VIEW FROM THE CPA SECRETARY-GENERAL
REFLECTIONS ON CPA ACTIVITIES AHEAD OF THE 66th COMMONWEALTH PARLIAMENTARY CONFERENCE IN GHANA The Secretary-General of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, Stephen Twigg
The issue of the CPA’s legal status remains my top priority as we continue efforts to persuade the UK Government to legislate whilst, at the same time, doing the work to set up a new non-charitable entity and prepare benchmarks for a potential relocation of CPA Headquarters outside of the United Kingdom. CPA Regional Conferences provide excellent opportunities for the CPA Branches with others in their Region to get together and learn from each other. I am always grateful to be invited to attend Regional Conferences. At the time of writing, I have returned recently from the 59th CPA Canada Regional Conference in Regina, Saskatchewan and the 9th CPA India Regional Conference in Udaipur, Rajasthan with the CPA Chairperson. During the same week that the CPA Canada Region met, it was also the Regional Conference for the CPA Caribbean, Americas and the Atlantic (CAA) Region where the CPA Headquarters was ably represented by our Chairperson, Hon. Ian Liddell-Grainger and the CPA Deputy Secretary-General, Jarvis Matiya. Later this year, I look forward to attending the 40th CPA Australia and Pacific Regional Conference in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Earlier this year, I also attended the 52nd CPA British Islands and Mediterranean (BIM) Regional Conference in London. I am delighted that we have been able to return to a programme of CPA Regional Conferences this year. CPA’s Regions are a source of great strength. I attended the CPA Africa Regional Conferences in Abuja, Nigeria and Freetown, Sierra Leone in 2021 and 2022 respectively. At both, I was impressed by the powerful voices of women Parliamentarians expressed through the Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians network. Hon Zainab Gimba, who is now the CWP Chairperson, delivered a passionate speech in Abuja at the opening ceremony of the Conference in 2021. Sierra Leone’s recent election saw a very welcome increase in the number of women elected to Parliament. Increasing women’s representation is an important priority for the CPA and CWP. It is part of our wider work to promote Gender Sensitive Parliaments. This issue of The Parliamentarian also features an article on overcoming the barriers to women’s representation in The Gambia by Hon. Fatoumatta Njai, MP, Chairperson of the National Assembly Committee on Gender, Children and Welfare who I met on my visit to the CPA Gambia Branch earlier this year. 184 | The Parliamentarian | 2023: Issue Three | 100 years of publishing
When I visit CPA Branches and Regional Conferences I often ask about communication. The CPA brings together thousands of legislators and parliamentary staff. Some are very involved in the CPA’s work, but many are less familiar with what we do. The Parliamentarian is a vitally important channel of communication, and I am immensely grateful to all contributors as well as the members of the Editorial Advisory Board. The CPA Order Paper is a newer initiative sharing crucial information via email throughout the year. I am always grateful for thoughts and feedback about how we can best communicate with our membership, and I am mindful that communication is a two-way process. The CPA Headquarters is keen to hear from you as well as being determined to provide accessible information for our Members and parliamentary staff across the Commonwealth. Research undertaken by our Communications team looked into the ways in which recent CPA Parliamentary Academy participants had heard about the Academy. The highest scoring answer was ‘from a colleague’. This finding demonstrates something very significant for an organisation like ours. We can often maximise our impact by engaging well with Members and then encouraging those Members to ‘spread the word’. Parliamentarians and parliamentary staff are busy people which is why the CPA Parliamentary Academy was devised to be flexible and available online so that courses can be undertaken as and when participants have the time. In June 2023, the CPA Alberta Branch and Legislative Assembly of Alberta kindly hosted the third CPA Parliamentary Academy Residency programme in Canada, following the first two Residency programmes in Sydney and Cape Town last year. The next Residency programme will be hosted by the Scottish Parliament in October 2023, and I look forward to meeting the participants there. At the end of May 2023, I was pleased to be part of a CPA site visit to Accra, Ghana, as part of our preparations for the forthcoming 66th Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference (CPC). Since then, we have been working closely with the CPA Ghana Branch and the Parliament of Ghana to prepare for the Conference. I am delighted that, as part of the 66th CPC, Ghana will host the inaugural Emilia Monjowa Lifaka Lecture. The Hon. Emilia Lifaka was the Chairperson of the CPA from 2017 until her sad and untimely death in 2021. The Lecture is intended