By Staff Reporter
OPPOSITION Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) legislators have demanded that the Public Voluntary Organisation (PVO) bill hearings must be redone following the chaotic and flawed public consultation process held recently.
The PVO public hearings in some towns like Harare, Gweru, Masvingo and Chinhoyi were violently disrupted by the ruling Zanu PF youths who attacked anyone who aired views against the bill.
Some members of the public were booed at, manhandled and chased out of the public hearings venues.
Speaking to journalists in an interview, CCC member of parliament for Hatcliffe constituency Agency Gumbo (pictured) who is the leader of the Bureau of Legal and Parliamentary Affairs said members of the public must be allowed to air their views and this therefore means that these hearings must be redone.
“The people must be allowed to air their true views around what they think should be promulgated into law so they must be redone.
“The voice of the people must be heard, the voice of the people must play its part in the law making process.
“For us to have the law it must be us parliamentarians who are representing the people, government, the president and most importantly the people, so if there were disruptions and people were not allowed to air their views, then that process must be redone,” Gumbo said.
Civil society organizations have been criticizing the bill saying if passed in its current form, it restricts freedoms of expression and association.
It will also grant the government excessive control over their operations.
Furthermore the legislation will allow government intervention in how civil society groups are governed and function. Violations could result in hefty fines or imprisonment.
Meanwhile prominent rights activist Farai Maguwu also wrote to the parliament asking it to reconvene the public hearings. Parliament is yet to respond.
