The Secretary-General of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, Stephen Twigg has visited the National Assembly of The Gambia, the first visit by a CPA Secretary-General since the CPA Gambia Branch re-joined the Association in 2019.

The CPA Secretary-General was received by the CPA Gambia Branch President and the Speaker of the National Assembly, Rt Hon. Fabakary Tombong Jatta. The meeting was also attended by the CPA Gambia Branch Secretary and Clerk of the National Assembly, Mr Momodou A. Sise and the Deputy Clerk Legal and Procedural Matters, Kalipha M. M. Mbye.

The visiting CPA Headquarters delegation included the CPA Deputy Secretary-General, Jarvis Matiya and CPA Governance Officer, Tom Marino. They discussed a range of topics, including international cooperation across the Commonwealth and professional development for Members of Parliament and parliamentary staff.

The CPA delegation then met with the Deputy Majority Leader of the House, Hon. Abdoulie Ceesay, MP, and Hon. Alhagie S. Darbo, MP, Minority Leader. CPA Gambia Branch Members attended the 65th Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference (CPC) in Halifax, Canada in August 2022.

The CPA Secretary-General also met with the Chairperson of the National Assembly Committee on Gender, Children and Welfare, Hon. Fatoumatta Njai, MP to discuss issues affecting women in politics and the strategies available to overcome them.

The Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians (CWP) Chairperson, Hon. Dr Zainab Gimba, MP (Nigeria) led a CWP Africa delegation on a visit to Gambia the previous month to discuss women’s political participation and representation as key objectives of the network.

The Gambia Branch of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association was originally founded in 1949 and is a member of the CPA Africa Region. The Branch left the CPA in 2013 before returning in 2019, following Gambia’s readmittance to the Commonwealth in 2018.

In recent years, the CPA Gambia Branch has worked closely with the CPA Headquarters on a self-assessment against the CPA’s Recommended Benchmarks for Democratic Legislatures for the National Assembly and the CPA’s Model Law for Parliaments was utilised in the revised Standing Orders for the National Assembly.

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The Commonwealth Parliamentary Association connects, develops, promotes and supports Parliamentarians and their staff to identify benchmarks of good governance and the implementation of the enduring values of the Commonwealth. The CPA is an international community of around 180 Commonwealth Parliaments and Legislatures working together to deepen the Commonwealth’s commitment to the highest standards of democratic governance.

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