European Parliamentarians with Africa

Parliamentary Service Commission Visit to Ireland and Germany, May 2009

In partnership with the Kenya National Assembly, AWEPA facilitated a visit by the Parliamentary Service Commission to the Parliaments of Ireland and Germany on 19-21 and 28-29 May respectively.

The newly-constituted Parliamentary Service Commission governs the Parliament of Kenya.  It has a total of ten members including the Speaker and the Vice President.

The visit exposed the new Members of the Commission to the management and administration of Parliament.  Key focusses of the study visit included: management of facilities for Members both at Parliament buildings and in their constituencies; the recruitment of both partisan and non-partisan staff; provision of legislative services; and the determination of salaries, allowances and benefits of Members.

The delegation also visited Tallaght, a large suburb of Dublin, and the constituency of AWEPA Council Member Charlie O'Connor TD. The delegation visited the Church of Ireland in Tallaght and the Institute of Technology, Tallaght, meeting with its staff and management.

Staff and Students at the Institute of Technology Tallaght (ITT Dublin) have initiated The HARAMBEE MUKURU Scholarship Fund project, which provides secondary education scholarships to children from the Mukuru slum settlement in Nairobi, Kenya, with special emphasis on girls' education.

The visit gave members of the fundraising committee the opportunity to discuss this project with members of the Kenyan parliamentary delegation.

Brian MacCormaic, administrator of the HARAMBEE project, supplied the pictures below of the delegation.  If you would like to support the Mukuru Project, please contact HARAMBEE at: Tel: +353 1 4042880; +353 86 2437043, or Email:  This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it  or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .