Golden Jubilee For Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops’ Conference
with an explanation there was an appreciation of how good the constitution is.
Last year again when the election results were challenged a lot of people opened
the constitution to read what it said. The ideal situation according to the office
would be, for people to know this document (constitution) and act accordingly
or be guided accordingly all the time and not to wait until something will have
happened. This is a proactive approach, an approach that is approved the world
over l believe. With the rising interests of the knowledge of the constitution
being shown the number of times the office is called to share the knowledge of
the constitution is becoming high and the office is finding it difficult to cope. It is
hoped that the program on the constitution is going to be concentrated on 4
dioceses this year with the EU funding.
e. Role of MPs in Constituencies.
The work of MPs in their constituencies is paramount to the work of the CPLO
(Catholic Parliamentary Liaison Office) of the church. It is the wish of the
church that MPs bring change to the people who voted them into office.
The CPLO's role in this regard is to bring awareness to both the MP of an area
and the people who voted the MP into power. In order for the people to realise
the role of the MP in their area the office has organised through Diocesan CCJP
offices to assist the ordinary people to now ask relevant questions after every
election that will have taken place in the country. This does not need any money
except for the transport of the CPLO to different constituencies and in some
instances to some dioceses with coordinators who will be having a challenge in
the area of governance..
The main objective of the project is to engage policy makers with the church and
ensure that the church is fully participating in policy formulation. Basically,
peace must be the underlying factor in the work, the reason why the office had to
be proactive by formulating a shadow National Peace and Reconciliation Bill
and presented it to Parliament last year.
f. Mass in Parliament
Since 2010, every last Wednesday of the month, the office meets with the
legislature from 12.00 noon to 1.45 pm to celebrate mass. The office then
facilitates discussions on a given topic or invites someone to facilitate on the
subject matter. The number of MPs who attended these meetings grew this year
45
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