By SIMON MUNTEMBA
SPEAKER of the National Assembly, Nelly Mutti has described her benchmarking orientation visit to the United Kingdom House of Commons as gratifying.
According to a statement by the Zambia High Commission in the United Kingdom, Ms. Mutti 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 of links between both Legislatures.
Ms Mutti who was accompanied by the Deputy Clerk, Mr. Roy Ngulube and other officials from the National Assembly of Zambia said the delegation was awarded an opportunity to compare and contrast different approaches to parliamentary procedure and administration and share experiences with UK counterparts.
She said 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.
Ms. Mutti 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.
