PAP concludes Capacity Building Workshop, develops Plan of Action

Members of the Pan-African Parliament have developed a Plan of Action that will guide the Parliament in fulfilling its mandate and living up to the expectations of stakeholders and the African people.

This was one of the outcomes of the Strategic Reorientation Workshop for the members of the Pan-African Parliament which ended on Tuesday. The Parliamentarians also came up with a Performance Management Framework as a tracking tool to assess whether PAP is on course in delivering on its mandate.

The workshop with the theme “Reviving, Renewing, Repositioning and Reinvigoration the Pan-African Parliament” had presentations from officials of various African Union agencies and departments.

One could notice that there is a breadth of fresh air as members showed enthusiasm and uncommon interest and zeal in not only participating in the workshop but making meaningful contributions during deliberations, not minding the many presentations they had to sit through in a day.

The workshop turned out to be a season of intellectual harvest for the parliamentarians who a determination to chart a new course for the parliament following the ugly incidents of 31 May to 01 June, 2021 which led to the suspension of parliamentary activities. Encomiums were heaped on the President of the Parliament, H. E. Chief Fortune Charumbira and members of the Bureau over what the parliamentarians described as a very novel workshop.

The parliamentarians expressed optimism that the paradigm shift in the parliament’s relationship with the AUC, RECs and other AU Policy Organs will begin a process of reinvigorating and strengthening the linkages between the PAP and AU organs in achieving the objectives of the PAP and the Union

President of the Parliament, H. E. Chief Fortune Charumbira set the tone for the workshop in his keynote address when he said “Quite often we take it for granted that we all understand the mission and purpose of the Pan African Parliament. We can even recite the mission and functions of the Pan African Parliament as captured in the Rules of Procedure eloquently, but do we truly understand and appreciate why we are here? Do we comprehend the intentions of the founding fathers in establishing the Pan African Parliament? If so, are we living up to those intentions and expectations? That is the sobering question that confronts us today as we meet for our first official engagement since the historic June 29 elections”.  

He informed the parliamentarians that the workshop will seek to embark on the difficult process of honest self-introspection to interrogate how the public perceives the Parliament and what can be done to rebrand the Pan African Parliament, renew its image in the eyes of the African citizenry and reposition it in the continental governance matrix.

The workshop had a session on Enhancing Africa’s Post COVID-19 economic recovery: The Role of National and Regional Parliaments, facilitated by the Second Vice President of PAP, Hon. Dr. Ashebir W. Gayo with a presentation by Dr. Ahmed Ogwell Ouma, Acting Director of Africa CDC, AUC.

The parliamentarians were updated on Agenda 2063 Special Project: Evaluation of the First Ten-Year Implementation Plan and the Development of the Second Ten-Year Implementation Plan by Mr. Tichawona Shumba, Acting Director, Office of Strategic Planning and Delivery (AUC).

The next session was on Strengthening the linkages between the PAP, the AUC, RECs and other AU Policy Organs in achieving the objectives of the PAP and the African Union and had the following presentations: Facilitating the implementation of the policies and programmes of the Union and overseeing their effective implementation by the various AU Organs by H. E. Dr. Nerdos Bekele-Thomas, CEO, African Union Developments Agency (AUDA)- NEPAD; Promoting Continental Integration, socio-economic  growth and development through trade and the pursuit of a common economic recovery strategy by H. E.Wamkele Mene, Secretary-General, The African Continental Free Trade Area; African Governance Architecture (AGA) by Amb. Sala Hammad, Head, AGA Secretariat; Promoting Peace, Security and Stability on the Continent by Dr. Litha Ogana, Commissioner, African Union Commission on Human Rights; Consolidating democratic institutions and the democratic culture by a representative from the Department of Political Affairs, Peace and Security.

Dr. Guy Fleury Ntwari of the Office of Legal Counsel, AUC addressed the workshop on the Status of ratification of the Malabo Protocol and AU Legal Instruments and the role of PAP in expediting the process.

Then came a break-out session where the five regional caucuses deliberated on Repositioning the Pan African Parliament in the Continental Governance Matrix and how the parliament could be repositioned to achieve its goals. The feedback from the regional caucuses were later presented to the plenary by their respective facilitators.