A poignant intervention by the President of the Pan-African Parliament (PAP), containing inputs from a reinvigorated and renewed PAP on the Reform of the African Union (AU), especially related to the PAP, was one of the key highlights of the recently concluded Retreat on Institutional Reforms and the preparations of the second decade of Agenda 2063 held in Kigali, Rwanda.
Highlighting the significance of the gathering in Kigali, H.E. Hon. Chief Fortune Charumbira told AU stakeholders, including AU Permanent Representatives’ Committee (PRC); African Union Organs; and the Regional Economic Communities (RECs), that this reform process was long overdue especially in the face of a skeptical African citizenry who have begun to question the value of the African Union and its various Organs and Agencies.
The Kigali Retreat was convened to review the mandates of the AU organs, Permanent Representational Offices, Specialized Technical Agencies, and Liaison offices of the African Union; and strengthen the working methods of the African Union Peace and Security Council and its role in conflict prevention and crisis management. In his address at the retreat, the President of the PAP recalled that the founding fathers realized that without a continental legislature made up of the people’s elected representatives, the Union was a Union of Member States and not a Union of African citizens. He said: "The founding fathers realized that without a continental Parliament, the quest for representative democracy, popular participation and continental integration would be remain nothing more than a pipedream.
Lending full support to and concurring with the recommendations by the Reform Unit, H.E. Chief Charumbira gave a robust expose with recommendations in various aspects, critical to the success of the Reform Process as far as the PAP within the AU architecture is concerned.
The recommendations pertained to the status of PAP Bureau and MPs; PAP budgetary oversight function; oversight and joint programming; the issue of non-referral to PAP of matters by Policy Organs; and lack of financial control by the PAP Bureau, among other recommendations. Another key aspect unpacked by the leader of the continental Parliament was the decentralization of systems to enable efficacy throughout the AU.
According to H.E.Hon. Chief Charumbira, the centralization of business processes and systems at the African Union Commission (AUC), though driven by the desire to eradicate inefficiencies, has ironically resulted in even greater inefficiencies. The PAP President recommended that the AUC consider decentralising business systems and processes to Organs, including recruitment, to enhance efficiency and timely service delivery. The report from the retreat will be considered in the processes of the AU Policy Organs before being presented for consideration by the Assembly of Heads of State and Government.
Read the full speech by the President of the Pan-African Parliament as delivered at the AU Retreat on Institution Reforms in Kigali:
