Online Reporter
Walter Nyamukondiwa in KADOMA
PARLIAMENT is working on a transformative strategic plan that reorients its operations and thrust towards measurable outcomes for the benefit of the citizenry, in line with the National Development Strategy 2 and Vision 2030.
The plan, driven by the Integrated Results-Based Management (IRBM), will be anchored in a shift in institutional ethos, where effect, impact and achievements drive the institution and staff.
Parliament, as a vital cog in the country’s governance framework, also seeks to harness the immeasurable potential of artificial intelligence (AI) in enhancing institutional and strategic planning.
Officially opening Parliament’s Corporate Planning Workshop in Kadoma on Friday, Speaker of Parliament Advocate Jacob Mudenda implored staff to be intentional in fulfilling the institution’s Constitutional mandate and interest of the people. Advocate Mudenda lamented the gulf between aspiration and achievement, saying Parliament should be a catalyst for transformative governance.
“The antidote to strategic irrelevance lies in embracing Integrated Results-Based Management as the disciplined methodology that bridges the yawning chasm between aspiration and achievement,” said Adv Mudenda.
“IRBM represents a paradigmatic shift in institutional ethos; that is, from measuring effort to measuring effect, from tracking activity to tracking achievement and from celebrating intentions to celebrating impact.”
Parliament, he said, should measure its impact with the rate of improvement in people’s lives.
“Fundamentally, this approach propels Parliament beyond the mere enumeration of activities and inputs towards a rigorous focus on the outcomes and impacts that genuinely resonate with the Zimbabwean people’s yearning for transformative governance which improves their lives,” he said.
The workshop is expected to produce Parliament’s 2026 Corporate Plan. This is complemented by the Institutional Strategic Plan (ISP), which seeks to engender institutional excellence.
Parliament, Adv Mudenda added, takes its role of exercising sovereign authority to make laws for peace, order and good governance for Zimbabwe seriously, while also overseeing Executive authority to promote accountability and transparency.
“The ISP thus symbolises a solemn covenant with the people that Parliament will systematically and relentlessly pursue excellence across the full spectrum of its constitutional mandate. Indeed, Zimbabweans deserve nothing less than a Parliament that honours their sacrifices for independence and remains responsive to their daily challenges,” said Adv Mudenda.
Turning to AI, he said Parliament should augment its institutional planning capacity through the use of this technology.
“Strategic planning demands exhaustive conceptual analysis and meticulous scenario planning, which are precisely the domains where AI exhibits exceptional capability,” he said.
“Parliament must, therefore, consider how these emerging digital technologies might be strategically harnessed to enhance institutional effectiveness without compromising human judgement, ethical considerations and moral compass that remain indispensable for democratic governance.”
Impactful implementation of the strategy, said Adv Mudenda, depended on the operational efficiency of Parliament’s secretariat, which he said needed grit and discipline underpinned by craft literacy and competence.
Parliament, he said, should not exist for its own sake but to serve the people.
“The Zimbabwean people remain utterly indifferent to the eloquence of your strategic documents or the sophistication of your planning frameworks.
“Their paramount concern is whether Parliament actually works for them, namely, whether it zealously protects their national interests, aggressively advances their aspirations and uncompromisingly holds Governmental power accountable on their behalf,” he said.
Parliament is now expected to undertake quarterly reviews of its operations and resultant impact while also subjecting itself to external half-year evaluation.
The Speaker said Parliament should hold itself to higher standards of accountability to strengthen its moral standing to subject other arms of Government to scrutiny.
