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George Maponga in MIDRAND, South Africa
The drive to renew and reinvigorate the Pan African Parliament (PAP), which is being spearheaded by the continental legislative body led by Chief Fortune Charumbira, has received a major boost after MPs unanimously adopted the Performance Review Report during the ongoing first ordinary session of the sixth parliament.
This landmark move will see the continental parliament moving away from the traditional “activity report”.
The adoption of the Performance Review Review Report means PAP will going forward, take stock of its tangible achievements, assessing strengths and weakness as part of a transformational push to add dynamism and gravity to the continental legislative body for it to have an impact on the lives of Africans.
Traditionally PAP’s operations were predicated on the “Activity Report” which was blamed for the parliamentary body’s previous failures to effect impactful change across the continent.
Besides transitioning to the Performance Review Report, the “new PAP” wants to sync its programmes and activities to the African Union and also thoroughly evaluate its activities as part of a new regime of interventions to stimulate the search for solutions to Africa’s nagging challenges.
The issue of a myriad of challenges choking Africa has loomed large at the ongoing First PAP Ordinary Session of the 6th parliament, with MPs and Regional Caucuses raising red flags over internecine conflicts, coups, coups within coups, and food insecurity in the wake of climate change, a situation decried for mostly affecting the continent’s women and youths.
MPs unanimously said the adoption of the Performance Review Report was the tonic needed to revive, reposition, renew and pivot the continental legislative body towards fulfilling the aspirations of African people, the majority of whom remain mired in poverty.
Speaking while presenting the Performance Review Report for adoption in the PAP chamber, Chief Charumbira noted that the era of mere “activity reporting” was yesteryear’s thing.
“There is a deliberate change in the thrust of your new Bureau, from merely activity-based reporting to results-based reporting. This explains why we have changed this report from an Activity Report to a Performance Review Report. In this new dispensation, we are deliberately moving away from counting the number of bees that visit the flowers to focusing on the number of bees that actually produce the nectar. We are moving away from the common mistake of conflating activities with results,” said Chief Charumbira.
“PAP will not relent and will continue to undertake its responsibilities towards enhancing peace and security, the promotion of democracy and the socio-economic development of the peoples of Africa. The newly elected Bureau is committed to the rejuvenation and revitalisation of the PAP as evidenced by the achievements that have been recorded within this short period of time.”
The results of the Performance Review Report are anchored on the four thematic objectives of the PAP 2019-2023 Strategic Plan.
This includes strengthening the parliamentary functions of the PAP; strengthening the partnership, coordination, outreach and institutional capacity of the PAP; promoting the PAP’s support of human rights and social inclusion goals of the AU and strengthening learning and sharing, knowledge management, communication and advocacy of the PAP.
Online Reporter