29 May 2018

Parliamentary Libraries have a key role to play in terms of facilitating parliaments, Speaker of National Assembly, Ms Gladys Kokorwe has said.

Delivering a keynote address at a week-long conference for the Association of Parliamentary Libraries of Eastern and Southern Africa (APLESA) in Gaborone on May 28, Ms Kokorwe said there was need for Members of Parliament to have access to information when addressing issues of national interest.

“MPs should at all times have relevant, timely and reliable information,” she said.

Ms Kokorwe further indicated that the conference theme; Realigning Parliamentary Library Services Towards the Achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), provides opportunity for members to discuss ways in which they could facilitate their respective parliaments on the achievement of SDGs.

She said SDGs were far better equipped to make a difference in any country across the world because they are universal and interconnected.

Ms Kokorwe congratulated libraries for ensuring that sustainable development was never an ending process and that library and information professionals have a significant role to play in achieving SDGs.

Clerk of the National Assembly, Ms Barbara Dithapo said APLESA was established to strengthen cooperation and information sharing among parliaments in eastern and southern Africa region.

“It provides platform for continuous learning, benchmarking and setting standards among information managers in an effort to achieve excellence, efficiency and effectiveness,” she said.

She said SDGs outline the world’s long term objectives pursuant to economic, environmental and social development in all countries.

Ms Dithapo said their expected results were sustainable peace, development and sustainable ecosystems among others.

She said in order to drive effective implementation of those developments, parliaments as supreme oversight institutions had been tasked to closely monitor their implementation and hold governments accountable for achievement of desired SDGs.

Ms Dithapo also said the theme for the conference resonated well with Africa’s Agenda 2063, which ‘desires a prosperous Africa with inclusive growth and sustainable development as well as Africa of good governance, democracy, respect for human rights and rule of law.’

She further emphasised the role of parliament to produce capable institutions and transformative leaderships because a healthy democracy was marked by accountable and transparent parliament.

She said parliaments could only achieve the desired goals when they have efficient libraries with other information services and that it was crucial for APLESA member parliaments to reflect on practices and service delivery standards of the member parliaments.

“This calls for best practice guide as a resource for operational standards among APLESA members,” she said.

APLESA president, Mr Geraldo Cambiete said the conference offered member countries to improve effectiveness of parliaments through use of ICT.

He said the conference also creates opportunities for collaboration between parliamentary libraries and other major institutional libraries.

He also said APLESA has grown into a vibrant association that intends to progress into using technologies in parliamentary libraries

APLESA member countries are Botswana, Angola, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Seychelles, Kenya, Lesotho, Mozambique, Uganda, South Africa, Tanzania, eSwatini and Zambia. ENDS