SPEAKER of Parliament Advocate Jacob Mudenda has castigated Zimbabweans who speak ill about the country when they are in foreign lands.
Adv Mudenda was speaking during a plenary session on the
first day of the induction workshop on parliamentary research procedures and
methodology attended by the Legislative Assembly’s staff at a Bulawayo hotel on
Thursday.
Clerk of Parliament Mr Kennedy Chokuda is also attending
the workshop which ends today.
The seminar is aimed at strengthening research skills of
Parliament staff whose key responsibility is to deliver information data as
required from time to time within the institution.
Adv Mudenda said it is critical that researchers acquire
the right skills and use the best available evidence-based scientific research
which must result in a systematically collated body of knowledge.While the
Speaker did not mention any individual by name, some members of the opposition
and their surrogates have been on a global whirlwind, criticising Government’s
policies.Some have recently been criticising Government’s refusal to completely
dollarise the economy.
Advocate Mudenda said very few countries around the world
are using the United States dollar as their legal currency, hence calls for the
country to dollarise so that the economy picks up were not scholarly justified.
“Political context is important, when you are a Zimbabwean
and you don’t agree with the general policy of your country in a specific area,
you would rather be quiet when you are out there or support the currency of
that policy and this is standard internationally. You don’t get an American or
British criticising their Government when they are out there,” he said.
In his keynote address, Adv Mudenda said in the execution
of their constitutional mandate, parliamentarians require information on
socio-economic issues to clinically analyse motions and Bills as well as scrutinise
public policies tabled before Parliament.The speaker said MPs depend on
parliamentary resource researchers in searching for knowledge data.
“To that extent, a well-resourced and skilled human capital
is an invaluable source of independent, neutral and non-partisan analysis of
the knowledge bank that must be avoided to members of Parliament.
To that end, this workshop becomes historic and distinctive
contribution towards the strengthening of the operational skills of the human
capital represented here today. It is gratifying to me to note that this
workshop is also part of the deliberate efforts by the institution to address
key result areas (KRAs) numbers one and six of our Institutional Strategic Plan
in our quest to become a strong, independent, people-driven, world class
Parliament,” said Adv Mudenda.
He said one of the outcomes of the workshop will be an
empowered human resource of Parliament that adequately responds to the
information and research needs of members of Parliament in particular and of
the institution in general.Adv Mudenda said much may be known about the use of
evidence based research in some public institutions, accent but much has not
been directed at the research requirements of Parliament and its processes.
“Leveraging on robust research which rides on relevant
academic expertise can equip members of Parliament with the right information
in executing their roles. Parliamentary Research is not theoretical and
abstract. It must be grounded on the specific knowledge needs of speeches to be
delivered by presiding officers at various regional and international fora,” he
said.
“Parliamentarians need researched information data on
motions, bills, committee enquiries on various subject matters, the budget
presentations, petition subjects and public policy statements such as the
National Development Stratey1 (NDS1). Parliamentarians cannot access the
requisite knowledge data if they are not supported by well-grounded
Parliamentary researchers.” Chronicle
0 comments:
Post a Comment