Zimbabweans from all walks of life yesterday implored the Upper House to expedite the passage of the Bill so that people can start benefiting from some of its provisions in the run-up to harmonised elections slated for the first half of the year.

The House of Assembly passed the Bill last Thursday, despite initial filibustering attempts by the MDC formations.A filibuster is a parliamentary procedure where debate is extended, allowing one or more members to delay or entirely prevent a vote on a given proposal, and some MDC formation members did this by giving lengthy valedictory speeches on the Bill that stalled voting on the day the Bill was tabled last week.

Zimbabweans expected the Upper House to endorse the Bill today for onward transmission for Presidential assent, paving the way for the proclamation of the date for elections.A Harare resident, Mr Wellington Mushoshoma, said he expected the Constitutional Bill to be passed today because the country was running out of time to hold elections on or before June 29 when the life of the Seventh Parliament expires.

He said the country had been in election mode for too long, which is detrimental to national development.“The Bill is supposed to be passed tomorrow (today), so that we can move forward and hold elections and vote for a political party that has people’s interests at heart and get rid of the inclusive Government.“The inclusive Government had its disadvantages because there were conflicts every time among the three political parties. We need one party to call the shots while others who happen to be invited into Government will be just junior partners,” he said.

Another resident, Mr Zebron Muchenje, said the passage of the Bill today would give the country a chance to go to elections in the prevailing peaceful environment which is a spin-off from the highly subscribed referendum held in mid-March.

“This Constitution was voted for by Zimbabweans and it is our own law that we want to guide us and we do not want to keep on using the colonial Lancaster House Constitution. Once the Bill is passed we will be a step closer to the elections. We want the elections to come and go and move on with life and business. We want the losers to accept defeat gracefully,” he said.Mrs Albertina Bwititi added; “The new Constitution empowered women,  it gave us an opportunity to get equal representation as our male counterparts in Parliament.

“So as women, we expect the Bill to sail through today so that the President (Mugabe) can assent to it and we can finally be equally represented.”Ms Bridget Macheka applauded House of Assembly members for putting their political differences aside to overwhelmingly endorse the Constitutional Bill last week.

“My worry was that the three parties were not going to reach an agreement so I am very happy they managed to put their differences aside. At least now we can move forward,” she said.Dr Knowledge Tsungu said the speedy passage of the Constitutional Bill would attest to the nation’s political maturity.

“I believe Zimbabwe has room for great development but it has been affected by the delays in holding polls, now that we might have a new Constitution, let’s move towards the holding of elections,” he said.Mr Panimaha Dube said the passage of the Constitutional Bill was long overdue.