Pan-African Parliament Hansard Report, Third Session of the Second Parliament
The President in the Chair
Monday, 4th October 2010
LE PRÉSIDENT:Honorables membres,Je déclare ouverte la troisième Session de la 2e Législature.Je vais renvoyer la lecture de mon allocution d’ouverture officielle à plus tard.Conformément à l’article 9 du Règlement intérieur, nous allons à présent procéder à la prestation de serment des nouveaux membres qui, suite à leur élection et désignation comme membres du Parlement panafricain, prennent part à nos travaux pour la première fois.
1.0 – Prestation de serment des nouveaux membres
Les membres députés, ci-après nommés, prêtent serment et occupent leurs sièges respectifs dans l’hémicycle:HON. FranciscaDomingas TOMAS du MozambiqueHON. Eduardo Joao LADRIA du MozambiqueHON Peter Hitjitevi KATJAVIVI de la NamibieHON. Arnold TJIHUIKO de la NamibieHON. AdjamgbaAgbessi THEOPHILE du TogoHON. Marie Geneviève Stéphanie ANQUETIL de l’Ile MauriceHON. Ahmed Reza GoolamMamode ISSACK de l’Ile MauriceHON. Steven OBEEDAGOO de l’Ile MauriceHON. Kingsley NAMAKHWA du MalawiHON. Hyacinta CHIKAONDA du Malawi.Nous allons féliciter les nouveaux membres et les accueillir par des applaudissements dans la Chambre.(Applaudissements)Je vous remercie.
2.0 – INVITATION DES HOTES DANS LA CHAMBRE
LE PRÉSIDENT:Honorables membres, conformément aux dispositions de l’article 38.1(h) du Règlement intérieur, j’ai le grand plaisir d’inviter nos hôtes à entrer dans la Chambre. Il s’agit de:M. THEODOROS MELESSE, Directeur Région Afrique de l’IPPF;Dr IBRAHIM A. MAYAKI, Directeur Exécutif du NEPAD;S.E. AKERE MUNA, Président du Conseil économique, social et culturel (ECOSOCC) de l’Union africaine;S.E. l’honorable NOMVULA MOKONYANE, Gouverneur de la Province de Gauteng, notre province hôte.(Les invités entrent dans la salle et s’installentau rythme des applaudissements)LE PRÉSIDENT:Honorables membres,Conformément aux dispositions de l’article 38.1(h) du Règlement intérieur, j’ai maintenant le grand plaisir d’inviter notre hôte spécial, l’honorable Maite NKOANA-MASHABANE, Ministre des Relations internationales et de la Coopération de la République d’Afrique du Sud, à s’installer.(Applaudissements)J’aimerais porter à la connaissance des honorables membres que nous avons reçu un message de solidarité écrit de l’honorable JERZY BUZEK, Président du Parlement européen. Il vous sera distribué.A présent, je vais inviter le Dr Ibrahim A. MAYAKI du NEPAD à donner lecture de son message de solidarité.
3.0 – MESSAGES DE SOLIDARITE
3.1 – Message de solidarité du Directeur exécutif du NEPAD
DR. IBRAHIM A. MAYAKI [EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF NEPAD]:Your Excellency, Right Honorable President of the Pan-African Parliament, distinguished honorable Members of the Bureau of the Pan-African Parliament, honorable Members of Parliament, distinguished guests; it is a great honour and privilege for me, as CEO of the NEPAD Agency, to address this distinguished body of African Parliamentarians.First, let me thank the President and honorable Members of the Pan-African Parliament, as well as the Clerk, for giving me this unique opportunity to deliver a short message of solidarity.NEPAD is extremely proud to be present at the opening of this Third Ordinary Session of the PanAfrican Parliament, and will continue to robustly engage the Parliament as a key organ of the African Union, particularly in promoting popular participation and representation of African peoples in decision-making and good governance. This is at the core of the NEPAD agenda as it relates to leadership transformation and citizen empowerment.We are evidently in full support of the PanAfrican Parliament’s transition from a consultative parliamentary forum into a fullyfledged legislative body. This will give PAP the capacity to enforce strategic decisions for cohesive and collective action around Africa’s policy and development policy issues.The legislative and enforcement powers of a new PAP will also serve to strengthen the role and impact of national and regional parliamentary bodies, thereby consolidating the gains made towards regional integration through the regional economic communities.Opportunities for closer collaboration with parliament have been enhanced following the successful finalization of the integration of NEPAD into the structures and processes of the African Union. In particular, the NEPAD process is being re-energized through the establishment of the NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency (NPCA) as the technical body of the African Union. NPCA, the NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency, serves as a specialized development agency focusing