Speaker of the Parliament, Rt. Hon. Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin has urged African legislatures to embrace a bold and digital overhaul of Hansard reporting, ensuring parliaments preserve their historical integrity while meeting the demands of the digital age.
Opening the 11th Biennial Commonwealth Hansard Editors Association – Africa Region (CHEA–AR) Conference on Monday in Accra, Mr. Bagbin hailed Hansard officers as guardians of legislative memory – invisible yet indispensable custodians of truth whose work underpins transparency and accountability in governance.
“It is through your hands that the spoken word in our chambers becomes permanent history – consulted by courts, referenced by scholars, and relied upon by future generations,” he said.
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The four-day conference, themed “Charting the Future of Hansard: Embracing Innovation and Technology for Enhanced Parliamentary Reporting in Africa,” has drawn participants from across the continent to explore cutting-edge methods of modernising parliamentary reporting.
Drawing on his extensive parliamentary career – from Majority Leader to Minority Leader, Deputy Speaker, and now a two-term Speaker – Mr. Bagbin underscored his dependence on Hansard for precedents, calling it the institutional memory of Parliament, and urging a transformation into a smart, searchable, and shareable archive accessible to both lawmakers and the public.
He outlined Ghana’s e-Parliament initiative, designed to digitise parliamentary operations and integrate a next-generation Hansard system, and encouraged delegates to exchange best practices, highlighting progress in South Africa, Kenya, and Uganda.
While welcoming artificial intelligence and automation as tools to improve efficiency, he warned against sidelining human expertise in capturing nuance and context. “Machines can process words, but it takes a human to understand their meaning,” he stressed.
The Speaker called for robust investment in Hansard departments, including resources, training, and professional recognition, arguing that the future of parliamentary democracy depends on institutions that are transparent, adaptable, and forward-looking.
The conference aims to lay the foundation for a continental strategy to modernise Hansard practices through presentations, panel sessions, and networking, and strengthen Africa’s democratic record-keeping for generations to come.