Dr. William Shija was guest to House Speaker, Rt Hon, Cavaye Yeguié Djibril yesterday at the Glasshouse.

Activities of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) were the main focus of discussions yesterday the Ngoa Ekele Glasshouse between visiting Secretary General of the CPA, Tanzania’s Dr. William Shija and House Speaker, Rt Hon, Cavaye Yeguié Djibril.

The CPA official who arrived in the country, last Wednesday, paid courtesy visits to several parliamentary officials including the Chief Whips of the Cameroon Peoples Democratic Movement (CPDM) and the Social Democratic Front (SDF) Parliamentary Groups. Discussions did not raise issues that are really strange, rather than hammer on the contribution of parliament in enhancing democracy as an instrument of development. “Through democracy you can’t go wrong “, Dr. Shija told pressmen after discussions with House Speaker.

Their discussions, he said, centred mostly on happenings in the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association. “I briefed him on what is going on in the CPA community, one of which is the possibility of admitting Rwanda to the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association during the General Assembly which will sit in Nairobi Kenya”, he said. The CPA which will hit 100 next year, wants to review the way it conducts its activities for some members. This, according to Dr. Shija, entails looking at various issues including the constitution of the association as well as other activities. In this light, working it has been agreed that working groups be constituted, two members from Africa, one from the other eight regions of the CPA. “They will look in detail some of the things that are likely to be done to better the future of the association”, he said.

The visit to Cameroon of the CPA Secretary General falls within the framework of his responsibility. “I have the responsibility of staying connected among several other responsibilities, with the branches to inform them about what is going on in the association but also to learn from them what they suggest in terms of various programmes that would be useful to their members”, he said. So far, he has done four branches in Africa except Mauritius and Sierra Leone which are likely to be visited in a couple of months.

The August guest is expected to continue discussions today with government officials as well as a visit to Elections Cameroon (ELECAM). Cameroon joined the Commonwealth on 1st November, 1995 as its 52nd member. This admission was the fruit of six years of tortuous negotiations.