Zimbabwe’s MPs are under-utilised, and the public here know more about South Africa’s parliamentary affairs than they do their own country’s, Harare West legislator Jessie Majome writes lamenting, saying there is an urgent government need to rope the public in on the-goings-on in parliament.

On Wednesday 10 February I participated in the Youth and Policy Maker Dialogue which was organised by the Youth Empowerment and Transformation Trust (YETT).
I got a chance to demystify my role as a legisltaor to Harare youths mostly from Chitungwiza. Unfortunately the organisers did not invite Harare Westerners.
At the meeting I spoke on how all political issues and ‘youth issues’ are inseparable and therefore vital that youths understand and participate in parliamentary processes as required by Section 141 of the Constitution.

I shared my view that political patronage has shortchanged people of the real value they can get from parliamentary democracy and instead created an MP who is more of an ATM, funeral policy and bursary than a legislator, government policy overseer and representative. I make no apologies for not consuming my parliamentary tenure with “projects” and rather engage the constituency and work on advocating government policy to the better and more effective in improving lives.
I lamented how MPs we are ill equipped to represent our constituencies as there is no staff or public meeting hall hire finances, or even offices to work from. I have to employ someone from my personal resources and opened my virtual constituency office as a way to interact with Harare Westerners and exhibit my work.
It struck me as sad that only a small and usually distorted and sensational fraction of what happens in Parliament is covered in the media, thence distorting the public’s view about what we do in parliament. Zimbabweans know more about S A parliamentary proceedings than ours and some think we only ask questionscbecause that’s all ZBC covers. I hope that with the advent of social media’s popularity more parliamentary information will be shared freely.
Your MP
Jessie Fungayi Majome