The Executive
Council of the African Union (AU) has called on Member States to ratify the Revised
Protocol to the Constitutive Act of the AU Relating to the Pan-African
Parliament (PAP) which was adopted at the Twenty-Third Ordinary Session of the
Assembly held in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea on June 27, 2014.
It
congratulated the African countries that have so far ratified the Revised
Protocol, also known as the Malabo Protocol which vest the continental
Parliament with legislative powers.
This is contained in a release by Jeffrey Onganga, PAP’s Media Officer as part
of the Executive Council’s decisions relating to the PAP in the context of the
33rd Ordinary Summit of the AU held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
“The Malabo Protocol is
intended to extend the powers of the PAP into a fully-fledged legislative
organ. It requires a minimum of 28 countries to ratify it before it comes into
force. As it stands, twelve (12) AU Member States have ratified”.
“The Rt. Hon. Roger Nkodo DANG
describes the Executive Council’s decision as an indication of the strategic
importance of the PAP within the African Union architecture. He says more AU
Member States are expected to deposit their instruments of ratification of the
PAP Protocol following the relentless advocacy initiatives led by the Bureau.”
“The decision of the Executive Council further demonstrates that the PAP
constitutes an essential pillar towards achieving the long-term objectives of
the AU. The decision also underlines that there is an agreement at the highest
level of our institution that the PAP needs to be given the means to fulfill
its mandate and tackle the urgent needs facing our people. We are pleased that
more countries are adhering to the ideals of the Parliament and are at an
advanced stage of the ratification process of the Protocol,” says President
Nkodo DANG.
“Among other decisions, the Executive Council has also welcomed the
upcoming inaugural Joint Retreat between the PAP and the Permanent Representatives Committee (PRC). The
meeting is scheduled to take place in March at the PAP Headquarters in Midrand,
South Africa and aims to strengthen collaboration between the two organs. The
engagement will further seek to promote synergies in addressing any challenges
affecting the continental Parliament.”
The PAP delegation to the 33rd Ordinary Summit
of the AU in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia comprised Hon. Haichata Haidara Cisse (Second
Vice-President), Hon. Bouras Djamel (Third Vice-President) and Hon. Chief
Fortune Charumbira (Fourth Vice-President).
Article 5 of the Constitutive Act
of the African Union established the Executive Council as the second highest
organ of the AU, followed by PAP and is composed of the foreign ministers or
such other ministers or authorities as are designated by the governments of
Member States.
The Council takes decisions
on policies in areas of common interest to Member States and is answerable to
the Assembly of Heads of State and Government. The PAP tabled its activity
to the PRC last month and the outcomes of these deliberations were discussed
and adopted by the Executive Council when it met from 06 to 07 February 2020.
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