Malawi’s National Speaker, Catherine Gitano Hara and a team of six Members of Parliament who double up as commissioners of the Parliamentary Service Commission in Malawi are in Kenya for a capacity building training with the Centre for Parliamentary Studies and Training (CPST).
The team are also learning and training on the achievements of devolution and the implementation of the National Government Constituency Development Fund, which they had implemented in their country 10 years ago after a similar visit to Kenya.
While speaking to the media after paying a courtesy call to the Kajiado County Assembly, Gitano noted that they are in the country to witness practically how the Constituency Development Fund is being implemented in the constituencies and how best devolution is working.
“We came to practically see the activities carried out by the Kenyan Members of Parliament through the Constituency Development Fund because learning something practically is different from learning it theoretically,” said Gitano.
She further stated Kenya and Malawi have a great partnership for years and the visit is part of cementing the relationship
The Vice Chairperson of Parliamentary Service Commission Dr. Naomi Shaban noted that the Centre for Parliamentary Studies and Training will continue to offer more learning and training on legislature so that it can add value to not only Africans but also globally.
On his part, Kajiado County Assembly Speaker Johnson Ole Osoi noted that it is important for the government to allocate more resources to the CPST, so that it can be able to train more county assemblies as it is the only credible Centre for training on Parliamentary procedures.
To sample the effectiveness of what the NG-CDF kitty is doing in the entire country, the team visited Ildamat Boys High School in Kajiado Central Constituency which has been fully funded by the kitty.
By Diana Meneto
