Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I'm going to start with the institutionalization of the political parties and their capacity to be able to enforce or enhance our democracy. Yes, a lot has been happening, as I said, because we started anew. A lot of institution building had to take place, and the NDI and some other organizations working in the area of building political parties are a real help.

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Yes, I'm glad you have been in Ghana and have seen the problems of the transition and most especially the very dominant executive that a young Parliament had to deal with. Indeed, because of our history, if you look at the arms of government as we traditionally know them, Parliament is the weakest of the three brothers.

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you very much. I'm Steve Akorli, from Ghana. I was a member of Parliament in Ghana for 12 years. I retired, voluntarily, in 2004. I am associated with the African-Canadian parliamentary strengthening program, and I became the co-chair of the coordinating council. The program is running a course of four years.