Mr Bagbin, accompanied by the Clerk-to-Parliament, Cyril Kwabena Nsiah, and the Director of Parliamentary Relations and Protocol, Sheeba Nana Afriyie-Osei, also received some Clerks-to-Parliaments and legislators from the 180-member Commonwealth Parliaments.

They included the Speaker of Samoa Parliament, Papali Lio Oloipola Taeu Masipau; the Speaker of St Kitts and Nevis Parliament, Lanein Blanchette, and the President of the Australia Federal Senate, Sue Lines.

Others were the Speaker of the Sierra Leone Parliament, Dr Abass Chernor Bundu; the Clerk of the Gambian Parliament, Momodou Cisse, as well as the Australian High Commissioner to Ghana, Berenice Owen-Jones.

Delegates

The dignitaries are among the 700 delegates attending the conference which began at the Accra International Conference Centre in Accra from September 30 to October 6, 2023.

The annual event will be on the theme: “The Commonwealth Charter 10 years on: Values and principles for Parliaments to uphold”.

Being hosted by Ghana’s Parliament and CPA Ghana Branch for the first time, the conference will also bring together parliamentary staff and key stakeholders in the parliamentary governance sector.  

It will be held under the patronage of the Speaker of Parliament, Mr Bagbin, who doubles as the President of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) and the President of the Ghana Branch of the Association.

Focus

The CPC offers the prospect of the CPA’s global membership coming together to address the critical issues facing today’s Parliaments.

The CPA is the only parliamentary association that brings together national, state, provincial and territorial legislatures, and its membership includes almost 180 Parliaments and Legislatures across the Commonwealth.

The CPA Africa Region is very active within the CPA’s nine regions, and this will be the 17th time that the region has hosted the annual conference.

The delegates will explore a wide range of workshop topics from the threat of terrorism to gender quotas in Parliaments, tackling energy poverty, achieving sustainable trade and economic development to youth engagement and e-Parliaments.

There will also be a number of additional conferences and meetings including the 39th CPA Small Branches Conference, meetings of the Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians, Commonwealth Parliamentarians with Disabilities networks, the 66th CPA General Assembly, governance meetings of the CPA Executive Committee and the 57th Society of Clerks-at-the-Table meeting.