{"id":26910,"date":"2022-08-05T15:42:20","date_gmt":"2022-08-05T15:42:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/parliament-needs-urgent-transformation"},"modified":"2022-08-05T15:52:56","modified_gmt":"2022-08-05T15:52:56","slug":"parliament-needs-urgent-transformation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/parliament-needs-urgent-transformation","title":{"rendered":"‘Parliament needs urgent transformation’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. <\/strong><\/span>NATIONAL Council chairperson and member of parliament (MP) Lukas Sinimbo says there is a need to empower both parliamentary staff and MPs to cope with new ways of conducting parliamentary business.<\/b><\/p>\n

Sinimbo was yesterday speaking at the Society of Clerks at the Table (Socatt) professional development seminar in Windhoek.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have observed and learnt that parliamentary operations need urgent transformation to move away from the traditional way of only conducting parliamentary business on a face-to-to face basis, and to accommodate new ways of doing things without neglecting the core functions of parliaments, which are representation, law making, and oversight over the executive,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Sinimbo said there is a need for parliaments to adopt adaptive and innovative capacity-building approaches for staff, as well as human resource management practices that will respond positively to the envisaged transformation and re-engineering of parliamentary administration and chamber business.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs parliamentary officials, it is important to acknowledge that even the most qualified employee will from time to time or at one point require a certain level of on-the-job training and professional development, or continued training and education of an individual in regards to his or her career,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Sinimbo said the goal of professional development is to keep employees up to date on current trends, as well as to develop new skills for the purpose of contributing to the success of the workplace and skills to help parliamentarians become experts in their fields.<\/p>\n

According to the 2007 National Democratic Institute (2007), legislators often face constraints in fulfilling their roles and responsibilities, including weak individual and institutional capacity, little independence from more powerful executives and ruling political parties, and limited political will.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause of capacity constraints, and a lack of strong analytical backgrounds, high-quality policy analysis is sometimes difficult.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is my profound belief that at the end of this seminar, participants will be able to identify strengths and weaknesses in our parliamentary service delivery,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Sinimbo urged parliamentarians to keep improving on strengths, and to work on eliminating weaknesses.<\/p>\n

In June, some analysts said parliamentarians are \u201csleeping on the job\u201d as the National Assembly has only managed to clear eight out of an expected 20 bills in the past two years.<\/p>\n

Political analyst Ndumba Kamwanyah says members of parliament lack researching skills.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think they lack the research capacity to make sure they are in touch with our own constituencies. And this is not just Swapo MPs,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we are witnessing a decline in the depth of intellectual and analytical ability, and in the capacity of our MPs to really connect the dots of why people are voting for them,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Analyst Rui Tyitende says most MPs appear to be oblivious of their primary tasks as lawmakers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are supposed to enact laws that will have a tangible impact on improving people’s quality of life and their immediate living environment,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

He labels MPs as salary collectors, adding that some have not uttered a word, or made any substantive contributions to matters of national importance.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, even MPs from the opposition who have serious motions to table are stifled.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow many bills have been passed over the last two years that seek to address the plight of the most vulnerable in society?\u201d he asks.<\/p>\n

Tyitende says the pandemic is not a good enough reason for the lack of action.<\/p>\n

\u201cPublic health regulations have been relaxed, and the parliament has the means to deliberate virtually and keep the Namibian populace engaged on bills and motions,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

The analyst advises parliamentarians to keep themselves updated on current affairs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIgnorance can be deadly. As Tshilidzi Marwala profoundly argued: Those who do not read should not lead,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Namibia<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. NATIONAL Council chairperson and member of parliament (MP) Lukas Sinimbo says there is a need to empower both parliamentary staff and MPs to cope with new ways of conducting parliamentary business. Sinimbo was yesterday speaking at the Society of Clerks at the Table (Socatt) professional development seminar in Windhoek. \u201cWe have observed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":26909,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,8,12,16],"tags":[234,236,233],"class_list":["post-26910","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-homepage-english","category-policy","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-namibia","tag-namibia"],"yoast_head":"\n'Parliament needs urgent transformation' - Namibia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"NATIONAL Council chairperson and member of parliament (MP) Lukas Sinimbo says there is a need to empower both parliam ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/parliament-needs-urgent-transformation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"'Parliament needs urgent transformation'\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"NATIONAL Council chairperson and member of parliament (MP) Lukas Sinimbo says there is a need to empower both parliam ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/parliament-needs-urgent-transformation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Namibia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-08-05T15:42:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-08-05T15:52:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2022\/08\/postQueueImg_4-62ed3c9f5660e.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"808\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"402\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/parliament-needs-urgent-transformation#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/parliament-needs-urgent-transformation\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"‘Parliament needs urgent transformation’\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-08-05T15:42:20+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-08-05T15:52:56+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/parliament-needs-urgent-transformation\"},\"wordCount\":632,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/parliament-needs-urgent-transformation#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2022\/08\/postQueueImg_4-62ed3c9f5660e.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"africa press\",\"Africa Press-Namibia\",\"namibia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"head lines\",\"homepage-english\",\"policy\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/parliament-needs-urgent-transformation#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/parliament-needs-urgent-transformation\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/parliament-needs-urgent-transformation\",\"name\":\"'Parliament needs urgent transformation' - 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