His Worship the Mayor, Councillor John Skinner JP, has welcomed to the town hall two staff members from the Parliament of Sierra Leone’s Department of Official Reports, editor of debate Musa LA Foullah and stenographer Patience C Brown-Dawson, who were on a two-week secondment to Tynwald’s Hansard team.

The Mayor and Mayoress with Patience Brown-Dawson, Musa Foullah and Charlotte Egan

Their study visit was sponsored by the Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD), established to help to strengthen parliamentary democracy in developing countries, and came after a workshop and needs assessment session was delivered to the Parliament of Sierra Leone’s Department of Official Reports by the Clerk of Tynwald Roger Phillips and WFD’s programme officer for Africa Charlotte Egan, which determined there was scope for Tynwald’s Hansard team to offer assistance.

 Presenting the visitors from Sierra Leone with a plaque bearing the Douglas Borough Council heraldic shield

The secondment was to provide training in the production of Hansard reports and use of digital recording equipment, explore how best to exploit IT opportunities, establish regular dialogue with Tynwald’s Hansard team and develop systems which, in the long term, will ensure the Parliament of Sierra Leone is able to proceed with reporting without external support.