Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I would like to welcome all of you to the committee and to Canada.
I want to first of all make a comment and then ask a question.
I had the pleasure in 1997, as president of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, to go on a speaking tour of Ghana on the formation of the National Association of Local Authorities of Ghana, NALAG. You pointed out the change from military rule in 1992. At the time, one of the challenges Ghana had was to build a democracy with real roots. The Federation of Canadian Municipalities, which is supported in its international work by the Canadian International Development Agency, was asked if we would undertake a project to establish a national municipal organization in Ghana.
It was one of the most rewarding experiences I've had, because I got to talk to leaders, people in the business community, and people on the street about the experiment of democracy that was taking root in Ghana. That experience at the local level seems to have helped Ghana move forward to a stable democracy.
As a parliamentarian, how were you able to deal with the issue of democracy and development? How did you deal with the fact that you really started out with a transition from military rule to a democracy, where traditionally a very powerful executive was very dominant versus a legislature, in terms of trying to get that right balance? Ghana is one of the success stories in Africa--regrettably, there are some that are not--in being able to strike that balance to empower members. You went through some of the issues on oversight, corruption, etc., which are very important, but how did you go about that process?
Can you then tell us what lessons you have learned there that might be of some assistance to this committee as we move forward in our deliberations on development and democracy?