PAP seeks to transform itself into legislative body

Herald Reporter

THE Pan African Parliament is pushing to transform itself from its current advocacy and consultative role to a legislative body with a full mandate to champion the voice of the continent’s people.

This is contained in the PAP’s five-year strategic plan 2024 to 2028, which was debated in a plenary session in Midrand, Johannesburg, last week.

PAP president Chief Fortune Charumbira chaired the session in which legislators debated the document which is set to be adopted.

“The vision of PAP is to have an efficient and effective legislative body with a full mandate to champion the voice of the African people in continental governance and promote peace, democracy and development across Africa,” reads the document.

“The mission is to ensure full participation of African peoples in the economic development and integration of the continent, through legislative, oversight, and representational functions that reflect the values and aspirations of the African Union.

“The goal is to use the legislative powers to promote democratic governance, integrated and economically prosperous Africa.”

PAP has over the years been pushing to transform the institution to have legislative powers in terms of what was envisaged in the Malabo Protocol of 2014. It is hoped that adoption of the strategic plan will go a long way in giving effect to that objective.

In his address, Chief Charumbira chronicled the various stages they took to come up with the document.

This included engagement of several stakeholders, including experts in the gathering of views and subsequent drafting of the document.

“We want to ensure that Members of Parliament own the plan in terms of designing and implementation. We bring the document to be formally adopted for it to be a legally authentic document for us to own it,” he said.

One of the strategic objectives was to finalise and implement a revised organisational structure for PAP to improve efficiency and governance, refine and standardise governance processes, including decision making protocols and procedural guidelines.

“Key success factors include political will, sustainable funding, strong stakeholder engagement, capacity building, institutional strengthening, clear communication and alignment with AU Agenda 2063.

“Regular monitoring and evaluation and data-driven adjustments will be essential to keeping the plan on track, ensuring that PAP’s strategic goals contribute to Africa’s integration and development,” reads the plan.

MPs who participated in the debate called for more recognition and autonomy of PAP in terms of budget formulation and the identification of three African languages that resonated with the continent.