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When information and publicity minister Jonathan Moyo first introduced the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Bill in December, he was a very proud man.

Five weeks down the line, Professor Moyo is not proud but wounded.

Not only has the Bill seriously dented his image, but it has left his popularity in the party in question and has badly battered his ego.

The party disagreed with him on major clauses which would have given him the power to hire and fire journalists operating in Zimbabwe.

Used to having his own way in a party he thought he controlled, Moyo received a rude awakening from Zanu PF MPs when they refused to endorse the Information Bill in its original form.

Ruling party MPs were united in caucus that Moyo's Bill was too draconian to be passed without amendment.

Moyo had spent five weeks trying to convince his colleagues to the contrary.

MPs flatly told him that he could not fight his personal wars through parliament.

And like a truly wounded man, he has been forced to make concessions which have seriously eroded the power he expected to give himself through the Bill.

Thirty-six amendments have so far been made to the Bill but the MPs want more changes.

Now that he is completely out of ideas, Moyo has resorted to tongue lashing senior party officials he suspects are behind his failure.

On Friday morning, he attacked respected politician and astute lawyer, Eddison Zvobgo, accusing him of suffering from memory lapses.

Zvobgo's crime: He has refused to be pushed into making a hurried report on the Bill.

Zvobgo is the chairman of the Parliamentary Legal Committee responsible for scrutinising bills and exposing their constitutional flaws.

Zvobgo, a former justice minister, has accused Moyo and his ally, justice, legal and parliamentary affairs minister, Patrick Chinamasa, of failing to put the Bill together properly and of thus causing the current chaos.

Said Zvobgo: "The chaos has not been caused by the legal committee. The chaos has been caused by the government and the minister in particular, who has failed to put this Bill together properly. The chaos is totally unassociated with my committee. The minister has held this house to ransom by his failure and inability to put his things a bit more neatly," said Zvobgo.

Moyo was stung by these comments.

Said a ruling party MP: "What we did was reduce him to size. He disregarded advice from elder party members when he was crafting the Bill. He was very proud of it and saw it as his personal project but we don't want to be used. Moyo should know that he is still politically immature and has a lot to learn. We could not be forced to pass a law that would in effect ban all journalists from practising. Moyo does not have a constituency to report to, but back in our constituencies, we will be asked why we are enacting such bad laws."

Party insiders believe Moyo's recent setback to be the beginning of worse things to come for the former donor-funded professor, it could be the beginning of his fall from grace.

"He was beginning to see himself as the all powerful man in the party and had to be stopped at some point. This is someone who joined the party only last year, from the Constitutional Commission and yet he wants to act so big. We will not allow it. The mood now is that Moyo is a big liability and is discrediting the party by making too many enemies. He has to be stopped," said a party insider.

As he waits for a second reading of the Bill on Tuesday, Moyo must surely be contemplating a possible future in the political wilderness. - Zimbabwe Standard