Zimbabwe’s Parliament on Thursday passed a constitutional amendment Bill, clearing the way for the formation of a power-sharing government between President Robert Mugabe’s ruling ZANU PF party and the opposition MDC.
Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment Number 19 Bill, which creates the positions and powers of the prime minister and the deputy prime ministers will now be taken to the upper chamber, the Senate, for further debate after which Mugabe can sign it into law.
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) last week directed Zimbabwe’s rival political parties to urgently form a unity government, ordering that outstanding issues be dealt with between the parties’ negotiators before a unity government is put in place by February 13.
Under SADC’s plan for the formation of a government of national unity in Zimbabwe, Parliament will amend the country’s Constitution by February 5 to create the positions of prime minister and deputy prime minister.
