Pan African Parliament: Monetary and Financial Affairs Committee reviews Parliament’s budget

Hon. James Gony

The Chairperson of the Pan African Parliament’s Committee on Monetary and Financial Affairs Hon. James GONY, has emphasized on the important role of the Committee in ensuring that the budget allocated to the work of the Parliament is adequately executed to cater for the agenda of attainment of integration of Africa.

Hon. GONY stated this at the opening of its two-day working Session with Management of the Secretariat ahead of the expected resumption of statutory meetings of the legislative arm of the African Union (AU).

The session, which is being held virtually, is meant to review the financial statements, budget allocation and execution for 2020, the PAP 2021 budget framework and budget proposal for 2022. The meeting is also expected to finalise the Committee’s 2021 workplan and agree on a way forward. The meeting will pave the way for upcoming statutory meetings of the PAP, which were disrupted in 2020 by the ongoing global health crisis.

 “Our statutory activities were heavily impacted in 2020 by the COVID-19 pandemic. It is time to get back to work and carry on our mandate on behalf of the peoples of Africa. This working session is therefore crucial as it reviews the resources available to enable the Parliament to function efficiently, allow Members of the Committee to track the implementation of programmes and monitor the budget execution rate, which we would like to see improve,” says Hon. Gony.

 Addressing the Committee, Mr. Vipya HARAWA, Clerk of the PAP said that the current context has led to drastic changes in terms of budget allocation at the AU level. This “new normal” forces the PAP to adapt and operate differently, in line with austerity measures put in place to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Mr. Harawa also appealed to the Committee on Monetary and Financial Affairs to consider an expansion of its mandate to include an oversight on financial matters of the entire AU, as intended by the Protocol to the Constitutive Act of the AU Relating to the PAP.

Vipya Harawa

“The message from the AU is clear. It cannot be business as usual especially as the continent fine tunes its response to the COVID-19 pandemic and how economies can overcome the damage. The current situation also offers an opportunity for the PAP to fully play its role as the continental Parliament. My submission to the Committee is for members to deliberate on how its oversight role can effectively be extended to other organs of the AU. The Secretariat stands ready to provide the required support,” says Mr. Harawa.

Committee Members embraced the session with emphasis on the need for the PAP to put plans in place to commence reviewing the budget of the African Union, as required by its mandate; a practice that was in place years ago. A presentation by the AU Commission on budget principles and an engagement with the Bureau of the PAP is scheduled to take place on the second day of the meeting of the Committee on Monetary and Financial Affairs. The ongoing virtual meeting is the first statutory meeting of the PAP since March 2020.

Source: Media Office, Pan African Parliament