The Parliament of Zambia has become more open to the public in its operations. This is evidenced by the opening of the Media Centre to the public, relaxed dress code and the public broadcast of Parliamentary business through Parliament Radio and Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) Television. The recent signing of the contract between National Assembly and ZNBC to broadcast radio dramas in Chinyanja and Silozi is a further activity to bring Parliament closer to the people.
Outreach programmes such as road shows have also been increased through the Public and International Relations unit. The move to bring Parliament closer to the people has had a tremendous impact on the number of people participating in National issues, as seen by their visits to Constituency Offices.
Based on the submissions from the Constituency Offices for the quarter one (1) 2017, the numbers of visits have increased after the move to bring Parliament closer to the people as shown in the table below. Note that for 2016 the data is for the whole year while 2017 only captures quarter 1.
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*NOTE: We can make an assumption that in 2016, the average number of people who visited the Constituency Offices per quarter was 21097/ 4 = 5274 people. So, there is a definite increase in the number of people that have visited the Constituency offices in the first quarter of 2017 which is 10, 542.
Looking at the figures in the table above, the move by National Assembly to bring Parliament closer to the people resulted to more people visiting the Constituency Offices and it is hoped that this will increase people’s participation to the development of the Nation. In addition, it has also created a huge opportunity to engage the citizens especially young people in renewed dialogue and participation in the affairs of their community, which is an element of democracy.
Furthermore, the move to bring Parliament closer to the people has offered an opportunity for people to re-connect with their Members of Parliament. The citizens are now more abreast with the new happenings in Parliament and local developments.
The move to bring Parliament closer to the people has helped to remove communication and interaction barriers between the people, their Members of Parliament and citizens can easily know the developments in their Constituencies.
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