By Pemphero Malimba:
A study which Democracy Works Foundation (DWF) conducted has revealed that there has been lack of coordination between members of Parliament (MPs) and their mother political parties on their position in parliamentary deliberations.
DWF Deputy Regional Director Fannie Nthakomwa revealed this Wednesday during a cross party meeting on parliamentary oversight and budget scrutiny.
DWF organised the meeting with political party leaders as part of the five-year United States Agency for International Development-funded Parliamentary Support Programme.
“The study did highlight some issues like lack of coordination between the mainstream parties, where you have party leaders that might be outside Parliament and, then, you have leaders that are in Parliament. These two groups [of people] need to balance their interests; they need to balance interests of the party and interests of the nation.
“However, there is poor coordination on this,” Nthakomwa said.
She said, through the study, they found that, in some instances, MPs are not free to deliberate on or even contribute to discourse as they prepare to advance their agenda in Parliament.
“But, then, political parties have a role to play in influencing the legislative and overview function of Parliament,” she said.
She said the issue has the potential to affect public trust and democratic values.
“Trust in political parties and members of Parliament would be going down and that will not be good for democracy,” she said.
UDF secretary general Kandi Padambo said the findings were insightful, adding that their party is committed to ensuring that it provides effective oversight on the national budget and other parliamentary issues.
“We value this programme and will collaborate with other political parties to ensure that there is effective oversight in Parliament, particularly on the budget,” Padambo said.
UTM secretary general Patricia Kaliati said findings of the study would shape their decision-making processes.
“Most importantly, we recognise the importance of working together to advance the national agenda. Let us be working together as we have been assigned to work on behalf of the people,” Kaliati said.
