By Adama Makasuba
National Assembly members Saturday gathered at Global Prestige Hotel for three days of training on parliamentary procedure and processes, good governance, the importance of political debate, resources, mobilisation, and peace building.
The training was organised by the National Youth Council in collaboration with the Commission on Political Debate. The training was funded by United Nations Development Programmes and it is aimed to help establish good rapport and cooperation among MPs,
Speaking at the training, Honorable Bakary Y Badjie, Minister of Youth and Sports described the training as timely and relevant ‘as the just ended parliamentary election witnessed a surge in youth interest to participate in politics.’
“There is no denying that the National Assembly needs to safeguard the resources of our country,” Ousman Fatty, chairperson of the National Youth Council said, and added that “they scrutinize, supervise and review the government and its agencies activities to ensure that they are done according to plan to law.
He said this requires a significant amount of knowledge to accomplish and he sincerely hopes that the training will help equip the participants with adequate knowledge and understanding.
According to him, the primary objective of the training was to assist members to be effective parliamentarians taking into consideration the caliber of MPs most of whom are young.
Momodou L Sise, the clerk of the National Assembly, thanked the National Youth Council and the Ministry of Youth and Sports for such a relevant and timely partnership with the Office of the Clerk to train young parliamentarians not only on parliamentary processes and procedures but as well expose them to the mandate, policies, and strategic programmes of the NYC.
“This is very commendable as it shall add value and complement my office’s efforts in building the capacity of Honourable Members to better understand their core functions of Legislation, Oversight, and Representation.