The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, has been elected President of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) International.
He was unanimously elected by members of the CPA at the just-ended 65th Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference (CPC) held in Halifax, Canada.
Until his election, Mr Bagbin was the Vice-President of the CPA; an organisation of over 180 member Parliaments of Commonwealth nations.
By virtue of the Speaker’s new role, Ghana has been chosen to host the 66th Conference of the CPA in Accra from the September 30 to October 7, 2023.
As President of the CPA, Mr Bagbin becomes the head of the CPA and would preside over the conference in Ghana.
Per his election, Mr Bagbin would chair the Elections Committee of the Association, serve as a member of the Executive Committee of the Association among other roles.
Meanwhile, the Majority Leader, OseiKyei-Mensah-Bonsu, has also been elected vice chairman of the association.
By this election, he becomes the second in command on the Executive and Coordinating Committees of the association.
As vice chairman and the deputy spokesperson of the CPA, the Suame MP would assist the Chairman of the Association, Ian Liddell-Grainger, MP, Member of the House of Commons, UK, in providing leadership for the running of the Executive Committee of the Association.
At the plenary of the conference, major issues that were discussed included amendments to the Constitution of the Association to make Parliaments in the Commonwealth more relevant, accessible, technologically savvy, gender-sensitive, balanced, and inclusive of the youth, and the marginalised, especially persons with disabilities.
Mr Bagbin, 64, was the lawmaker for the Nadowli-Kaleo constituency for seven terms between 1993 and January 6, 2021.
Having served as both Minority and Majority leader, he broke the glass ceiling when he was elected as the first speaker coming from the opposition party.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, on the other hand is serving his seventh term as representative of the SuameConstituency in the legislative assembly.
First voted into parliament in 1997, MrKyei-Mensah-Bonsu rose through the ranks to lead the then minority between 2009 and January 6, 2017 and is serving his second term as majority leader.
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