PAP Crisis: Gayo flouts AU Rules as he appoints another Acting Clerk

The Second Vice President of the Pan-African Parliament (PAP), Hon. Dr. Ashebir W. Gayo has in flagrant disregard African Union (AU) Staff Rules and Regulations appointed Mr. Jan Jalloh as the Acting Clerk of the Parliament even as his immediate supervisor,  the Deputy Clerk (Legislative Business and Conferencing), Mr. Gali Massa Harou resumed from vacation on Monday January 23.

It would be recalled that Dr. Gayo had in October 2023, unilaterally suspended the appointment of Ms. Lindiwe Khumalo as the substantive Clerk of the Parliament and appointed Mr. Gali Harou as Acting Clerk. When Gali went on annual leave, Dr. Gayo appointed Mr. Kenneth Akibate who was the Acting Deputy Clerk in charge of Finance, Administration and Human Resources. But when the two senior staff refused to implement unlawful directives from Dr. Gayo, he terminated their respective appointments and then appointed a subordinate staff.

Under Rule 35.1(b) of the AU Staff Rules and Regulations, it is the most senior staff of the Department, Division or Unit that can be appointed Acting Deputy Clerk (FAHR) but in this case, the person appointed is not from any department, division or unit in the Finance, Administration and Human Resource Department. According to staff who spoke to our correspondent, the person appointed is a subordinate staff who ordinarily reports to the Deputy Clerk (LBC). “This is bound to adversely affect staff morale as political malleability is now the paramount consideration. PAP staff have been turned into politicians who must now lobby for positions such that nothing is now done on merit”. The Staff Rules makes it clear that “unless where justified by exceptional circumstances, the most senior staff of the Department, Division or Unit shall be eligible to act”.

Another staff who spoke in confidence to our Correspondent, said: “Before February 2023 it was Mr Galal Nassir (who retired last year as Head of Committee Division) that was Mr. Jan Jalloh’s immediate supervisor in Legislative Business Department. But when Mr Galal went on retirement in February 2023,  Mr Jalloh was appointed to act as Head of Committees Division and reports to Mr Gali who is the Deputy Clerk in charge of Legislative Business. But now, Gali’s immediate supervisor is Mr. Jan Jalloh! Can you imagine? Mr Gali is at P6 being supervised by Jalloh at P3 as Acting Clerk” he queried.

Article 12.5 of the PAP Protocol states that “The President and the Vice-Presidents shall be the Officers of the Pan-African Parliament. The officers, under the control and direction of the President and subject to such directives as may be issued by the Pan-African Parliament, shall be responsible for the management and administration of the affairs and facilities of the Pan-African Parliament and its organs. In the discharge of their duties, the Officers shall be assisted by the Clerk and the two Deputy Clerks”. In other words, the statutory positions mentioned in the Protocol are the Clerk and two Deputy Clerks.

Also Article 12.6 states that “The Pan-African Parliament shall appoint a Clerk, two Deputy Clerks and such other staff and functionaries as it may deem necessary for the proper discharge of its functions and may by regulations provide for their terms and conditions of office in accordance with the relevant OAU practice as appropriate”. This again emphasized the three positions that the Parliament shall appoint such that those other staff belong to the category of “such other staff and functionaries”.

Pundits posit that it is the Parliament that can appoint a Clerk and two Deputy Clerks and when such appointments are made by the plenary, all members of the Bureau are bound by that decision such that varying them would require plenary approval.

A staff who complained, stated that “Having failed to corrupt the Clerk, the Deputy Clerk LBC and the Acting Deputy Clerk FAHR through a mixture of threats, blackmail, suspension, termination of appointment,  cajoling, bribery with cash dole outs as per diems, verbal abuses, character assassination, lies, deceit and a whole lot of extreme pressure on them to create a fictitious narrative that he Dr. Gayo is right at all times with his mal-adventures, and that his perceived adversaries and targets are corrupt, evil and bad, he then turned to other staff members gullible enough to be manipulated, readily available to sell their professionalism and conscience for 'pittance', and treacherous enough to eagerly distort and create false narratives to project the whims and caprices of Gayo”.

 According to the staff, “the corruption of the Secretariat involved, first suspension of the Clerk with a fabricated query on her appointment to pave the way for Dr. Gayo to freely manipulate the Secretariat.  When DC LBC who was wrongfully appointed as Acting Clerk against the Staff Rules as the post of the Clerk was not vacant, and he was unwilling to lend himself up for implementing wrong instructions, Dr. Gayo let him to proceed on a very long vacation leaving the Acting DC FAHR as the remaining member of the Senior Management.  Gayo then piled up the pressure on him but he also refused to yield to his wrongful ways. He was consequently illegally removed. With the three top officials of the Secretariat out of the way, Dr. Gayo then proceeded to dictate and run the Secretariat as a private fiefdom without regard to the AU Staff Regulations and Rules, the AU Financial Rules, the AU Procurement Manual,  the PAP Protocol and PAP Rules of Procedure”.

Having taken control of the Secretariat, “Dr. Gayo began to seek out willing PAP staff that would be amenable to manipulation, terrorizing and threatening those who are capable of being professional and firm on principles, buying allegiance within the Secretariat and bribing staff members with appointments and fake promises and missions. He is known to lie and malign staff members to other staff members.

“Is it not scandalous that a staff member willingly lobbied to be appointed as Acting DC FAHR against the Staff Rules as there are senior and competent officials in the department if even there is justification to replace the incumbent? This staff member is from a completely different department without the qualifications, competence and experience for the post. He undertook to draft both the termination letter of the Acting DC FAHR as well as his own inglorious appointment letter citing raw lies in an embarrassing draft that disgraced the quality and status of the Office of the President and the Secretariat. This staff member, knowing very well that all that he is doing is wrong, is still eagerly and enthusiastically churning out absurdities with total disregard for the Rules”.