GEORGETOWN – For the first time in its 105 years of existence, the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) is headed by Guyanese Akbar Khan.
He becomes the seventh Secretary-General of the CPA, which is an Associated Organisation of the Commonwealth, linking members of national, state, provincial and territorial parliaments and legislatures.
Khan was appointed in October last year after he was recommended to the 61st General Assembly by the Association’s International Executive Committee which is made up of representatives of the nine regions of the CPA.
At the opening of the CPA Post Election Seminar yesterday at the Marriott Hotel in Georgetown, the Secretary-General recounted his boyhood days in Guyana.
“Even though I left Guyana when I was a young boy, I have very happy childhood memories of living on Brickdam, not so far away from this building and visiting beautiful places in the interior such as Berbice, Essequibo and other lovely wonders of the world such as the Kaieteur Falls which can only be found here in Guyana.
“One of the feelings of coming back to Guyana is feeling the beautiful hospitality and the lushful city of Georgetown and I am happy to be here on my first overseas tour as Secretary General.
“Like so many Guyanese raised and living in the diaspora the feeling that you can take the boy of Guyana but not Guyana out of the boy resonates very strongly with me and it is an enormous personal and professional privilege to be here,” Khan said.
He is a Barrister-at-Law and an Attorney-at-Law and was admitted to the English Bar in 1990 and the New York Bar (USA) in 2000. He has held senior positions at the UK foreign Office and at the Commonwealth Secretariat, specialising in International Law.
Khan was congratulated by Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo and other officials on his appointment.
The Secretary-General of the CPA is now among the many Guyanese who have done exceedingly well in the diaspora taking up key and critical positions at international agencies and organisations.
These include former Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Sir Shridath Ramphal; the first female Chief Justice, then first female judge at the Caribbean Court of Justice, Madam Judge Desiree Bernard and Justice at the International Court of Justice, Mohammed Shahabuddin to name a few. (GINA)
