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The Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga, has called on Commonwealth Parliaments to utilize the growing Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector to ensure the efficiency of their legislative activities.
Kadaga who is also the
Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) International President says the
theme of the 50th CPA Africa Region conference presents an opportunity for
countries to review the use of ICT in their Parliaments with a call to share
experiences for improved output.
“We should learn from
each other with a view of setting up or improving existing laws, institutions
and resources for use of ICTs in our legislatures,” said Kadaga.
She made the remarks while
addressing the opening ceremony of the CPA Africa Region Conference on Monday,
2 September 2019 in Zanzibar held under the theme, “E-Parliaments: Seamless
Platform for Facilitating Democracy”.
The Speaker added that the
theme was aligned to the CPA Africa region’s aspirations of promoting peace,
democracy and good governance in all member countries.
Kadaga also used the platform
to reaffirm Uganda’s readiness to host the 64th Commonwealth Parliamentary
Conference (CPC) that will bring together 53 member countries to discuss
matters pertaining to parliamentary evolution.
“I would like to confirm
to you that by close of the extended registration deadline of 30 August 2019, a
total of 684 participants had registered for the conference with 264 being from
the African region. We take it as a symbol of our fraternity,” Kadaga
said.
She informed the delegates
that the CPC will oversee the election of parliamentarians to take charge of
international offices, key among them, the Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians
Chairperson.
“It is, therefore, our
strategic interest as Africa region to take the lead in decisions that shall be
made during the 64th CPC which will determine the future role of Africa within
the CPA,” Kadaga added.
The conference was opened by
the President of the Zanzibar, H.E Dr. Ali Mohamed Shein, who told delegates
that people would easily express their concerns to their legislative
representatives through an effective and efficient Parliament communication
system.
“In order to reap the
maximum benefits of introducing E-Parliament, huge efforts are needed to
promote the use and teaching of ICT in the local communities and
constituencies,” Mohamed Shein said.
President Mohamed Shein also
reiterated Kadaga’s call to the delegates, to embrace the CPC in Uganda from 22
to 29 September 2019 saying, “It will make more people aware of various
activities undertaken by the Commonwealth and its organs.”
The Speaker is accompanied to
the 50th CPA conference by a delegation of 10 Members of Parliament, including
the CPA Africa Representative (Uganda Branch), Hon. Jalia Bintu.
Key deliberations at the
Zanzibar conference will centre on the use of ICT to among other things,
strengthen public involvement in legislative processes and use social media to
enhance parliamentarians’ constituency engagements.
ENDS