Parliament of Zimbabwe is set to establish an academy offering systematic courses for legislators and staff to enhance understanding of parliamentary duties, 263Chat has learnt.
In an interview on the sidelines of the signing of the grant protocol agreement for the Tax and Accountability Project this morning, acting clerk of Parliament, Helen Dingani said Parliament will soon be establishing an academy to train legislators on various thematic areas.
The academy will be established using funds from the US$ 2.9 million cash injection by the African Development Bank.
“Some of the money is to assist us to establish a Parliamentary Academy where we will be training members of parliament on the work of parliament beginning with training of MPs and staff of Parliament,”
“We have been training members but it was erratic and not systematic, so now if we have an academy it means we come up with courses which will then be carried out,” Dingani said.
There has been widespread criticism of some Parliamentarians show of ignorance of what is expected of them and in most cases this has affected deeper analyses and critiquing of some policies presented before them.
This has mainly been attributed to legislators’ short life cycle in office.
“As you know, every five years we have a new crop of Parliamentarians so when they come and they are new, they will be less knowledgeable. We spent all of last year carrying out induction courses on each of the committees,” Dingani added.
The development comes at a time when Parliament is set to relocate to Mt Hampden following the completion of the New Parliament Building.
