Website: The National Assembly (NA) yesterday launched a bilingual website that will now allow the people to watch the Parliament sessions live on the site.

Jigme Zangpo, the Speaker, said that it is important to have such a website for better public service delivery and to have strong government.

The website has a platform where people can share their opinions and leave feedback.

The speaker said that the new website will strengthen democracy as people can share their thoughts.

“It would also help government officials to share their feedback and thoughts. It will help maintain transparency and accountability,” said the Speaker. “We want to make our Parliament competent.”

UN Resident Representative, Ms Christina Carlson, said the strategic plan 2014-2018 will guide NA for the next four years in its endeavours to promote and deepen democracy.

“The parliament’s website offers a space to make Bhutan’s democracy inclusive and vibrant through improving people’s participation in democratic discourse,” said Ms Carlson. “We look forward to following the discussions taking place between members of Parliament and their constituents in the online forum, as well as on other digital platforms such as SMS and intranet.”

NA secretariat can also inform MPs through SMS on the site for meetings and special gatherings.

The website was designed to bolster the communication machinery of the NA and in both Dzongkha and English languages, which is first of its kind among government agencies besides Dzongkha Development Commission.

The National Council’s (NC) website, which will be launched soon, will also be accessible by using the same URL: www.parliament.bt.

The first strategic objective of the plan is to strengthen the institutional capacity of the NA Secretariat, which will be followed by improving the legislative capacity of NC.

The third strategic objective is to enhance the oversight capacity of the NA and finally the NA’s representation and outreach capacity.

Both the website and the Strategic Development Plan were developed with financial support from the UNDP.

By Tashi Tenzin

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