Rotation of presidency is a must if we want to keep PAP united – Hon. El Gendy

A former member of the Pan African Parliament (PAP) from Egypt, Hon. Mustafa El Gendy has said that the continental parliament must enforce its rule on rotational presidency for it to remain united with a focused objective.

Hon. El Gendy was reacting to the recent announcement by the PAP Permanent Committee on Rules, Privileges and Discipline that only candidates from the northern and southern regions will be allowed to contest for the position of president of the parliament during the May 2021 session..

According to Hon. El Gendy, “the North and Southern regions have been excluded in the last 15 years to reach this position because there was no rotation”.

He noted that the Northern region has the least number of countries, pointing out that without enforcing the rule on rotation, the region may never lead the continental parliament.

“It does not make sense that the parliamentarians from those two regions cannot share their knowledge because they have not been able to lead the parliament.”

“Rotation of the presidency is a must as it gives everybody the opportunity   to share and stops the feeling of MPs that they have been excluded”.

Hon El Gendy who was the immediate past Chairperson of North Africa Regional Caucus of PAP and currently Honorary Adviser to the PAP President and Bureau, advised the parliamentarians to be mindful of the vision behind the formation of the African Union, noting that rotation of offices is part of African Union principles and values.

He maintained that PAP is an African continental parliament, It is not an “Anglophone or Francophone or even Arabphone” and we must not allow outsiders to influence how we relate with each other.

“The South had agreed on our brother from Zimbabwe but in the North for the time being, Egypt has a new delegation, Algeria has no parliament as it is going for election, and Libya is still trying to get out of their current challenges. So the South can go this time around with the understanding that it will be the turn of the North the next time”.

He recalled that Senegal currently has the presidency of the Islamic Union but for years, African countries could not be president of the Union. However in the last election, African countries objected arguing that if they could not lead the Union, they would pull out and form their own union. As a result, Senegal is today, the president of the Islamic Union as a result of rotation.

Hon. El Gendy stated that African parliamentarians need to be united to address the challenges posed by the COVID-!9 pandemic, to fight for vaccines for our people and medications for other sicknesses.

Following his retirement from politics and to fill the gap which would be created by his absence at the continental parliament, Hon. El Gendy was in December 2020 appointed Honourary Adviser to the PAP President and Bureau by then Acting President Hon. Djamel Bouras.