention into the House as required by Parliament Statutes and the Constitution of Zimbabwe.

Mr. Speaker, what touches me on that Convention is the inclusion of the Chinese language as the official language in that Convention.  I applaud that.  Given the history that as a focal nation in terms of our relationship with China, it is applaudable that at this stage we also put our hand to ratify a Convention that brings China, in particular, into the mainstream.

Mr. Speaker Sir, I am quite aware that in 2007 when the United

States and its allies tried to push a resolution for illegal sanctions at the UN; China and Russia are the all weather friends that vetoed that resolution.  Now, Mr. Speaker…

THE HON. SPEAKER:  Hon. Member, you have to address the agreement as presented by the Minister.  Now you are introducing a general debate.  Can you stick to the treaty?

HON. NDUNA:  As I conclude, Mr. Speaker – [Laughter.] – I need to say in all honesty and earnest, we as a nation and as Parliament, should quickly accede to the ratification of this Convention without any further ado.  I thank you.

Motion that;

WHEREAS Section 327 (2) (a) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe provides that any international treaty which has been concluded or executed by or under the authority of the President does not bind

Zimbabwe until it has been approved by Parliament;

WHEREAS the Republic of Zimbabwe is a member of the United

Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) and party to the 1947

United Nations Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of

Specialised Agencies;

WHEREAS the Republic of Zimbabwe joined the UNWTO in

1981;

WHEREAS the Republic of Zimbabwe is desirous of ratifying the pending Amendments to the UNWTO Statutes and Financing Rules;

WHEREAS the Republic of Zimbabwe is desirous of acceding to Annex XVIII of the 1947 Convention on Privileges and Immunities relating to UNWTO;

NOW THEREFORE, in terms of Section 327 (2) (a) of the

Constitution of Zimbabwe,  this House resolves that the aforesaid statutes and Financing Rules and Annex XVIII of the 1947 Convention be and is hereby approved for ratification and accession respectively.

Motion put and agreed to.

MOTION

2016 MID-TERM FISCAL POLICY REVIEW STATEMENT

THE MINISTER OF FINANCE AND ECONOMIC

DEVELOPMENT (HON. CHINAMASA): Mr. Speaker Sir, I move that

leave be granted to present the Mid-Year Fiscal Policy Review Statement in compliance with Section 72(A) of the Public Finance Management Act.  This provision requires that the Minister responsible for finance must “provide full and transparent accounts from time to time and not less than annually to Parliament, indicating the current and projected state of the economy, the public resources of Zimbabwe and the fiscal policy of Government.

Mr. Speaker Sir, I lay before the table of Parliament the full text of my

2016 Mid-Year Fiscal Policy Review Statement.  Copies will be put in the Members’ pigeon holes soon after my delivery, of the highlights of the statement.  Copies of the highlights will also be put in the Members’ pigeon holes also soon after this delivery.

[Refer to the 2016 Mid-Year Fiscal Policy Review Statement on the Website.]

Mr. Speaker Sir, I commend the Mid Year Fiscal Policy Review Statement for 2016 to this august House and I thank you for your kind attention. - [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.]- Mr. Speaker Sir, I want Hon. Members to give serious consideration to this document which they will get in their pigeon holes as they get out of this House.

To give the Hon. Members time to study the report, with the leave of the

House, I move that the debate do now adjourn – [HON. MEMBERS:

Inaudible interjections.]-

HON. DR. MASHAKADA: On a point of order! Hon. Speaker Sir, I crave for your indulgence to allow us to make some comments and inputs into the presentation that has been made because we are ready – [HON.

MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] –

THE HON. SPEAKER: Order, order! Hon. Tshuma take your seat.  The Hon. Minister of Finance and Economic Development had sought the indulgence of the House that the debate be adjourned so that we have sufficient time to go through the statement and the detailed presentation in the bigger document, which will be delivered to your pigeon holes.  I think it makes sense that we need time to study so that our debate is informed. –

[HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] – [HON. DR. MASHAKADA:

Some of us are ready to debate.] – Order, order – [HON. DR.

MASHAKADA: But I am ready to debate.] – Order! Order! Hon. Minister Kasukuwere, please. Hon. Dr. Mashakada, I have ruled on your point of order and there is no need to contest the Chair – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] – Order, Hon. Member, this is not the time for fist shaking – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] – Order, can we proceed procedurally.

Motion put and agreed to.

Debate to resume: Tuesday, 4th October, 2016.

On the motion of THE MINISTER OF FINANCE AND 

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT (HON. CHINAMASA), the House

adjourned at Four o’clock p.m. until Tuesday, 4th October, 2016.

 

 

 

 

 

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