Parliaments – more effective.We publish a report of the meeting here, along with a special report from a Ghanaian MP on a breakthrough in parliamentary scrutiny which stemmed from an earlier Summer School and which had an enormous and extremely positive impact on parliamentary governance in the West African nation. Parliamentary scrutiny of public spending does not appear to be doing as well in Sri Lanka. Mrs Priyanee Wijesekera, the recently retired Secretary- General of Parliament, reports on a series of develop- ments which she argues have undermined Parliament’s historic control over government spending.And worst of all, she argues, nobody seemed to notice, or care, that it was happening. Perhaps the Ghanaian Parliament could offer some assistance to its Sri Lankan counterpart. The Parliament of Kenya has a long and enviable
record in contributing to the development of the East African nation.The fact that Kenya was able to recover so quickly from the post-election violence at the beginning of 2008, and to do so in a parliamentary setting, is testimony to the position of Parliament in the country.Mr Murumba Werunga, a former Kenyan Deputy Clerk and now the first Clerk of the Pan-African Parliament, traces the role of the
Parliament in advancing the development of the mod- ern Kenyan state. Parliament has played a major role in the develop-
ment of Trinidad and Tobago and its building, Red House, has come to symbolize not just the parliamen- tary democracy but the nation itself. Mr Albert W.B. Sydney, an experienced philatelic consultant, describes here how Red House has been depicted in postage stamps over the decades.As the CPA prepares to celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2011, the issuing of commemorative post stamps of Parliaments and Legislatures around the Commonwealth is one of the programmes being considered.The Commonwealth could do well to follow Trinidad’s lead. A CPA programme that was recently launched at
the initiative of the Tasmanian Branch is the scheme to twin Parliaments and Legislatures with others around the Commonwealth. Cities have long done this to great advantage, sharing information with their twin cities to help everyone overcome obstacles and find better ways of working.Tasmania and Samoa have agreed to twin with each other, and a report here indicates how this mutually beneficial arrangement has been implemented.