Siyabonga Sayi
GWERU – The public hearing on the Public Health Bill done by the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Health and Child Care in Gweru was attended by less than 30 people.
Participants complained that details of the event were poorly communicated to the public.
Only two individuals were active, raising pertinent issues about the proposed piece of legislation with the rest of the attendees seemingly not aware about what the bill was all about.
Committee chairperson, Prince Dubeko Sibanda, however, said the bill was available for anybody to download from parliament’s website.
“You will realise that it is not possible for this committee to provide a hard copy of this bill in time ahead of their visits to all the areas.
“On the issue of attendance, we advertised all these meetings in the national papers and we also informed Members of Parliament to communicate the information to the people in their constituencies,” Sibanda said.
Lizzie Zvenyika, from the National Council of Disabled Persons of Zimbabwe (NCDPZ) criticised authorities for not availing the bill in Braille and other formats that are friendly to people with disabilities.
“As people with disabilities, we are oftentimes left out of critical discussions and decision-making engagements. We hope this is the last time that we are left out because next time, we expect to see Sign language interpreters and other things consistent with our needs,” said Zvenyika.local
