By Chinonso Alozie, Owerri

THIS time around, it was the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, CPA, African region, that held its 48th conference in Owerri, the Imo State capital. The outgoing President of, CPA, Mr. Acho Ihim, told Southeast Voice that over 700 members of CPA were expected to attend.

The nearly two weeks event started with the arrival of delegates from the regional secretariat on Friday, October 13 – 22, 2017. Delegates came from Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia, South Africa, Botswana, Kenya, among others. It will be recalled that the event was declared open by the Vice President of Nigeria, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo.

To some people it was another show of shame while others argued that it was an opportunity to exhibit the rich culture, hospitality and showcasing if any, some tourist sites in the state. It also,   no doubt contributed somehow to the economy of the state. While others saw it as a means of advancing their political contacts and starting a new relationship offshore. It also provided a platform for business men and women to establish a link to extend their reach and understand unusual ways to improve in their activities.

For some lawmakers, it was a time to extract new knowledge in parliamentary business from their colleagues and expanding their horizon as it concerns lawmaking. However, the event did not fail completely. But it left undeserved remarks, probably, as a result of the inability of the House Committee on Inter Parliamentary Affairs, led by Mr. Kennedy Ibeh, to do their work thoroughly.

It came as a shock that delegates may have left unsatisfied with some asking questions which bordered on integrity and capacity. On October 23, delegates at the conference complained bitterly that they could not finish their parliamentary businesses and that as a result of lack of functional printers they were unable to print documents for the parliamentarians.

This was the alarm raised by the Chairperson of the 48th CPA conference, Mrs. Lindiwe Maseko from South Africa. She also said that the internet services broke down and the toilet facilities were not also functioning. To this point, it pictured the organizers of the African conference as unfit and raised the need to probe into the failure of such a high level gathering of African personalities.

The Ibeh led committee should be able to explain how they could not make that particular day a successful day. He should also tell Africans, their level of preparation as well as what has informed their choice of venue for the conference, which almost shut down their activities.

It was so disgraceful that these unfortunate events happened on the day the issues of gender, environment, education, health were to be discussed, and how to achieve Africa Agenda 2063 and the sustainable development goals, SDGs.

To some people, it was not a disgrace but an embarrassment given that the event was used as a yardstick to rate Nigerians on the delivery of quality services.

In the words of Maseko, “In continuation of the 48th CPA, conference, we adopted the agenda for the plenary and also the minutes of the last meeting. But, we could not finalize the report because of the inconvenience by the printers, which resulted in members not having the copy of the reports to present their own opinions.

“So, it was unfortunate that they did not have the copy. We took the decision to reconvene. So what I am saying is that, the internet is not working and there was no water and also the printers were not there to print documents to give to the delegates. So we are meeting again.”

Brotherly relationship

On what the CPA has been able to achive, Ihim who is the outgoing President of CPA and Speaker Imo State House of Assembly, said, “Within the ambit of the law, before I took over office it was about having a mutual and brotherly relationship within African member states and exchanging ideas in making laws that will impact our lives.

“Outside that we started thinking of something to do with developmental strides. We set in motion the idea of sourcing funds from international donors, which will be housed by CPA Secretariat. That means member states who are desirous of any developmental projects in their state can get on it and access the fund, while the money is being guaranteed by CPA and supervised by CPA.

“Even when I leave office the next leadership will continue. To get this money is not easy but for the fact that CPA is a known organization and registered in the world, it gives you that credence to get money. My successor will continue from there and states like Nigeria and member states of CPA, will get on it and be able to access some funds and develop their different communities, as the needs arises.

“Other than just being friendly, we have to go forward to ensure that we use it to bring positive development in our states, so these are some of the things we were able to do. It is for good that we are holding this conference that another seven hundred people from different African countries will be in attendance.”