The agreed draft constitution by the three Zimbabwean political parties will be tabled in Parliament and after that the final say will come from the people in a referendum. The draft constitution took almost four years and nearly $100 million. Since the document had to be agreed upon by the three signatories to the Global Peace Agreement in the government of national unity a “YES” vote campaign is already under way. Most people would wonder why exactly they should vote “YES”.  Is it a YES vote to allow a no term limit for Members of Parliament or it is a YES vote to allow Parliament to add 60 more seats to the already resource straining House of Assembly? Our already poor performing Members of Parliament will have two jobs both in Parliament and Provincial Councils to replace the current system of provincial governors. A further analysis of the new draft by the National Constitutional Assembly will leave you wondering on why the Zimbabwean people are being forced to vote “YES” and settle for less when as a nation we can have more. Seems like the plot was already lost when the views of the people were discarded and politicians dominated the whole process. After four long years of resource grabbing, the nation’s supreme law had to be negotiated by politicians at the expense of the ordinary people. Is a “YES” vote the right way to go for the new constitution?

This a painful and sad reality to hear the Minister of Finance Hon. Tendai Biti saying after paying last month’s civil servants wage bill only $217 is left in the Zimbabwe state account. Some may ask whether the Minister is washing the nation’s dirty linen in the public. Or he is giving a service to the nation by being accountable and sharing the status of our bank balance. But to whose sympathy since it is also his responsibility to manage the economy? Ever since the Minister assumed the role of Minister of Finance he has been preaching the gospel of “only eating what you kill” but in a situation like this the big question is, where will the next kill come from? Proclamations of the mineral richness of our country should show up at times like these not to be seen globe trotting with begging bowl all the time.

Some may argue that the Minister is politicking instead of doing the job he is being paid to do. In a country awash with minerals to report only $217 in the state account literally means the country has individuals richer than the country who may need to bail out the government.

I was not surprised when I read reports that ZimRights director, Okay Machisa, cried in court when his bail hearing failed to be heard at the High Court.

A lot of people who have never been through the same ordeal will just take it lightly. Every man reaches a breaking point in life regardless of how strong they are. To miss an opportunity for freedom breaks one’s soul. Words like “Further remand” coming from the judge or magistrate makes one go hysterical.

Let me give you a little preview what the day is like for an accused person on remand.

In the morning at 9am you get served plain porridge or brown water called tea with bread crumbs (donated leftovers from bakeries). In the afternoon its sadza and boiled cabbage, same for the evening menu. On a good day it’s sadza and boiled beans with some groundnuts. Bedtime starts at 3pm, not mentioning the time you sit in line to get counted. Your bed linen depends on how generous your inmates will be. You may get only two see-through blankets and if you have cigarettes you may trade for more, same as for the uniforms. Two cigarettes will get you a not so clean uniform.  If you are a non-smoker too bad because those cigarettes you would have traded will give you sleepless nights, as fellow inmates will be smoking stress out all night long. Visiting time is another moment of sadness because depending on your crime you will be in leg irons and handcuffed to another inmate. And if you don’t believe me ask someone who did prison time in Zimbabwe about the leg irons. If I tell you about the sanitary facilities you may miss your lunch.

Now this is the reason why Okay Machisa cried. He is in prison. His freedom is limited to between meals and bedtime. It breaks one’s spirit; it makes a grown man cry.

Ask the 45 of 2011 they cried too.

“Lightning ruled out in Chitungwiza blast”

This is a headline, which appeared in a local tabloid as a follow up on the mysterious blast that leveled a house and killed five people in Chitungwiza on Monday. Some shoddy journalism suggested that lightning might have caused the blast. Media houses capitalized on Zimbabwe’s information hunger pushing up their sales by giving half-baked stories. I noticed the competition among the media to carry the catchiest headline but as you read the stories they all pointed to the “lightning belief”. Zimbabwe is an information-starved society and this was illustrated by the rate at which this story was covered on social platforms like Facebook. Details continue to emerge from the investigations by the police. Maybe our journalists need to be on the ground to cover these investigations and close this information gap rather than rely on hearsay theories from misinformed sources.

For someone who cheated his way to seven Tour de France medals this is a well-deserved award for Lance Armstrong. According to Foreign Police website the disgraced former world cycling champion was elected by France’s investigative website Rue89.com as the sports bastard of the year weeks before he came on TV with Oprah to confess his sins. Now we know what Lance was on besides the bike to win the races.

Even here in Zimbabwe we have our own Sport Bastard of the Year especially the Asia-gate cheats and the recent officials from the Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA) involved in the Ballon d’Or-gate for casting fake votes for the FIFA World Footballer of the Year award.