on facilitating and coordinating the implementation of Africa’s priority programs and projects.The new strategic direction for the NEPAD agency has identified six key thematic priorities namely:Agriculture and Food Security;Regional Integration and Infrastructure;Human Development;Environment and Natural Resources Management;Economic and Corporate Governance; and finally,Crosscutting Issues of Capacity Development, Gender and ICT.En conclusion, Monsieur le Président, je voudrais dire que le processus de transformation qu’a subi le NEPAD lui permet d’être un instrument cohérent au service de l’Union africaine et, bien évidemment, au service du Parlement panafricain. En tant qu’agence de développement de l’Union africaine, nous comptons jouer le rôle que vous voudrez bien nous assigner, dans le cadre du mandat légal qui a été défini par l’Union africaine. Ce rôle, nous comptons le jouer avec motivation, avec enthousiasme et avec professionnalisme.Dans la mise en œuvre des processus relatifs à l’intégration régionale, nous pensons que notre coopération va absolument renforcer la capacité à mettre en œuvre des projets et programmes régionaux prioritaires, que ce soit dans le domaine des infrastructures comme dans tous les autres domaines clés du développement de notre continent.Donc, je voudrais terminer, Monsieur le Président et Messieurs les honorables membres du Parlement, en vous disant que L’Agence du NEPAD est à votre service de manière pleine, et il a longtemps joué ce rôle de manière efficace.Je vous remercie.(Applaudissements)LE PRÉSIDENT:Honorables membres, j’invite maintenant S.E. AKERE MUNA, Président du Conseil économique, social et culturel (ECOSOCC) de l’Union africaine à donner lecture de son message.
3.2 – Message de solidarité de S.E. AKERE MUNA, Président du Conseil économique, social et culturel (ECOSOCC) de l’Union africaine
S.E. AKERE MUNA [PRESIDENT DU CONSEIL ECONOMIQUE, SOCIAL ET CULTUREL (ECOSOCC) DE L’UNION AFRICAINE]:Monsieur le Président du Parlement panafricain,Honorables membres du Bureau du Parlement panafricain,Madame la Ministre des Affaires étrangères d’Afrique du Sud,Madame le Gouverneur,Monsieur le Directeur du NEPAD,Monsieur le Directeur de l’IPPF,Distingués membres du Parlement panafricain,Mesdames, Messieurs,Monsieur le Président,Pour la seconde fois, vous avez bien voulu associer l’ECOSOCC, que je préside, à cette cérémonie solennelle d’ouverture.Je vous en remercie grandement et vous transmets, en même temps, les salutations des conseillers de l’ECOSOCC.Avec votre invitation, vous nous avez aussi demandé de prendre la parole, pour renouveler nos sentiments de solidarité envers vous et cet organe continental.Je saisis aussi l’occasion, Monsieur le Président, pour féliciter les honorables membres qui ont prêté serment ce jour.With your permission, Mr. President, I congratulate the Members who were sworn in today. I do so in the firm belief that there is dire need to strengthen the institutions of our countries and the organs of the African Union. At a time where, on our continent, more and more people feel that salvation from any difficult situation has to pass through a providential man, institutional building is the answer to the strengthening of our countries.Institution building is also the answer to the building of the African Union. The traction towards the United States of Africa can only be achieved if we make the strengthening of the African Union a priority. We must avoid to be defined by our differences or the difficulties of the moment. I don’t intend actually to discount the importance of leadership, even that which is providential. On the contrary I seek to emphasize the fact that our leaders must realize the need for strong and sustainable institutions. We are presently in a country where an acclaimed leader, a providential one for that matter, one who has gained respect of the entire planet, decided to put institutions first. Madiba Nelson Mandela, let everyone know that South African was not about Mandela, but that Mandela was about South Africa. So, it is proper for me to affirm that a strong Pan African Parliament is not about its members, but about the move towards United States of Africa.Even before the transformation of the OAU into the AU, the need for the creation of an organization, which is the union of people and not only union of States and Governments, had been put forth as an overriding imperative. The creation of the Pan African Parliament (PAP) and the Economic, Social and Cultural Council are both firmly grounded on this premise. While the Pan African Parliament is meant to provide the interface between the Parliamentarians who hold an elective mandate, the ECOSOCC, for