adminDiana Nherera Herald Reporter
Parliament’S Standing Rules and Orders Committee has short-listed applicants for the position of Clerk of Parliament which fell vacant in November last year following the retirement of Mr Austin Zvoma. Speaker of the National Assembly and Parliament’s Standing Rules and Orders Committee chair Advocate Jacob Mudenda confirmed the development in an interview on Tuesday.
“We are in the process of dealing with applicants and there are applicants who have been shortlisted,” he said. “We will publish names of the shortlisted applicants at the appropriate time.”
Mr Zvoma retired as Clerk of Parliament after holding the post for 25 years.
A Clerk of Parliament is appointed for a six-year term and may be reappointed at the expiry of his first term.
There has been speculation over who would be the next Clerk of Parliament. Names touted so far include acting Clerk of Parliament Mr Kennedy Chokuda and former Deputy Clerk of Parliament Mrs Helen Dingane.
Mr Chokuda is the Deputy Clerk of Parliament while Mrs Dingane now works for the Pan-African Parliament in South Africa.
The Committee on Standing Rules and Orders appoints a Clerk of Parliament in terms of Section 154 of the Constitution.
A Clerk of Parliament reports to the Speaker of the National Assembly and, in the absence of the Speaker, to the President of the Senate. Duties of Clerk of Parliament include attending at the table when Parliament sits and advising the Speaker of the National Assembly, President of the Senate and deputy presiding officers on all legal and procedural matters.
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