The Parliament of Bermuda and the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) have invited the Honourable Shirley M. Osborne, Speaker of the House of Assembly of Montserrat, to be part of a team to train Members of the Bermuda Legislative Assembly.
“There is a keen and growing sense among Caribbean parliaments of the importance of sharing expertise and supporting one another’s development,” said the speaker in a press release Wednesday.
“Given the role which parliaments play in nurturing state capability, accountability and responsiveness and in ensuring the delivery of governance that is effective, it is important that parliamentarians be made familiar with such basics as parliamentary best practices, legislation, scrutiny, and representation, benchmarks of good governance and codes of conduct for parliamentarians both within the parliament precincts and in the conduct of their personal lives.”
“Progressive parliaments make a point of strengthening their ability to foster capable, accountable and responsive governance,” she added. “Precisely because effective parliaments are an essential component of democratic governance. We in Caribbean parliaments, and in the OTs, more particularly, are very much aware of the urgency and benefit of parliamentary strengthening and I am pleased that Montserrat is able to support other parliaments in this quest.”
Among the topics on which the speaker will present are parliament, democracy and civil society, what it means to be an elected representative, representing constituents, the relationship between parliament and the people, the power of gender-equal parliaments, and bringing young people into the process.
In 2017, Osborne conducted parliamentary strengthening training at the Turks and Caicos Islands Parliament as part of a team that included Akbar Khan, Director General of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, Jacqui Sampson-Miguel, Clark of the Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago and the Hon. Dave Levac Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, Canada.
The speaker will travel to Bermuda in early 2019.
