Following a virtual meeting of the Regional Champions of the Commonwealth Parliamentarians with Disabilities (CPwD) network, Hon. Dennitah Ghati MP from the National Assembly of Kenya has been announced as the new CPwD Chairperson.

The CPwD network was established by the CPA to support Parliamentarians with disabilities to be more effective in their roles and to help improve awareness of disability issues amongst all Parliamentarians and parliamentary staff. The CPwD Regional Champions represent each of the CPA’s nine Regions and promote the rights of Commonwealth Parliamentarians with disabilities in their respective Regions and represent disability interests within the CPA.

Hon. Dennitah Ghati MP succeeds the first CPwD Chairperson, Hon. Kevin Murphy (Nova Scotia) who was crucial in the establishment of the new CPwD network in 2019. As CPwD Chairperson, Hon. Dennitah Ghati MP will lead the network’s engagement with the CPA Executive Committee and the CPA Headquarters Secretariat and liaise with Commonwealth Parliaments on behalf of the network.

The CPA Secretary-General, Stephen Twigg, welcomed the announcement of the new CPwD Chairperson and said:

“I look forward to working with the new CPwD Chairperson, Hon. Dennitah Ghati to increase awareness of disability issues in Commonwealth Parliaments and to promote the rights of Parliamentarians and parliamentary staff with disabilities.”

Above: Hon. Dennitah Ghati MP from the National Assembly of Kenya has been announced as the new Chairperson of the Commonwealth Parliamentarians with Disabilities (CPwD).

About the new CPwD Chairperson:

Hon. Dennitah Ghati MP was nominated as a Member of the National Assembly of Kenya in 2017 to represent the special interests of persons with disabilities and she is the CPA Africa Region’s current representative as a CPwD Regional Champion. Previously working as a journalist in Kenya for The East African Standard Newspaper and in New York, USA for the American Jewish World Service. She subsequently worked for the League of Kenyan Women Voters and as a program manager for UNICEF Somalia.

In the 2013 Kenyan General Election, Dennitah Ghati was elected to the National Assembly as the first female representative for Migori county, representing the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM). A year later, on in March 2014, she was involved in a serious car accident in Nairobi that sadly resulted in a spinal injury and use of a wheelchair. As a result, she founded the Dennitah Ghati Disability Foundation, a non-profit foundation that seeks to empower persons with disabilities. In July 2018, she represented the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association at the Global Disability Summit.

To find out more about the Commonwealth Parliamentarians with Disabilities (CPwD) network, please click here.

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Source: https://www.cpahq.org/news/2021_9-cpwd-chairperson-announcement/

CPA News

For immediate release, 10 September 2021

In an address to attendees at the Commonwealth Lawyers Conference 2021 in Nassau, The Bahamas, the CPA Secretary-General, Stephen Twigg, spoke about the need to safeguard the separation of powers amidst the increased use of emergency measures during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The CPA Secretary-General, chairing a session on the effects of emergency measures on the separation of powers with the Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland, Sir Declan Morgan QC, and the Attorney-General of Jamaica, Hon. Marlene Malahoo Forte, said that Parliamentarians, lawyers and experts must carefully scrutinise whether ‘the scale, the form and content of these emergency measures were fit for purpose’.

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic triggered the adoption of emergency measures across the world as governments acted to slow the spread of the virus. Whilst fast and extensive restrictions were necessary to protect public health systems and save lives, the subsequent decrease in transparency and accountability placed great strain on the core democratic principle of the separation of powers.

Noting the potential for power imbalances between the three pillars of the rule of law during an emergency, the CPA Secretary-General warned that ‘Parliaments can be at a significant disadvantage when compared to the position of governments.’ He emphasised that Parliamentarians must remain vigilant during a crisis to protect the independence of Parliament and highlighted that the Commonwealth Latimer House Principles on the separation of powers provide an important framework for good governance and democracy.

The Conference, hosted annually by the Commonwealth Lawyers Association, took place from 5 – 9 September 2021 at the Baha Mar Grand Hyatt Convention Centre in Nassau. The overall theme was ‘Sustainable Justice: The future of the role of law’, with legal practitioners, politicians, academics and experts from across the Commonwealth attending to discuss issues in the profession and share ideas. Each day featured a plenary session followed by workshops and panels split across three ‘event streams.’ On the second day of the Conference, the CPA Secretary-General also chaired a session on ‘Judicial oversight and accountability: the rise of the watchdog.’

The Commonwealth Secretary-General, Rt Hon. Patricia Scotland QC, spoke at the opening plenary session, alongside Brian Speers, President of the Commonwealth Lawyers Association, about why climate rights must be treated as essential human rights.

Whilst in The Bahamas, the CPA Secretary-General also held meetings with some of the country’s parliamentary and civil society leaders, including Matthew Aubry, President of the Organisation for Responsible Governance, and Anthony Hamilton, President of Civil Society Bahamas. He heard from them about the interaction between Parliament and civil society in The Bahamas, how their organisations contribute to the upkeep of Bahamian democracy, and the ways in which the CPA can support this. The CPA Secretary-General also met with the President of the Senate, the Speaker and the Clerk of the House of Assembly of The Bahamas during his visit.

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The Commonwealth Parliamentary Association Strategic Plan for 2022-2025 sets out its support for its membership of 180 Commonwealth Parliaments as well as how the organisation will advance and develop support to CPA Members through focusing on six core objectives and cross cutting themes that will be mainstreamed across CPA operations and workstreams.

The Commonwealth Parliamentary Association’s Deputy Secretary-General, Jarvis Matiya, attended the 5^th World Conference of Speakers of Parliament, organised by the Inter-Parliamentary Union and hosted by the Parliament of Austria in Vienna from 6 – 8 September 2021. Many Commonwealth Speakers attended the conference which was held on the theme of ‘Parliaments for peace, people and planet’ and was the first time that many Speakers and Parliamentarians have been able to gather in person since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The CPA Deputy Secretary-General met with the IPU’s Secretary-General, Martin Chungong who opened the conference by praising the resilience of Parliaments during the pandemic. The CPA Deputy Secretary-General also met with many Commonwealth Speakers including the Speaker of the Lok Sabha and CPA India Regional Chairperson, Hon. Om Birla, MP and the Speaker of the Nigeria House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila in the margins of the conference.

The CPA Deputy-Secretary General, Jarvis Matiya (left) with IPU Secretary-General Martin Chungong. For further images of the conference please click here.

The CPA Deputy Secretary-General discussed potential areas of collaboration with a number of inter-parliamentary organisations at the conference including with Ambassador Luca Fratini, Director of the Secretary-General’s Office at the OSCE.

Commonwealth Women Speakers and Parliamentarians also participated in the 13^th Summit of Women Speakers of Parliament to discuss gender responsive leadership, actions and the COVID-19 pandemic recovery. The discussion took place in Vienna on the day before the World Speakers Conference. Former CPA Chairperson and Speaker of the Parliament of Bangladesh, Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury spoke about measures to prevent violence against women and girls at the Summit of Women Speakers of Parliament.

Former CPA Chairperson, Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury, speaks at the 13th Summit of Women Speakers of Parliament

Source: https://www.cpahq.org/news/2021_09-commonwealth-speakers-attend-world-speakers-conference/

Event Details:
Date: 15 September 2021
Location: Worldwide

The International Day of Democracy provides an opportunity to review the state of democracy in the world. The mission of the CPA is:

to promote knowledge of the constitutional, legislative, economic, social and cultural aspects of parliamentary democracy, with particular reference to the countries of the Commonwealth.

The work of the CPA supports Parliamentarians and parliamentary staff across its 180 Branches to uphold and strengthen parliamentary democracy, the rule of law, sustainable development and human rights. Through mutual learning, dialogue, co-operation and networking, the CPA seeks to build strong, powerful and effective parliamentary institutions that are able to respond and adapt to the challenges of today and tomorrow.

