Ugandan Parliamentarians at the 66th Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference (66th CPC) in Accra, Ghana, requested that Uganda should house the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) headquarters.
The bid was presented during the 66th Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference, which began on September 30th and will end on October 6th, 2023, in Accra, Ghana.
Representing Speaker Anita Among, Enos Asiimwe, a Member of Parliament for Kabula County, emphasised Uganda’s strategic location and the possible economic benefits of hosting the CPA headquarters in a fast-developing country like Uganda.
“The potential for hosting the headquarters includes holding conferences, jobs at the Secretariat, and opportunities for infrastructure development given that the CPA is a wealthy organisation that would establish its headquarters in the new country,” Asiimwe stated.
“Our legal system is flexible enough to recognise the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association as an International Parliamentary Organisation, with all of the rights, privileges, and immunities that such organisations are entitled to under international law and the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations,” Bugiri Municipality legislator Asuman Basalirwa said.
The Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) has proposed relocating its headquarters from Britain to any willing member, despite its current 180 branches across nine regions: Africa, Asia, Australia, the British Islands and Mediterranean, Canada, the Caribbean, the Americas and Atlantic, India, the Pacific, and Southeast Asia.
The CPA headquarters secretariat is currently based in London.
The 66th Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference aimed to provide professional development, learning, and sharing of best practices among Commonwealth Parliament members and leading international organizations. It also featured workshops on cooperation issues like global warming, terrorism, human rights, poverty, sustainable trade, and economic development. The conference aimed to enhance the scrutiny of parliamentarians and parliaments.