ABSTRACT
The introductory presentation was made by Mr Colin Shepherd, MP, Chair man of the Executive Committee of the Commonwealth Parliamentary As sociation (CPA). He stated that there were 184 countries in the world today (another delegate subsequently claimed that there were 190), of which 51 were members of the Commonwealth. At the time of writing, 48 of these countries have elected representative institutions, parliamentary government being currently suspended in The Gambia, Nigeria and Uganda, and re cently restored in Sierra Leone. The CPA alone has a membership of some 11 000 elected parliamentarians and, when one considers the number of representative institutions throughout the world at the national, federal, state, provincial, regional, municipal and local levels, it is clear that count less thousands, or more probably millions, of elected people are entrusted with the governance, interests and welfare of the populations they represent.
