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Leonard Ncube-Victoria Falls Reporter
Legislative assemblies in the region must play a leading role in crafting sound legislation that enables members of Parliament to fulfil their constitutional mandate, Speaker of the National Assembly Advocate Jacob Mudenda has said.
He was speaking while officiating at the 21st Zambia-Zimbabwe-Botswana (Zam-Zim-Bots) Senior Parliamentary Staff Seminar in Victoria Falls recently.
Running under the theme, “Post Covid-19, resilient, robust and inclusive Parliaments”, the seminar was attended by senior staffers from the three countries’ legislative assemblies as well as guest delegates from Uganda.
Clerk of Parliament of Zimbabwe Mr Kennedy Chokuda and his Botswana and Zambia counterparts, Ms Babra Dithapo and Mr Roy Ngulube, also attended.
“Parliaments will have to take the centre stage in coming up with legislation, which will enable Members of Parliaments to fulfil their constitutional mandate of oversight, legislation and representation in the context of e-governance,” said Adv Mudenda.
The seminar was conceived in the late 1990s to enhance administrative performance of parliamentary staff to improve service delivery.
The 20th edition of the seminar was held in 2019 and Adv Mudenda commended different Parliaments in the region for the resilience and sterling job during the Covid-19 lockdown period.
Adv Mudenda said during this challenging time, parliaments proved their innovative, resilient mettle in mitigating the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic crisis.
He said all parliaments amended their standing orders to allow for virtual parliamentary processes to proceed unimpeded.
He paid tribute to staff of parliaments for providing the necessary expertise in crafting the befitting standing orders that allowed the continued effective and efficient functioning of parliaments.
“As representative institutions and cognisant of the mandatory constitutional obligations, parliaments across the globe devised mechanisms to continue discharging their sacrosanct roles notwithstanding the pandemic adverse effects threatening the functionality of parliaments,” said Adv Mudenda.
He said parliament staff proved beyond any reasonable doubt that there is nothing impossible in the face of adversity.
“This is the hallmark of resilient, robust and inclusive parliaments, which is the bedrock of the theme,” said Adv Mudenda.
He said the seminars must be more futuristic in administrative benchmarking and must promote the founding principles of cross-pollination of ideas for mutual parliamentary institutional growth and development.
Adv Mudenda urged parliaments and staff to be wary of the digitalisation phenomenon, especially artificial intelligence.
He called for the capacitation of staff to remain relevant in the digital era.
Online Reporter