The meeting on the revision of the Pan-African Parliament (PAP) Rules of Procedure has kicked off at the seat of the continental Parliament in Midrand, South Africa. Running from the 8th-12th of March, the meeting is attended by the Acting President, the Permanent Committee on Rules, Privileges and Discipline (Rules Committee), Chairpersons of Regional Caucuses and Permanent Committees as well as the PAP Secretariat.
The ongoing sitting was organised to define the substantive and procedural direction for an effective and fruitful revision of the Rules of Procedure of the PAP; and enable the Rules Committee and Bureaux to review and determine the gaps and areas of concern in the current Rules of Procedure. The gathering is also meant to take stock of the current situation facing the PAP underpinned by a long period of inactivity caused by the COVID-19 pandemic; vacancies in various leadership levels of the Parliament; and a way forward on how to conduct business of the legislative arm of the African Union ahead of the next Plenary session planned for May 2021.
In his opening remarks, Acting President of the PAP, Hon. Chief Fortune Charumbira, described the first in-person meeting of members of the PAP since March 2020 as critical for the future of the Parliament and its relevance within the African Union architecture.
“We have a responsibility towards all members of Parliament and the African citizens to come up with tangible solutions on how our Parliament can be fully operational as we head into the next elective Plenary Session in May. We face a myriad of challenges and our consultations over the next few days ought to be productive and provide answers on a roadmap on Rules of Procedure, swearing-in of new members, guidelines on virtual meetings, mechanism allowances in the context of the new normal among other organisational issues,” said Hon. Charumbira.
Calling on the leadership structures to engage in a candid conversation on how the PAP can effectively resume business in the context of COVID-19, Hon. Charumbira also proposed a framework on an inclusive decision-making process, which involves regional caucuses in the light of the vacancies in the Bureau.
“Given the vacancies in the Bureau of the PAP, I hereby propose that chairpersons of regional caucuses be included in consultations at the Bureau level to ensure representativeness in decision making before a full Bureau is reconstituted in May 2021. It is important that actions taken to advance our Parliament are regarded as democratic and transparent. It is also true that we cannot wait until we have a full Bureau to start functioning again. My proposal therefore aims to guarantee that no region is left out.”
As part of the opening meeting, regional caucuses were accorded an opportunity to present their concerns and expectations from the ongoing consultations. Submissions from representatives of the PAP regional structures focused on the necessity for new members to be sworn-in; date and parameters of the next Plenary Session; and preparedness and feasibility of virtual statutory meetings.
Meanwhile, the PAP Committee on Rules, Privileges met on the margins of the opening day to engage on guidelines for virtual meetings as a way forward of preventing the PAP from incapacitation as a result of the pandemic Covid-19 which led the institution not to handle sessions last year. The Rules Committee has been tasked with ensuring that preparedness and alignment with Rules of Procedure as the PAP considers remote meetings.
Committee Chairperson, Hon. Adv. Djibril War highlighted a need to be vigilant when it comes to utilising technology.
“While I also agree that we need to adopt the use of the virtual meetings we must as well consider cyber security issues which is very key. We are aware of cases whereby virtual sessions were compromised or confidentiality breached through hacking and also disruptions. So we must always think things ahead in all that we do. I want us to think about challenges that we might encounter in adopting and using virtual meetings while we think forward,” he said.
“We must not allow the collapse of this institution unnecessarily by avoiding handling meetings because of the Covid-19. We need to start thinking of virtual meetings as a solution,” said Hon. Thembekile R. Majola from South Africa.
Hon. Togarepi Pupurai from Zimbabwe also voiced concern that the institution lost meaningful time in 2020.
“Let us accept that this dire situation we are facing because of Covid-19 is changing the world and we must go with the world in utilising the technology. I believe that the majority of us know very well that virtual meetings are possible and can be effected for the PAP to survive. Now it is the time,” he added.
Deliberations are expected to continue until the end of the week before adopting a final position.
