MDC Ministers Furious About Stripping Of Powers

Harare, March 08, 2010 – The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) Ministers were on Saturday furious about the recent move by Ptresident Robert Mugabe to reshuffle ministerial portfolios which left MDC ministers with less powers.

"The issue of allocation of ministries is not somebody's unilateral right. Its an executive process whose matrix is shared between the President an the Prime Minister. So its not a Zanu PF thing. So this business of castrating other inistries cannot happen. we will not accept that," party secretary general Tendai Biti said Saturday.

MDC party spokesperson Nelson Chamisa's Information Communication Technology ministry was stripped of all its responsibilities. Mugabe further grabbed the administering of the Interception of Communications Act, which he re-allocated to the spy Central Intelligence Organisation run by his loyalists. The law allows the State to snoop into private communication of individuals suspected of being engaged in treasonous activities.

Commenting on his demotion, Chamisa said Saturday that the move was unacceptable. "I can't be a minister in name without any responsibilities. I think it flies in the face of the spirit and letter of the GPA (Global Political Agreement). It kills inclusitivity," he said. ""So I hope that the principals would look at this. We cant have a situation whereby minister Goche has 20 Acts that he is administering
and I have none. That is unacceptable."

"I am really shocked because it’s a bombshell ...I have been stripped naked."

Chamisa's ministry has been the object of constant interference by President Mugabe who has repeatedly stripped it of key portfolios for re-allocation to his loyalists.

Within days of settling in his new office as Minister of Information Communication Technology in February Chamisa clashed with Media, Information and Publicity Minister Webster Shamu over control of the Communications Department.