Hwende claims Tagwirei, Chivayo behind recall of Tendai Biti
By Nyashadzashe Ndoro | Nehanda Politics |
Opposition MDC Alliance secretary general Chalton Hwende has claimed controversial businessmen Kudakwashe Tagwirei and Wicknell Chivayo conspired to cause the recall of Tendai Biti from Parliament after realising their alleged ‘rampant corruption’ with the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) was going to be exposed by Harare East legislator.
On Wednesday, the Speaker of Parliament, Jacob Mudenda, announced in the National Assembly he had received a letter from the PDP indicating that the party has recalled Biti, Settlement Chikwinya (Mbizo), Willias Madzimure (Kambuzuma) and Kucaca Phulu (Nkulumane) and others.
PDP spokesperson, Nqobizitha Khumalo, said the lawmakers have been “recalled as they no longer belong to our party.”
Biti has been vocal in Parliament where he was chairing a Public Accounts Committee (PAC). On Monday, he took ZESA to task over allegations it awarded a US$250 million tender to Sakunda Holdings for the installation of the 200MW Dema Diesel Power Plant in violation of the country’s procurement procedures.
He felt he was recalled for expressing the capacity to expose corruption allegations.
Hwende said Biti was recalled because the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) which he chaired was about to expose corruption allegations implicating Chivayo and Tagwirei.
“The illegal recall of Harare East MP Tendai Biti and other MDC Alliance MPs by PDP is a well calculated move to paralyze parliament’s Public Accounts Committee chaired by Tendai Biti. The Public Accounts Committee was in the process of investigating and exposing rampant corruption at state companies ZESA and ZINARA,” he said.
“The committee was scheduled to interview politically connected businessmen Kudakwashe Tagwirei and Wicknell Chivayo over their involvement in corrupt transactions with ZESA. It’s clear that PDP will benefit nothing from the recalls of MDC Alliance MPs who were directly elected by voters in their respective constituencies.
“Elected MPs cannot be replaced through clandestine appointments as can be the case with senators and proportional representation MPs. So PDP will not benefit from the recalls because we all know they will lose the resultant by elections.
“ZANU PF elites and their corrupt cartels who are looting from ZESA and ZINARA are the ones set to benefit from the illegal recalls which are designed to scuttle investigations by the Public Accounts Committee,” Hwende said.
Meanwhile on Wednesday, ZESA executive chairman Sydney Gata reportedly failed to answer to some of the allegations after he was asked in a move that raised eyebrows given the parastatal’s long history of harbouring corrupt officials.
“PAC which I happen to be its chairperson this week dragged Zesa executive chairperson Sydney Gata to explain how Kuda Tagwirei of Sakunda was awarded the Dema diesel plant without due process,” Biti said.
“We started with Dema and next was Command Agriculture and then Zinara. We are chronicling the corruption reports where Tagwirei is the kingpin.
“We have those reports ready so my recall is to make sure that issues to do with corruption are not brought before parliament,” he said.
Meanwhile the MDC Alliance has already lost more than half of its parliamentarians after they were recalled by the MDC-T party led by Douglas Mwonzora and Thokozani Khupe despite the fact that they contested in 2018 elections on the MDC Alliance ticket.
Mwonzora and Khupe removed from Parliament and council, MPs, senators and councillors who supported Nelson Chamisa. They have managed to do this using a Supreme Court ruling that nullified Chamisa’s leadership of the party left by the late founding leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
