“It Is A Very Big Diplomatic Victory For Cameroon"

Hon. Emilia Monjowa Lifaka, Chairperson of the Executive Committee of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA).

You were elected on November 7, 2017 the Chairperson of the Executive Committee of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA). How did your election come about?

When the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association launched the candidacy to fill the vacant post of the Chairperson, I was counted to apply for it. The Head of State, President Paul Biya, gave me the authorization to apply and run for the position. I want to thank the Head of State very much for giving me the opportunity to run for the position and also for supporting my candidature right to the end. He was actually engaged to seeing that we secure a victory. I thank him and God Almighty for the victory.

You had a landslide victory in the election. What was your secret?

I have been participating in CPA activities, attending meetings for over 10 years. My secret is humility, honesty and hard work. These are the values my parents gave me as I was growing up. I have held strongly to them. In this achievement, I feel I have broken a bobinga ceiling. You know Hilary was working hard to break a glass ceiling but this one victory I have had is breaking a bobinga ceiling and you know how difficult it is. As I said before, it is thanks to the President of the Republic, Paul Biya, that I could get the landslide victory for Cameroon. It was also thanks to the entire African Region that went out strongly to support my candidature. I equally want to thank other regions that supported us like India. From the votes cast, I had 1 votes out of the 192. Africa from the beginning had 52 votes. So, the other votes came from other countries and regions. Africa region adopted the policy of “One Africa one vote.”

What will Cameroon, your country, benefit from your position of Chairperson of CPA?

First of all, it is a very big diplomatic victory for our country Cameroon for us to get to the helm of this organization. Secondly, as a country with two Houses of Parliament, our parliamentarians participate actively in Commonwealth activities that also benefit us because when we go out, we learn a lot through exchanges with our colleagues from other countries. The workshops that usually take place during our conferences and also training sessions that take place along the sidelines of the conferences, are beneficial to parliamentarians who attend. They bring back home skills that help them on how to carry out their parliamentary work or on how to deal with the government. It is very helpful as they are also training pro...