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Leonard Ncube, [email protected]

PARLIAMENT of Zimbabwe Director of Library and Information Services, Dr Isaiah Munyoro has been elected president of the Association of Parliamentary Libraries in Eastern and Southern Africa (APLESA) as the country’s Legislature continues to rise to greater heights in the continent.

Dr Munyoro, a revered academic, was elected at the recent 20th APLESA conference in Victoria Falls and will be president for the next two years.

He takes over from Mrs Chama Mpundu Mfula of Zambia Parliament.

The election was done at the APLESA annual general meeting, which was held at the close of the conference.

“We say congratulations to the Parliament of Zimbabwe for raising the image of the nation and wish Dr Munyoro the best during his time of leadership of the association,” said Parliament of Zimbabwe in a statement.

Zimbabwe Parliament director of public relations Mr Farai Makubaza said the election of Dr Munyoro rubberstamps the crucial position the country’s legislature occupies in the region.

“The elevation of Dr Munyoro speaks volumes and is testament to how the country is held in high esteem in the region and international level. Parliament of Zimbabwe with its ISO certification is also highly revered and this comes on the backdrop of Parliament holding strategic positions at the International Parliamentary union,” said Mr Makubaza.

He said the Speaker of Parliament is an executive committee member at the African Parliament Union (APU), where Mabel Chinomona, Senate president, is president of APU.

Chief Fortune Charumbira is also President of Pan African Parliament.

“This speaks volumes to how as a country we are held in high esteem and the integral role that libraries play in our country as we hope this will drive the agenda of libraries and inculcate a reading culture in our youth,” said Mr Makubaza.

Election of Dr Munyoro and recognition of Zimbabwe Parliament on the international scene also testifies the fruits of President Mnangagwa and the Second Republic’s policy of engagement and re-engagement.

At the conference, Dr Munyoro presented a paper titled ‘Role of library in society” where he referred APLESA’s Corporate Social Responsibility among other conventional roles of libraries in society, as well as APLESA communication Strategy.

The 20th APLESA annual conference was attended by over 100 participants from the Eastern and Southern African Region.

After a break forced by Covid-19, APLESA was held following Cabinet’s approval to host such an event which represents yet another parliamentary diplomatic initiative that aligns with the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1)’s focus on image building and engagement.

APLESA’s vision is to be an Association of Excellence, advancing inter-parliamentary library cooperation within Eastern and Southern Africa.

Its mission is to enable Parliaments to make informed decisions through networking and sharing information resources.

In her keynote address the, Deputy Speaker of Parliament of Zimbabwe, Tsitsi Gezi who was guest of honour, recommended that all libraries adopt electronic systems and digital technology and common filing system and effective information dissemination to parliament and its stakeholders.

Discussions were over a wide range of areas including the use of creation of Parliamentary Caucuses on literacy and use of evidence-based information services, parliament libraries and websites, challenges experienced during Covid-19 lockdown period, service accessibility to people living with disabilities, e-resources, among other administrative issues.

-@ncubeleon