MDC-T MP for Harare West Jessie Majome has called for the establishment of an institute for legislative studies in Zimbabwe to offer programmes from diploma to degree level to enhance people’s understanding of how Parliament works.
BY VENERANDA LANGA SENIOR PARLIAMENTARY REPORTER
The MP made the suggestion last week in the National Assembly while contributing to debate on a motion on a report on the first Africa legislative summit which was held in Abuja, Nigeria.
The meeting was attended by some Zimbabwean MPs.
Majome said the programme was imperative in order to develop specialised knowledge and skills in understanding how Parliament worked.
“Mr Speaker, I was struck by the seriousness by which the great nation of Nigeria takes legislative matters and was surprised and impressed to note that they have a whole institute of legislative studies,” Majome said.
“It is my hope that as the Parliament of Zimbabwe, we also take a leaf (from Nigeria) and learn one of the best practices from our continent so that we develop specialised knowledge and skills in understanding how our Parliament works.”
The MP said lack of understanding of Parliamentary procedures and mandate resulted in the Executive arm of government overriding Parliament decisions, making it imperative for introduction of such studies.
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“Our Parliaments can only be better and we might then cry less foul of being dwarfed by the Executive arm of government if each of our members in the legislature understood how to execute their duties,” Majome said.
“The staff of our Parliament, as well as other interested stakeholders such as the media, would possibly benefit from taking serious and concerted study in legislative studies.”
She also called for disbursements of Constituency Development Funds (CDF) to constituencies, saying in other African countries people benefited a lot from such funds.
CDF was last distributed to Zimbabwean MPs in 2010 where each constituency got $50 000 for developmental purposes.
While some MPs used it for the benefit of people in their constituencies, four were arraigned before the courts for allegedly abusing the funds.
Majome said it was also disturbing that MPs did not have constituency offices where they could interface with members of the public, resulting in Parliament becoming inaccessible to ordinary people.
“It is sad that MPs are totally homeless and do not have constituency offices and researchers, and we must carry around all documentation, making it difficult to access and scrutinise documents.”
