The Commonwealth Secretary General will visit hurricane-ravaged Grenada as part of a six day visit to the region. Don McKinnon will tour some of the areas devastated by Hurricane Ivan in September and reassert the Commonwealth's pledge to assist in rebuilding the island. The Commonwealth has already donated approximately $2 million and for the last three weeks, a Commonwealth expert has been assessing areas where technical support can be given to assist the island. "I want to make sure that people like Keith Mitchell and the people of Grenada understand that the Commonwealth is a good partner," Mr McKinnon told BBC Caribbean Radio. "We see Grenada as a good Commonwealth member and we want to help as best as we can." Mr McKinnon said the task of distributing aid after a disaster is an enormous challenge, and the Commonwealth will be working with the Grenadian government in a coordinating role. Mr McKinnon will also be visiting the Bahamas, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Barbados and Antigua. Improving democracy In Trinidad, he will meet with Prime Minister Manning and discuss a number of issues including a major regional workshop on promoting democracy in the region that will be held in Port of Spain early next year. He said that although the region’s record on democracy is relatively good, there was always room for improvement and cited the example of Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago. "In Guyana, since the last election there’s been a standoff between the government and the opposition," he said. "We don't want what happens in some parts of the Commonwealth where the opposition doesn’t refer to itself as an opposition they say 'we're the government in exile'. “In a true democracy, you have the government and those who want to be the government - the opposition - but they have to work together and if they don't you have real problems.” The Commonwealth Secretary General said in a functioning democracy, the opposition’s role was to challenge the government, and work with the people to ensure that the government works well. He said the situation in Trinidad where opposition leader Basdeo Panday has not cooperated with the Patrick Manning government on several key issues in parliament since the last general election in 2002 is not tenable. "When a party withdraws from all activities, that's the end of the line and that you should try everything before that," he explained. "Parliament is really the place for the opposition - governments in a funny way don’t need parliament that much they go to parliament to get bills passed and get funds - but it is the opposition who can really make the most of parliament and should make the best of parliament that is their platform. "That is where they get the opportunity to bring the government to account and recognise that they’re generally protected by saying whatever they want to say, any parliamentarian should be able to speak without fear or favour." Reprinted from bbccaribbean.com