Effective Parliaments are one of the principal institutions of any functioning democracy. An elected Parliament acts as a representative body of the population and should retain the ability to pass laws, hold the government to account, scrutinise public spending and voice the concerns of citizens.

On International Day of Democracy, the CPA and its Members around the world renew our commitment to safeguard, support and strengthen parliamentary democracy.

If you are holding events for International Day of Democracy then tag @CPA_Secretariat on Twitter or email details to communications@cpahq.org

Source: https://www.cpahq.org/events/international-day-of-democracy/

The Parliamentarian is the quarterly Journal of Commonwealth Parliaments published by the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) and features articles, news and legislative reports written by Members of Parliament, parliamentary staff and international experts across the Commonwealth about a wide range of global issues. Click here to download the latest issue.

Newly elected Members of the Parliament of the Cayman Islands have completed the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) Virtual Post-Election Seminar, designed to strengthen their understanding of parliamentary democracy and provide an insight into leading democratic practices from around the Commonwealth.

The seminar took place from 4 – 6 August 2021 and was attended by government and opposition Members of Parliament and a roster of experienced Parliamentarians from elsewhere in the Commonwealth. The opening ceremony, hosted in the Chamber, featured remarks by the Premier, Hon. G. Wayne Panton JP MP, the Speaker, Hon. Dr W. Mckeeva Bush OBE JP MP, and the CPA Secretary-General, Stephen Twigg, who joined the event remotely. This hybrid format was used throughout the programme, with Members sitting in the Parliament building whilst speakers from across the Commonwealth joined virtually.

The Premier of the Cayman Islands, Hon. G. Wayne Panton JP MP, opens the CPA Virtual Post-Election Seminar

Across the three days, Members and clerks from eleven Commonwealth Parliaments[1] joined sessions on topics including the legislative process, parliamentary ethics and the committee system. One highlight was a presentation by Hon. Mohamed Nasheed GCSK MP, Speaker of the People’s Majlis of the Maldives, in which he recalled his years of imprisonment and the recent bomb attack which left him hospitalised, bringing the importance of parliamentary privilege and freedom of speech into sharp focus.

The Cayman Islands 2021 General Election took place on 14 April 2021. The results saw twelve incumbents and seven newcomers elected, including three new women MPs, raising the total number of women in Parliament to five. The new cohort of MPs is also the youngest in Cayman Islands history. The election was monitored by a virtual Election Expert Mission organised by the CPA British Islands and Mediterranean Region (BIMR). The final report of the Mission was reviewed at the Post-Election Seminar in a session led by the CPA United Kingdom Branch.

Members take part in a workshop activity during the seminar

The CPA Secretary-General said:

“The Commonwealth Parliamentary Association was delighted to support the Parliament of the Cayman Islands once again through the delivery of the third successive Post-Election Seminar programme, following previous seminars in 2013 and 2017. I was pleased to see newly elected government and opposition Members come together to learn from their colleagues elsewhere in the Commonwealth and discuss how the institutions of democracy in the Cayman Islands can be continually strengthened.”

Speaker Bush added:

“As the Father of the House with over 36 years’ experience as a legislator and now a Parliamentarian, I see the merit of holding such a seminar. The seminar’s remit is to help Members hone their skills at becoming more effective parliamentarians, which is really a very invaluable service, particularly to new representatives. My sincere thanks go to the CPA Secretariat for bringing this resource to the direct benefit of our MPs.”

The Speaker, Hon. W. Mckeeva Bush JP MP, addresses Members

The CPA Post-Election Seminar programme introduces Parliamentarians to differing legislative systems and methods of working. The programme also serves as a reminder of the possibilities that can come from sharing knowledge across the Parliaments and Legislatures of the Commonwealth to strengthen democratic governance.

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[1] The Cayman Islands, Antigua and Barbuda, British Virgin Islands, Jersey, Maldives, Bermuda, Canada, Anguilla, The Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, United Kingdom, Isle of Man

Source: https://www.cpahq.org/news/2021_8-cayman-islands-post-election-seminar/