adminto give it meager resources, Clerk of Parliament, Mr Austin Zvoma said yesterday.
In an interview on Tuesday, Mr Zvoma said Parliament had come up with a position paper to help all Members of Parliament including non-constituency ones and chiefs secure offices.
Construction of a new Parliament will go a long way in easing space constraints as the current structure is now constrained and the Parliament administration is juggling to schedule committee meetings, he said.
Despite these challenges, said Mr Zvoma, Parliament had discharged its duties exceptionally well, so much that it now seeks ISO certification.
In some instances, parliamentary portfolio committee’s work has also been hamstrung as they fail to make field visits in their oversight role of the executive, owing to resource constraints.
“We know that the economy still faces challenges in terms of Government providing goods and services such as the wage bill and education,” said Mr Zvoma.
“It remains a challenge until the economy performs to near maximum capacity. It means we have to curtail some activities and we have to share these limited resources equitably.”
The Clerk of Parliament noted that some new MPs did not have offices in their constituencies owing to lack of resources.
“There has been no allocation, it means it becomes unfair for the new MPs . . . it’s an untenable situation, we are currently preparing a position paper for the consideration of the Standing Rules and Orders Committee to take to Treasury,” said Mr Zvoma.
He said Parliament was mindful of the challenges treasury had to content with in terms of balancing various competing interests in the economy.
Some of the challenges Parliament had to content with is the perceived conflict between the legislature and the executive, he said.
The oversight role of Parliament has in some instances been misconstrued as trying to embarrass the executive, said Mr Zvoma.
“Sometimes it is perceived that there is a fight. Parliament’s role is misunderstood, we have had front bench and backbench meetings to explain roles, to clarify that the oversight role is not to weaken or embarrass the executive but to ensure that its work is evaluated in terms of the goals it set out to achieve,” he said.
“During question time, some questions have gone for weeks on end without being answered, again this is a question of relationship and this is something we need continue working on.”
Mr Zvoma said another sticking issue is that MPs’ sitting allowances are still outstanding.
“We remain ambitious, we do it for self-actualisation and that’s why we are seeking ISO certification,” he said.
Online Reporter