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By Lovemore Chazingwa in Kadoma
Clerk of Parliament, Kennedy Chokuda, has given a thumbs up to the performance of their current cycle.
The man within the corridors of power at Parliament of Zimbabwe (PoZ), made the revelations last week during a strategic planning workshop held at Kadoma Hotel and Conference Centre.
“We are doing very well as an institution in terms of creating a conducive environment for the country to do its work because the laws that parliament makes contribute to the stability that we have as a nation.
“The work translates our economic blueprints into reality. You will recall that one of the things that the West and other countries used to talk about is that the Public Order and Security Act (POSA) was stifling media freedom. The current parliament has changed that. We now have a new bill that has been passed into law, the Maintenance of Peace and Order Act (MOPA), which is a great improvement from the previous one through our legislative role.”
Chokuda alluded to the apex institution’s role in checking the implementation of national policies and programs.
“Also, we are calling the executive to account in terms of how they are implementing Government policies and programs through the Wednesday and Thursday question sessions. I can tell you these (sessions) are very popular. Everywhere we go, people tell us that they watch those Wednesday and Thursday Senate programs,” the Clerk of Parliament said.
Quizzed on disturbing reports of absenteeism by key Government officials during those sessions, Chokuda responded thus: “Yes, there are times when that happens. But, we’ve very good ways of dealing with it. I know for a fact that the Honourable Speaker and even myself have written to the concerned ministers and we’ve seen a response.”
The institution seized with making the supreme laws of the country convened a strategic planning workshop which was coupled by crafting performance contracts that each officer of the august house should append signatures to as a demonstration of commitment to perform their duties diligently.
The strategic planning workshop, which ended last Sunday, saw the clerk of parliament sign his performance contract before his principal, the Speaker of the House of Assembly Hon. Adv. Jacob Mudenda.
“At the end of today, Sunday, my performance contract will be ready and I’ll have an opportunity to sign it before my principal (Hon. Adv. Mudenda),” he said.
A reliable source informed this publication that officials from the Public Service Commission (PSC) were facilitators in sessions on the crafting of those performance-based contracts.