By Brian Mboh
Hon Mary Muyali epse Meboka, deputy speaker of the National Assembly, on June 14 at the Hotel le Député in Yaounde, in a press conference talked extensively on the importance of Cameroon hosting the 18the edition of the Conference of Speakers and Presiding officers of the Commonwealth of Africa.
Communicating as the personal representative of the Rt Hon Cavayé Yéguié Djibril, Speaker of the National Assembly, Hon Muyali Meboka said :
“The Conference is a vital forum for speakers and presiding officers to build relationships with colleagues across the Commonwealth, while exchanging ideas and best practices.”
“The more effective a speaker or presiding officer is in his or her roles, the stronger debates and parliamentary processes can be, and the more faith citizens will have in our parliamentary systems.”
“The most important gain in such a conference is information and knowledge sharing, ” Hon Mary Muyali explained.
It holds every two years at the international and regional levels. With regards to CSPOC International, it brings together Speakers and Presiding Officers from the nine regions that make up the Commonwealth namely: Africa, Asia, Australia, British Islands and the Mediterranean, Canada, Caribbean, Americas and Atlantic, India, Pacific, and South-East Asia.
The regional conference, like the one we are hosting, brings together Speakers and Presiding Officers of a region.
The 18th CSPOC will therefore bring together Speakers and Presiding Officers from Botswana, Cameroon, Gabon.
The Gambia, Ghana, Kenya Kingdom of Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Togo, Uganda, Tanzania and Zambia.
The Conference provides the Speakers and Presiding Officers of parliaments in the Commonwealth with a unique opportunity to gather together in a forum of their own to exchange information and express views on matters of common concern Speakers or presiding officers are Members of Parliament who chair parliamentary proceedings.
They must be or are supposed to be above party concerns or leanings in their duties as chairs, and expert interpreters of the rules of procedure by which their parliaments operate The Conference therefore seeks to:
Maintain, foster, and encourage impartiality and fairness on the part of Speakers and Presiding Officers. Impartiality and fairness of the Speaker and Presiding Officer here means equal treatment of MPs and issues, and equal application of the law, rules and procedures, irrespective of an MP’s political leaning, with the understanding that MPs are the representatives of the people;
Promote knowledge and understanding of parliamentary democracy. The Conference serves as an avenue for Speakers and Presiding Officers to share best practices, learn from one another and build closer relations.
Develop parliamentary institutions. By developing parliamentary institutions, we are referring to the possibility of Speakers to bring their parliaments to sign partnership agreements with other parliaments for exchange visits.
The Conference of Speakers and Presiding Officers of the Commonwealth, commonly referred to as CSPOC, was created in 1969 as an initiative of the then Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada, the Hon. Lucien Lamoureux.
The term “Presiding Officer “means a person who presides over a second chamber in the case of a bicameral parliament and includes chairpersons of National Councils and Presidents of Senates.
The Conference is an independent group and has no formal affiliation with the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA), the Commonwealth Secretariat or the Commonwealth Heads of Government.
