Africa-Press – Zambia. Speaker of the National Assembly, Nelly Mutti has described her benchmarking orientation visit to the United Kingdom House of Commons as gratifying. Ms Muti said this at the Zambia High Commission in London, and was accompanied by the Deputy Clerk (Administration) Roy Ngulube and other officials from the National Assembly of Zambia.
She said her visit to the House of Commons had achieved its main goal in connecting senior parliamentary officeholders from the UK Parliament with their counterparts in Zambia and strengthening links between both Legislatures.
She stated that the delegation was awarded an opportunity to compare and contrast different approaches to parliamentary procedure and administration and share experiences with UK counterparts.
Ms Muti explained that the programme included introductory meetings with the Speakers of the House of Commons and House of Lords, Members of Parliament, clerks, and Commonwealth Parliament Association (CPA) UK officials.
She said as a former British colony, her invitation by the Commonwealth Parliament Association UK had revealed that Zambia had many similarities in parliamentary deliberations with its colonial power though there were a few differences in some parliamentary processes.
“Though the Zambian parliamentary proceedings are modelled along that of the United Kingdom, there was need for the former to learn some practices and procedures regarding parliamentary conduct,” she said.
Ms Mutti added that her reception from the host country was very good and Britain expressed interest in learning more about the Zambian parliamentary procedure.
She further added that Zambia needed to take a leaf from the British parliament which deliberately reserves some positions for womenfolk in order to empower them in policy making positions.
She also revealed that she had another engagement with the Zambia/Angolan trade envoy to discuss issues in the agriculture, manufacturing, energy and mining sector that could benefit the two African countries.
The Speaker later signed the book of condolences at the Mission, describing the Late Fourth President Rupiah Banda as a great statesman. This is according to a statement made available to the media by Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Public Relations Officer, Chansa Kabwela.
For More News And Analysis About Zambia Follow Africa-Press
