Spotlight Pan-African Parliament
Despite the consolidation of multi-party elections in most African countries in recent years, parliaments on the continent are generally seen as weak, ineffective and mere talking shops. It is therefore not surprising that since its inception in 2004, the African Union’s Pan-African Parliament (PAP) has largely, also, not been taken seriously and the purpose of its existence increasingly called into question. Our deputy editor Regina Jere-Malanda was at the seat of the PAP in Midrand, South Africa, in mid-May, and spoke to the top men at its helm, who are the first to admit that there is something wrong with the pan-African body.
The dilemma of the Pan-African Parliament
T
HE 4th ORDINARY SESSION of the African Union’s Pan- African Parliament (PAP), in mid-May, took place at an inter- esting time – on the heels of the
life-changing uprisings in North Africa, the political crisis in Côte d’Ivoire, and most tellingly, the destructive NATO-led assault on Colonel Muammar Al Gathafi’s Libya – a country that has undoubtedly been the biggest financial backer of the African Union and by extension the PAP. So was this the right time to take stock
and discuss the effectiveness and role of the PAP? How much impetus can the PAP exert, and has it got strong enough teeth to bite? Te president of the PAP, Dr Mous-
sa Idriss Ndélé (from Chad), is quick to frankly point out the organisation’s ma-
60 | June 2011 New African
jor drawbacks. “When this continental parliament was created in 2004, it came without any legislative activity. Maybe the PAP came earlier than it should have,” he told the New African. Seven years since its founding, the PAP is still very much a work in progress, without any power to legislate. Many people, including Dr Ndélé himself, sadly believe that this will remain so for some years to come. “After five years of the PAP being
formed – and five years is long enough – we did an internal evaluation and we came up with reasons as to why we should now move to a legislative body,” Dr Ndélé said. “For example, we want our MPs to be elected, and exclusively dedicated, to the activities of the PAP instead of the cur- rent situation where PAP MPs also serve in their national parliaments and local
constituencies. “We believe we should have legislative
power of some kind in areas such as health, the environment, the circulation of goods and suchlike,” the PAP president added. Buoyed by the wave of peaceful demo-
cratic changes in Africa in 2001, the AU conceived the PAP with core principles that included the promotion of popular participation, representation of ordinary people in decision-making, good gover- nance, accountability, and transparency. All these are good, relevant, and well-
meaning objectives – and pragmatic con- sensus is that an institution such as the PAP should be at the core of driving this agenda. But by and large, these principles have remained just on paper – no wonder it has became a source of great frustration for all involved with the organisation.
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