Central Africa Caucus of the Pan African Parliament calls for urgent virtual plenary session

The Chairperson of the Central Africa Caucus of the Pan African Parliament, Hon. Elise Loum Ndoadoumngue Neloumsei has called for an urgent virtual plenary session of the PAP.

In a letter to the Acting President of PAP Rt. Hon. Djamal Bouras dated January 22 and copied to the Vice President Chief Fortune Charumbira and chairpersons of the other regional caucuses, Hon. Elise Loum recalled an earlier letter of July 12, 2020 to the Acting PAP President where the Central Africa Caucus requested that a virtual session of PAP be convened to ensure that the continental parliament kept functioning despite the COVID-19 pandemic which made “face-to-face meetings” impossible.

Hon. Loum observed that all international organizations have adapted to the COVID-19 reality by using new technologies for virtual meetings and wondered why PAP failed to adapt, noting that Article 28(1) of the PAP’s Rules of Procedure mandates the Parliament to hold at least two ordinary sessions per year.

Continuing, the Hon. Loum stated that by not holding the statutorily mandated sessions. “we are giving the impression that PAP as an organization is incapable of showing resilience in the face of such adversities, unlike other organs of the African Union (AU)”.

Hon. Loum further pointed out the vacancies that exist in the Bureau as well as the “lack of representatives by majority of the caucuses in the Bureau” which implies that the Bureau cannot form a quorum to validly take critical decisions on behalf of PAP.

“The very large numbers of new members (more than a hundred) who are waiting to take their oath are all reasons that militate in favour of the need for virtual plenary session of PAP”.

African Parliamentary News recalls that the last session of the parliament was held in October 2019 and since then, several African countries have held parliamentary elections. As a result, the supposed five-member Bureau now has only two members with the nest election statutorily coming up in May 2021.