MATTERS ARISING FROM THE PAN AFRICAN PARLIAMENT’S REVISION OF RULES OF PROCEDURE

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.