Our
News story on amendments to the Pan African Parliament’s Rules of Procedure
after the just concluded meetings by the Permanent Committee on Rules,
Privileges and Discipline (Rules Committee) and the joint Bureau and Bureaux of
Committees and Caucuses elicited reactions from some members of the Pan African
Parliament.
Most
of the reactions were on the adoption of rotational presidency under which only
regions that have not produced president of the parliament shall be eligible to
contest for the president in the May 2021 Bureau election.
They
argued that procedurally, such proposed amendment to the rules should be
debated and adopted at the plenary and should become effective after the
forthcoming election where all the five regions of the continent are eligible
to present candidates.
A
former Fourth Vice President of PAP from Ethiopia, Hon. Dr. Woldegiorgis GAYO reacted: “The
point is. Since in current rules of PAP there is no provision regarding
rotation of presidency. So new rule should be drafted by Rules committee and
adopted by General assembly or plenary as one standing (rule) committee can’t
draft, ratify and force the house to implement rather than tabling its proposal
to the bureau and then to the chamber. If the assembly adopt so it will be Rule
and enter enforce moreover it will be antroactive but not retroactive meaning
all 5 regions will be eligible and the rotation of presidency must start after
election of PAP bureau”
Reacting,
the Rules Committee clarified that the Rule on Rotational Presidency was
adopted by the plenary on May 18, 2017 vide PAP.4/PLN/RES/08/MAY 17 and that the Rules Committee merely
codified the already adopted resolution into PAP’s Rules of Procedure.
The
Resolution, a copy of which was made available to the African Parliamentary News “decided that the Rules of Procedure of
the Pan African Parliament be amended in accordance with the provisions of Rule
93 to include the principle of rotation of the office of the President of the
Pan African Parliament”.
High
turnover of members of the PAP with the resultant loss of institutional memory
has always been a problem at PAP. This is because membership in the Pan African
Parliament is tied to the tenure of the MPs in their National Parliament. Once
they have elections and lose or are appointed to ministerial positions, the members
cease to be PAP members as well.
Each
session after the May 2017 plenary when the rule on rotation was adopted, a
number of new PAP members have been sworn in. The last PAP plenary was held in
October 2019 and since then, about twenty-two countries have held parliamentary
elections. This translates to 110 parliamentarians though there will be
returning members.
The
implication is that majority of those who participated in the May 2017 session
are no longer members of the PAP and those who came after that session are
unaware of the rule change on rotational presidency.
Ratification
of the PAP Revised Protocol (Malabo Protocol) will take care of this challenge.
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Disclaimer: Comment expressed do not reflect the opinion of African Parliamentary News