Cynthia Chichewo,
Opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC), Member of Parliament Constance Chihota who was recalled after the 2023 post-elections has been reinstated to Parliament seven months after recall. Honorable Chihota has, been reinstated as a Member of the National Assembly representing Mashonaland East Province.
In a statement released by Veritas, Honourable Chihota, a party-list CCC Member of the National Assembly, was recalled on the 7th November 2023. She challenged her recall in an application to the High Court in Bulawayo. On the 19th June the Court allowed her application and set aside her recall in a ruling by consent.
The 2023 post -election period was characterized by a tremors and leadership wrangles within the main political party Citizens Coalition for Change leading to recalls of newly elected Members of Parliament from the August House.
The recalls were effected in terms of section 129(1)(k) of the Constitution, which provides that a seat of a Member of Parliament becomes vacant if the Member has ceased to belong to the political party of which he or she was a member when elected to Parliament and the political party concerned, by written notice to the Speaker or the President of the Senate, as the case may be, has declared that the Member has ceased to belong to it.
According to Veritas, recalls are a deprivation of Constitutional Rights to the people who elected the Member of Parliament to represent them in Parliament, while the National Assembly has been deprived of her contribution to policy debates.
“It will be noted that the court ruling came some seven months after Honorable Chihota was recalled from Parliament, so the National Assembly has been needlessly deprived of her contribution to debates during that period and she has been unable to represent the voters who elected her,” reads the Veritas statement.
“According to sections 158(3) and 159 of the Constitution, vacancies in Parliament must be filled within three months. The vacancy caused by Chihota’s recall was not filled within the three-month period. Other problems caused by the recall provisions in section 129 of the Constitution is that it not possible to resolve disputes arising from recalls before elections have to be held to fill the seats vacated by the recalled parliamentarians,” states Veritas.
