Poorly framed questions leads to wrong answers.

Written by: Darlington Chigumbu MP

On the 11th of October 2023, during the question-and-answer segment, Hon. Supa Mandiwanzira posed a question to the Minister of ICT, Hon. T. Mavetera. The question and the Minister's responses, as captured in the Hansard, exhibit a slight variance from the Minister's response on X. This discrepancy could be attributed to the fact that the Hansard writer had to contextualize certain elements of the Minister's comments, while on X, the Minister expressed her personal understanding of the subject.

Hon. Supa presented a compound question that necessitated the Minister's response to two distinct aspects. Let me start by scrutinizing the questions that were asked:

i.Firstly, Hon. Supa inquired about whether the government had intentions to write to Elon Musk, instructing him to prevent users of his application X from denigrating the Zimbabwean government and its officials. He underscored his point by referring to the European Union's letter to Musk, which complained about propaganda disseminated through his application. The EU warned Musk that if such propaganda persisted, they would impose a penalty amounting to 6% of his revenue. However, it's important to note that Hon. Supa's question was somewhat misleading, as the EU's letter to Musk was specifically related to the dissemination of illegal content and disinformation within the EU, primarily concerning the proliferation of Hamas videos on the platform. The EU's concerns were related to the Digital Services Act (DSA) and its regulation against Terrorist Content Online (TCO). The question he should have asked was whether the government had any plans to establish legislation or regulations governing the dissemination of specific information on certain platforms. Such legislation should encompass clear regulations governing both platform users and providers.

ii. The second question posed by Hon. Supa concerned the licensing of Starlink to operate in Zimbabwe, purportedly linked to the complaints made by the EU. However, there is no direct connection between the EU's complaints against X and the licensing of Starlink in Zimbabwe. In this context, Hon. Supa should have inquired about the government's intentions to license Starlink, with a focus on obtaining a clear response on whether the government plans to grant a license, the anticipated time frame for this, and any necessary framework prerequisites.

In response to Hon. Supa's questions, the Minister should have provided concise answers. Bellow are the answers I personally think the minister should have given to Hon Supa:

1. Regarding the first question, the Minister could have referred to any existing legal instruments that regulate platform providers, summarizing the obligations these laws impose on platform providers in the event of specific information being shared by users on their platforms. She could have clarified that Zimbabwe currently lacks specific laws governing platform providers, emphasizing that the current regulations primarily focus on individual users of these platforms. She might have suggested the need for legislation that places obligations on platform providers to proactively prevent the dissemination of problematic content.

2. Concerning the second question, the Minister's response should have been straightforward, indicating whether the government intends to license Starlink, providing an anticipated launch time frame if the answer was affirmative, or articulating the reasons for not licensing Starlink if the answer was negative.

In conclusion, the exchange during the parliamentary question and answer session between Honorable Supa Mandiwanzira and the Minister of ICT, Honorable T. Mavetera, sheds light on the critical importance of precision and clarity in parliamentary inquiries and government responses. It becomes evident that the questions posed by Hon. Supa were somewhat misleading and failed to capture the nuanced nature of the issues at hand. The discrepancy between the Minister's responses in the parliamentary record and what she then said on social media underscores the need for the government officials to have consistent position on issues.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of any organization he is a part of or represents.