The
Pan-African Parliament (PAP) Plenary on Thursday, commended the President of
the Parliament, H.E Chief Fortune
Charumbira for presenting what the continental parliamentarians described
as an exceptional Performance Report which reflected the work of the Bureau of
the PAP, the Permanent Standing Committees, and the Secretariat of the PAP from
January to May 2023.
The
report unpacked the Parliament’s quasi-legislative, oversight and
representative mandate, administration, other emerging issues as well as the
relationship with other organs and specialized offices of the African Union
(AU), and partners.
“The
report highlights the performance of the PAP under the leadership of the Bureau
between January 2023 and May 2023 and the challenges encountered during this
period,” said H.E Chief Charumbira presenting to the Plenary at the sitting
held under the African Union Theme for 2023, “Accelerating the African
Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA): The Strategic Significance of the
Pan-African Parliament.”
H.E Chief Charumbira stated that the Bureau of the Pan-African Parliament, in liaison with Bureauxes, set out the Pan African Parliament 2023 Corporate Goals during the Joint Planning Meeting. These Corporate Goals are aligned with Agenda 2063 and the 2019-2023 Pan-African Parliament Strategic Plan
“The
Corporate Goals aim to transforming the PAP to make it more effective and
functional in the fulfillment of its mandate and mainstreaming the voices of
the African people into its business processes.
“They
also seek to strengthen the role of the PAP in the continental governance
matrix, formulation of model laws, institutional arrangements to support
coordination, partnerships, and participation in Parliamentary initiatives.”
“They
deepen advocacy around the AU theme for 2023 “Year of AfCFTA “Acceleration of
AfCFTA Implementation,” and improving coordination, collaboration, alignment,
and synergy building with other African Union Organs,” he said highlighting
that these will collectively form the basis for PAP operations throughout the
year 2023.
The H.E. Hon. Charumbira recalled that the output of the report are anchored on the four thematic objectives of the Pan-African Parliament’s 2019-2023 Strategic Plan which include strengthening parliamentary functions of the PAP, strengthening partnership, coordination, outreach, and institutional capacity of the PAP. Promoting the PAP’s support of human rights and social inclusion goals of the AU, and strengthening learning and sharing, knowledge management, communication, and advocacy of the PAP.
He
reported that PAP made some achievements which saw it participating in meetings
and summits of Policy Organs of the AU. This improved the relationship between
the PAP and other AU Organs and enhanced the relevance of the PAP within the AU
governance architecture in addition to providing a platform to make a case for
increased budgetary allocations. The PAP also renewed and enhanced
collaboration with several regional and international bodies.
“The
PAP was a part of the 146th Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Assembly
and the 5th Congress of Speakers of Arab Councils and Parliaments.
This activity enhanced the visibility and revitalized the role of the PAP in
international parliamentary diplomacy. Progressively, the PAP Permanent
Committees met from 06 to 17 March and Members deliberated comprehensively on
the African Union theme for 2023 “Year of AfCFTA: Acceleration of the African
Continental Free Trade Area Implementation”.
“Participation in the 17th Session of the Conference of the Parliamentary Union of Member Countries of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (PUIC) led to renewal of the PAP collaboration with international stakeholders.”
“We
also succeeded in the following undertakings, PAP's Official Visit to the
People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria and the Sahrawi Arab Democratic
Republic; Strengthening of Cooperation between the PAP and Saudi Arabia
Parliament and a Working Visit of the AU Commission Deputy Chairperson to the
PAP and PAP’s Working Visit to the Republic of Kenya.”
H.E.
Hon. Charumbira also reported that the Pan-African
Parliament contributed to the Promotion and support of human rights and social
inclusion goals of the African Union through her Participation in the African
Union Election Observation Mission (AUEOM) to the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The Pan-African Parliament Observed International Women's Day (IWD) which enhanced
and encouraged the respect for human rights, Justice, and the Rule of Law
centred around Women on the African Continent.
Additionally, the President reported
that the Pan African Parliament convened a Side Event at the 67th
Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW67), which provided the
platform and opportunity to access the commitments on gender equality through
women’s economic empowerment as well as the recently adopted African Union
Science and Technology and Innovation Strategy for Africa (STISA-2024).
The report also highlighted the key
challenges faced by the Pan-African Parliament in the implementation of its
strategic objectives which included inadequate human and financial resources,
the undue delay in the recruitment of staff, lack of incentives for the Bureau
and MPs, poor attendance of sessions by Members of Parliament, the slow pace of
ratification of the Malabo Protocol, and the duplication of functions between
the PAP and other AU Organs.
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