PAP President Charumbira commended for presenting an exceptional Performance Report

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 146^th Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Assembly and the 5^th 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 67^th 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.