PAP President Rt. Hon. Roger Nkodo DANG |
As part of the preparations
for the October 2019 Session of the Pan African Parliament (PAP), the Bureau of
the Parliament today Friday held a meeting with African Ambassadors and High
Commissioners resident in the Republic of South Africa at the seat of the
Parliament in Midrand, South Africa. Bureau members in attendance included the
President, Rt. Hon. Roger Nkodo DANG, and
Vice Presidents Hon. Bouras DJAMEL and
Hon. Chief Fortune CHARUMBIRA.
In his welcome
remarks, PAP President Rt. Hon. Roger
Nkodo DANG called for a peaceful resolution of the current crisis in South
Africa noting that some parliamentarians were apprehensive about attending the upcoming
PAP Session scheduled to commence on Monday October 7. He stressed the
importance of providing a conducive atmosphere for the parliamentarians to meet
and deliberate while in South Africa.
Hon. Dang recalled how
his home country of Cameroon was resolving its internal conflict through
dialogue and urged other African countries facing similar problems to follow
the same path of peaceful resolution instead of resorting to arms struggle in
line with the African Union (AU) theme of silencing the guns.
Noting that the
recently ratified African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) which came into
force in June was one of the issues slated for discussion at the PAP Session, Nkodo Dang wondered how that agreement
can be implemented in the face of restriction on movement of Africans within
the continent.
Enumerating some
of the problems facing PAP which he sought the assistance of the diplomats, Dang stated that budget cuts especially
with respect to the removal of allowances paid to members of the Parliament and
the health insurance of parliamentarians while in South Africa “was
demoralizing” noting that the 2019 PAP Budget proposed a small allowance of
$700 per parliamentarian for the duration of the session but regretted that it
was rejected by the AU.
Although the
Protocol Establishing the Pan African Parliament intended for the allowances of
parliamentarians to be taken care of by the respective member states, Dang
noted that the rejected allowance was necessary since parliamentarians lose
some financial benefits back home as a result of their absence to attend to PAP
sessions. The parliamentarians also incur expenses while in South Africa which their
home parliaments do not take into consideration in considering their expenses.
On renewal of
the Host Country Agreement (HCA) with South Africa, Hon. Dang stated that the issue had lingered since 2009 when the initial
agreement was expired, regretting that PAP was still operating from a temporary
site after fifteen (15) years in spite of the promises by the South African
Government on the basis of which the Assembly of Heads of State of State and
Government of the AU gave South Africa the right to host PAP over Egypt and
Libya back in 2004. Dang also stated that the official residence of the PAP
President was yet to be constructed resulting in his having to stay in hotels
during sessions thereby having to move out of the hotel room with his things at
the end of session instead of a permanent official residence.
Dang regretted that
PAP was still using furniture and equipment installed fifteen years ago which
had become outdated and dilapidated.
He decried the
high rate of turnover of parliamentarians stating that as many of seventy new
parliamentarians are sworn in each session which adversely affects
institutional memory. He condemned a situation where experienced PAP
parliamentarians who win re-election into their home parliaments are denied the
opportunity to return to PAP due local political considerations.
Concluding, Dang sought the assistance of the
diplomats to bring these issues to attention of their respective Heads of States
and also called for their cooperation in the effort to ensure the ratification
of Revised PAP Protocol which was adopted by the AU Assembly in 2014 in Malabo
(Malabo Protocol) and ratified by twelve (12) member states but which required twenty
eight (28) ratifications to come into force.
In his address,
the Dean of the Diplomatic Corps in South Africa, H. E. M. Bene Lofongo M’POKO of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) thanked
the PAP President for convening the meetings with Ambassadors regularly and called
for the political will by African leaders to embark on the industrial development
of the continent, stressing the need for all “to work together to make Africa a
viable political entity”. He commended the coming into force of the AfCFTA and pledged
to work to assist PAP in ensuring the resolution of the outstanding issues
concerning the Host Country Agreement and apologized for the delay in playing
that role.
On the recent
violence in South Africa, Ambassador M’POKO
stressed the need to heal the wounds from the culture of violence resulting
from the years of apartheid and called on the political leaders to find a
lasting solution to this culture of violence in South Africa.
He commended the
Government of South Africa for showing the political will to confront the issue
and called for the assistance and understanding of other African countries in
dealing with the problem.
On the safety of
parliamentarians arriving for the session, Ambassador
M’POKO advised the ambassadors to notify the diplomatic corps of the
arrival of their country delegation so that security could be arranged from the
airport.
According to M’POKO, “Just because a friendly nation
is experiencing difficulty should not warrant abandoning them” and called for an
understanding of the situation.
The diplomats
requested to be provided with copies of the Host Country Agreement with the Annexure
stating the areas that are yet to be implemented for their intervention and
then resolved to constitute a Sub Committee of Ambassadors to look into the
issue.
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