Over 64 clerks members of Society of Clerks at the Table (SoCATT) from parliamentary branches in Africa have recently gathered in Arusha Northern Tanzania to attend a three days of 2024 professional development seminar (PDS).

Clerks at the table have pointed out the importance of strengthening parliamentary functions including elevating the partnerships with other stakeholders in the research space to enhance decision-making in performing their core functions.

They outlined an aspect of parliamentary administration to undertake policy and structural reforms to strengthen their autonomy regarding financial administration and Human Resource Management.

Apart from orientation and induction programmes for MPs, they said parliaments must undertake continuous capacity-building interventions and integrate systematic impact assessment for continuous improvement and development of orientation and induction manuals.

They also agreed that parliaments ought to leverage on using AI to enhance parliamentary tools, systems, processes, and procedures for efficiency and transparency in their execution of core mandates including public engagements.

Additional, they outlined the importance of Parliaments mainstream Post-Legislative Evaluation (PLE) in the legislative processes and procedures and use existing oversight tools as triggers to enhance the applicability of PLE in the law-making and implementation process.

Moreover, in fulfilling its law-making function they concluded that parliaments need to be cautious where applicable to strengthen or review their existing laws, practices, and procedures to accommodate Omnibus Bills to address the interconnectedness of issues taking into consideration the Constitution and other statutes.

They also requested the parliaments to promote staff wellness programmes to improve the physical, mental, productivity, and team cohesion in the working environment.