The Pan-African Parliament (PAP) President, H.E Hon. Chief Fortune Charumbira has applauded African legislators and African citizens for accompanying the efforts by the Bureau of the PAP to reposition the Parliament and enable it to the population at large giving the PAP Bureau to reform and restructure the Parliament to make it more efficient and relevant in the delivery of its mandate.
The PAP President was speaking at the official opening of the first Ordinary Session of the sixth Parliament in Midrand, South Africa.
The session is held under the African Union theme of the year, “Building resilience in nutrition on the African continent: Accelerate the human capital, social and economic development.”
“I stand here today, humbled by the enormity of the task before us and eternally grateful for the trust that Members of the Pan African Parliament have bestowed on our leadership and in our collective ability to accelerate the institutional development and growth of the Pan African Parliament,” said H.E Hon. Charumbira.
“We embrace this task and the solemnity of our oath mindful that four Presidents have taken the presidential oath before me, including preceding five Bureaus and five Parliaments. The promissory words of the oath have been spoken as much during rising tides of prosperity and still waters of peace as they have been during gathering clouds of conflict and raging storms of persistent economic challenges. At these moments, Africa has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but also because of the resilience of our people.”
H.E Hon. Charumbira underscored the role of the PAP in the continental development agenda.
“Clearly, the PAP has a critical role to play in ensuring that the subjects of themes past and present do not fall off the radar when our people, our Member States and our continent are still struggling with those issues. It is clearly within our remit as the continental oversight organ to continue following up on the effective implementation of the policies and programmes of the Union notwithstanding the fact that a particular theme has elapsed,” he said citing Rule 4(1) of the PAP Rules of Procedure as read with Article 3(1) of the PAP Protocol which urges PAP to facilitate the implementation of the policies, objectives and programmes of the Union and oversee their effective implementation by the various organs of the Union.
H.E Hon. Charumbira also highlighted that the PAP has a responsibility to ensure that actions continue to be taken to silence the guns.
“We call for the silencing of guns and breaking of the cycle of conflicts and insecurity in Eastern DR Congo, Somalia and Northern Mozambique, including through the promotion of inter-community dialogues and projects, as well as fighting impunity for serious crimes.”
Meanwhile, H.E Hon. Charumbira bemoaned the resource constraints hampering the progress of the institution while stating that over the past five years the institutional budget has been reduced by more than 50 % from a budget of USD 22 million wilted down to USD 11 million with USD 8 million going towards emoluments, while the remaining USD 2 million is for programmes.
“In addition, there is no allocation for fact-finding missions through which the PAP can effectively monitor the implementation of AU policies and programmes. The allocation to Committees is also not sufficient for a sitting let alone oversight activities and yet Committees are the engine room of any Parliament.
“We thus continue to appeal to the PRC for a stouter budget which will enable us to play our role to the full and leave a legacy of a Parliament that stood for the interests of its people. We must harness the positive spirit expressed by the Executive Council at the 4th Mid-Year Coordination Summit in July 2022 to elicit support in the allocation of a stouter budget,” he said calling upon the African Union to provide the required budgetary, technical and logistical support to enable the PAP to effectively discharge its mandate as a Continental Parliament.
The President also encouraged Member States to honour the Maputo Declaration on Agriculture and Food Security and increase their annual budgetary allocation to the agricultural sector by at least 10% and Member States to ensure the provision of appropriate incentives in the agricultural sector such as insurance for farmers and building the capacity of Farmers.
He further recommended to the African Union to support Member States to engage in industrialization for value addition to agricultural produce as part of the AfCFTA and also to the African Union to enhance support to financial institutions for agricultural financing, while requesting
“We call upon the AU Member States that have not yet done so, to ratify the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement and the Protocol to the Treaty Establishing the African Economic Community Relating to Free Movement of Persons, Right of Residence and Right of Establishment and promote constant dialogue between nations and communities and the AU Member States to urgently remove Trade Tariffs and other barriers to facilitate and accelerate the free movement of goods on the continent.”
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