By: E. Williams
LONDON, ENGLAND, May 27th 2017 – As preparations are underway for the 42nd Regional Conference of the Caribbean, the Americas and the Atlantic Region of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) to be held in St. Kitts next month, WICNews is reporting that 12 parliamentary speakers and 75 delegates will attend the meeting.
According to London-based WICNews the June 16th to 24th meeting is themed: “Enhancing Democracy through the Use of the Parliamentary System and the Media.”
The CPA “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.”
Akbar Khan, CPA Secretary General, is scheduled to attend the meeting with representations from 14 parliamentary branches.
Nations who have confirmed their attendance include Antigua and Barbuda, Bermuda, Barbados, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Guyana, Jamaica, Montserrat, Nevis Island, Saint Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, and St. Kitts and Nevis.
Observers will attend from the Jersey legislature from the British Isles, the Cameroon legislature from the African region and the Yukon legislature from the Canada region.
Activities planned include the 10th Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians Conference, the 13th Regional Youth Parliament Debate and the Annual General Meeting of the 42nd Conference, among others.
Michael Perkins, Speaker of the St Kitts and Nevis National Assembly, announced that the federation would be hosting the gathering earlier this year.
A planning committee has been put in place without any representation from the opposition Nevis Reformation Party (NRP) and the St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party (SKNLP), the largest single party in the twin-island Federation.
In the 2015 general elections the SKNLP, led by the Rt. Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas, remained the largest single party in St. Kitts and Nevis, gaining 11,897 votes to the Hon. Shawn Richards’ People’s Action Movement (PAM), 8,452, the Hon. Vance Amory’s Concerned Citizens Movement (CCM) 3, 951 votes; the Hon. Joseph Parry’s (Nevis Reformation Party (NRP), 3,276 votes and Dr. the Hon. Timothy Harris’ People’s Labour Party (PLP), 2,723.
