DILI, 28 june 2023 (TATOLI) – The United Nations (UN) Resident Coordinator in Timor-Leste, Funmi Balogun met with the first Timorese female House Speaker, Maria Fernanda Lay to congratulate her in person.
The United Nations (UN) Resident Coordinator in Timor-Leste, Funmi Balogun, met with the first Timorese female House Speaker, Maria Fernanda Lay, to congratulate her personally.
After meeting with Lay, Balogun said she was very excited to meet with the House Speaker and congratulate her on being elected the first female House Speaker.
“I am very excited. I congratulated her and wished her the very best,” Balogun told reporters at the Timor-Leste House of Representatives in Dili today.
At the meeting, Balogun and Lay talked about the opportunities and potential challenges and all the things that the first Timorese female House Speaker will have to perform.
Balogun said that the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Lay, is a mentor and a role model for women in Timor-Leste to see her leadership and use it as an opportunity to participate in politics.
They also discussed all the opportunities that Parliament has, including its oversight functions, to ensure that the government fulfills its campaign promises.
“We spoke about all the opportunities that the parliament has to ensure that all the parties represented in the Parliament and government, particularly the promises that were made during the elections campaign are fulfilled,” she said.
She highlighted that UNDP has been providing support to the National Parliament over the years to strengthen not just its capacities but also its oversight functions to ensure government spends money in the right way to benefit the people of Timor-Leste.
Balogun recounted that UNDP has been providing support to the National Parliament over the years to strengthen not only its capacity but also its oversight functions to ensure that the government spends money in the right way to benefit the people of Timor-Leste.
Last week, the new 65 MPs were sworn in, with MP Maria Fernanda Lay, from the National Congress for Timorese Reconstruction (CNRT), elected as the new president of the National Parliament.
Lay was proposed as the sole candidate for the post of house speaker by the coalition parties – CNRT and PD.
Related News:https://en.tatoli.tl/2023/06/22/timor-leste-parliament-swore-in-mari-fernanda-lay-elected-as-house-speaker/14/
Journalist: Filomeno Martins
Editor: Nelia Borges
