Hon. Pemmy Majodina elected Chairperson of PAP Southern Caucus

Honourable Pemmy Majodina was yesterday, elected as the Chairperson of the Southern Regional Caucus in the Pan-African Parliament. The meetings of the regional caucuses of the Pan-African Parliament were held yesterday to elect their leadership.

Pan-African Parliament Rules of Procedure provide for each of the five geographical regions to form a regional caucus composed of its members. Each caucus has a bureau comprising a chairperson, deputy chairperson and rapporteur.

The Chief Whip of the ANC in the Parliament of South Africa, Hon. Majodina has been the Acting Chairperson of the Caucus since the beginning of June 2022 and successfully piloted the affairs of the Caucus by ensuring that the Southern Regional Caucus remained united and resolute in their pursuit of the Presidency of the Parliament. Under her leadership, the Caucus resisted all efforts to cause confusion and deprive the caucus of the opportunity to produce the president of the Parliament.

In addition to the five regional caucuses, the Rules also provide for the establishment of other types of caucuses to deal with issues of common interest. Thus the Parliament established the Women’s Caucus and the Caucus on Youth.

In a related development, the leader of the Gambian delegation to PAP, Honourable Alhagie Mbow has been elected as Chairperson of the West African Caucus. His tenure of office runs until 2025.

Hon. Mbow is supported by a Vice Chairman from Benin and a Rapporteur from Sierra Leone.

The West African caucus is among five regional blocs working closely with the main PAP bureau where the president and four vice presidents spearhead the governance of the continental Parliament.

Hon Mbow had served as rapporteur of the Committee on Transport, Industry, Communication, Energy, and Science & Technology and later as the acting Chairman of the Committee at the Pan-African Parliament.

The Gambian lawmaker was also nominated by the West African countries in 2021 to represent them on the Ad-hoc Committee of the Bureau Elections.

The West African caucus was chaired by a Ghanaian Member of Parliament, Hon. Cynthia who was recalled for a ministerial position after which a Gambia former lawmaker, Hon. Sidia Jatta took over as an acting Chairman.