In his first official assignment since his election as the President of the Pan-African Parliament (PAP), H.E. Chief Fortune Charumbira delivered a message of solidarity at the 51st Plenary Assembly Session of the Southern African Development Community Parliamentary Forum (SADC PF) in Lilongwe, Malawi.
Delivering his message, the leader of the continental Parliament told the SADC PF Plenary Assembly that the PAP is back in action and fully operational following peaceful, free, fair elections of its Bureau and other leadership structures of the Parliament. He stressed that the election process was premised on the observance of the principle of rotational leadership.
I’m this regard, H.E. Charumbira expressed gratitude to the SADC region for rallying behind the principle of rotational leadership as one of the unchanging foundational values of the African Union, which has restored calm, certainty and peace within the PAP.
H.E. Chief Charumbira commended the SADC PF for the seamless manner in which the principle of rotation has been applied in choosing its leadership and urged the forum to preserve this value as it guarantees fairness, equity and justice. He reflected that rotational leadership brings predictability, predictability breeds certainty, certainty fosters stability and stability engenders peace.
“This predictability is critically important for stability, equity and sustainability. This certainty is your latent strength, and you must guard it jealously. The subversion of rotation almost destroyed the PAP and you must never allow the seed of dominance by one interest group to grow and fester for it will doubtless destroy the SADC PF. You have done well so far and are a shining beacon to the Region and the entire continent. Guard the principle of rotation and equity with your lives if you have to,” said H.E. Chief Charumbira.
In line with his acceptance following his election last month, the President of the PAP called for unity and rejection of divisions caused by foreign languages imposed on Africans. He called for the preservation of unity regardless of language difference and reminded the audience that what unites us as African people is infinitely more than what should ever divide us.
“I implore you to be wary of the divisive influence of colonial languages for that has been the bane of the Pan African Parliament. As Africans, we are inherently one people. Our vernacular languages are intricately intertwined and we share common words and phrases which point to our intimate relations. None of us is French by birth as much as none of us is either English or Portuguese. The Berlin-drawn division under which our continent is still living was as much cultural as it was economic and political. As a result of the linguistic encirclement of our continent, we have come to be defined and to define ourselves in terms of the languages of imperialist imposition and, sadly, we have allowed ourselves to be divided by the same,” he added.
Finally, the President of the legislative arm of the African Union appealed to the delegates for stronger collaboration with the SADC PF for the mutual benefit of the two institutions and the people of Africa. He reassured that under his leadership the PAP will actively seek to strengthen synergistic collaboration with the SADC Parliamentary Forum and similar Regional Economic Communities and their legislative bodies both at the political and administrative levels.
“I am aware that you are currently mobilizing support for the adoption of the Amendment to the Treaty and Protocol that will officially establish the SADC PF as an organ of SADC in much the same manner we are mobilizing support for the ratification of the Malabo Protocol that will transform the PAP into a legislative body. It behoves us, therefore, to work together, learn from each other and succeed together,” he concluded.
Hon. Francois Ango Ndoutume, Fourth Vice President of the PAP formed part of the delegation representing the institution at the 51st Plenary Assembly Session of the SADC PF) taking place from 7th to 16th July 2022.
H.E. Lazarus Chakwera, President of the Republic of Malawi—who is the current Chairperson of SADC—presided over the official opening ceremony of the Session on 11th July. SADC PF is a regional inter-parliamentary body composed of Members of Parliament from all SADC Member States, representing over 3,500 parliamentarians in the SADC Region.
