CONSTITUTION WATCH 1/2017

[24th January 2017]

Invitation from Parliament for Public Comments on

The Constitution Amendment Bill

Parliament yesterday invited public comments on the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 1) Bill.   In view of the importance of the Bill, the whole of the text of the invitation itself is set out below.

Parliament’s Invitation to the Public

"Section 328(4) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe provides that;

“(4) Immediately after the Speaker has given notice of a Constitutional Bill in terms of subsection (3), Parliament must invite members

of the public to express their views on the proposed Bill in public meetings and through written submissions, and must convene

meetings and provide facilities to enable the public to do so.”

In compliance with this peremptory constitutional provision, and as part of public consultations meant to enhance participatory democracy, Parliament of Zimbabwe is inviting comments on the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment Number 1 Bill, HB1, 2017, for consideration by the relevant Committee(s).

Comments must be submitted to the following e-mail address:

bills@parlzim.gov.zw or to Parliament of Zimbabwe Corner Third Street and Kwame Nkrumah, PO Box CY 298, Causeway, Harare, on or before Friday, 24 March 2017.”

Public hearings on this constitutional amendment will be conducted in due course on dates to be advised.

For any clarification on the process, you may get in touch with the Assistant Clerk of Parliament on gandiwaj@parlzim.gov.zw. For ease of reference, find attached the Bill."

Please note that as we have already made the Bill available on our website here, we have not reproduced the attachment in this bulletin.  

The Bill was gazetted by the Speaker in a Government Gazette Extraordinary dated 3rd January.    As it is a “Constitutional Bill”, it cannot be presented in Parliament unless the Speaker has given at least ninety days’ notice in the Government Gazette of the precise terms of the Bill [Constitution, section 344(3)].  

This means that the earliest possible date for the Bill to be presented in Parliament is Tuesday 4th April.  

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