Marende leads Kenyan delegation to commonwealth meeting

By Allan Kisia

House Speaker Kenneth Marende leads Kenyan delegations to the 58th Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) conference to be held in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

The six-day conference brings together about 800 delegates from across the 54 countries of the Commonwealth.

Marende, who is the chairman of CPA (Kenya) branch and former President of the Association, left the country on Sunday and is accompanied by among others Defence assistant minister David Musila who is also Vice-Chair of the CPA (Kenya) branch.

Others are MPs Professor Hellen Sambili (Mogotio), Fahim Twaha (Lamu East) and Charles Nyamai (Kitui West) and National Assembly Clerk Patrick Gichohi.

Gichohi who is also the CPA Kenya branch secretary will participate at the conference as a guest of the Society of Clerks in the Commonwealth and as a past chair of the society.

The Clerk will make a presentation on Bicameral Parliament in the context of the Constitution of Kenya 2010.

The climax of the conference will be a discussion on “Ensuring a Relevant Commonwealth for the Future” and matters affecting the Commonwealth and in particular the politics of constitution-making, the role of Parliaments in relation to the people and the pertinent question of terrorism as a threat to democracy, peace and security.

The conference closes on Saturday.