Chalton Hwende from the Citizens Coalition for Change just told parliament that MPs are basically broke and starving right before Christmas, which is wild considering he spent November demanding US$150,000 housing loans for every single legislator. The Kuwadzana representative wanted to pause the entire Finance Bill until politicians got their money sorted because, apparently, nobody can focus on the national budget when they are this hungry.
Government Chief Whip Pupurai Togarepi clapped back hard and said Hwende was trying to hold the finance minister hostage instead of doing his actual job representing constituents. Togarepi pointed out that payments were already getting processed for coupons and allowances, plus all the Constituency Development Funds would hit accounts within a week.
The whole mess happened after Hwende previously argued at a pre-budget seminar that the earlier US$40,000 housing loans were trash compared to what executive branch people got, and he wanted way bigger handouts for parliament members.
Government Chief Whip Pupurai Togarepi clapped back hard and said Hwende was trying to hold the finance minister hostage instead of doing his actual job representing constituents. Togarepi pointed out that payments were already getting processed for coupons and allowances, plus all the Constituency Development Funds would hit accounts within a week.
The whole mess happened after Hwende previously argued at a pre-budget seminar that the earlier US$40,000 housing loans were trash compared to what executive branch people got, and he wanted way bigger handouts for parliament members.