its part, is meant according to the preamble of the Statutes, to satisfy "the need to build a partnership between government and all segments of civil society, in particular women, youth and the private sector, in order to strengthen solidarity and cohesion among our peoples, as well as to encourage the full participation of the African Diaspora as an important part of the Continent".The roadmap for PAP is its Strategic Plan, which is actually supposed to end in 2010, and is anchored as I understand it, on two pillars: institutional and political objectives. The Parliament’s overall objective, as espoused by the Strategic Plan is, "to evolve into an institution with full legislative powers." Your Excellencies, my proposition is simple, the barometer of the political will to move towards the United States of Africa will be the pace at which this Parliament gets to play its institutional role.The Pan African Parliament is currently an advisory body of the AU. It was established in March 2004 on the basis of Articles 7 (c) and 14 of the Abuja Treaty. The Pan African Parliament Protocol was adopted before the OAU was transformed to the AU, but the organ is recognized under Article 5 of the Constitutive Act, so is the ECOSOCC. The PAP is now fully integrated into the AU system as an organ, reporting to the Assembly and its budget processed through the Policy Organs of the Union. If PAP carries the dream of the Union of the Continent, ECOSOCC is following firmly in its footsteps. ECOSOCC has now a national process almost fine tuned for the election of its members directly from the different constituencies, national, regional and continental. The Diaspora still remains for us a challenge. It is hoped that in the last two years of the mandate of the Current Permanent General Assembly of the ECOSOCC, moves will be made towards bringing in the Diaspora.As regards making the ECOSOCC operational, Sectoral Cluster Committees are established as key operational mechanisms of ECOSOCC, to formulate opinions and provide inputs into the policy and programmes of the African Union. These clusters are:a)Peace and Security;b)Political Affairs;c)Infrastructure and Energy;d)Social Affairs and Health:e)Human Resources, Science and Technology;f)Trade and Industry;g)Rural Economy and Agriculture;h)Economic Affairs;i)Women and Gender; and alsoj)Cross-Cutting ProgrammesI am aware that at the level of the Pan African Parliament, the following ten Permanent Committees exist: the Committee on Rural Economy, Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environment; the Committee on Monetary and Financial Affairs; the Committee on Trade, Customs and Immigration Matters; the Committee on Co-operation, International Relations and Conflict Resolution; the Committee on Transport, Industry, Communications, Energy, Science and Technology; the Committee on Health, Labour and Social Affairs; the Committee on Education, Tourism and Human Resources; the Committee on Gender, Family, Youth and People with Disability; the Committee on Justice and Human Rights; and finally the Committee on Rules, Privileges and Discipline.Mr. President we will be approaching the Pan African Parliament to see how the Clusters and the Permanent Committees can set down rules of engagement on how the two organs can add more value to the workings of the African Union.Mr. President as I come to the end of my short message, I would want to emphasize that it will be difficult for the dream of the African Union, the dream of having the United States of Africa to take place if the organs are not permitted to play their role fully. So, I call upon this Honourable House to reflect without hindrance and to act without any hindrance as well.I thank you very much.(Applaudissements).LE PRÉSIDENT:Honorables membres, j’invite à présent l’honorable NOMVULA MOKONYANA, Gouverneur de la Province de Gauteng, cette province qui abrite le siège du Parlement panafricain, à prendre la parole.
3.3 – Message de solidarité de l’honorable NOMVULA MOKONYANA, Gouverneur de la Province de Gauteng
HON. NOMVULA MOKONYANE [GAUTENG GOVENOR]:Dr Musa IdrisNdili, Honourable Members of the Pan African Parliament, Chairperson of Economic Commission of African Union, Chairperson of NEPAD, The Minister for International Relations and Cooperation from the Republic of South Africa, fellow Africans.The Constitution of the Pan African Parliament is one of the important milestones achieved in postcolonial Africa. It is the affirmation of the collective desire by African states, sovereign and independent, to work as a united force in the advancement of Africa and her development.The Pan African Parliament is now one of the embodiments of a vision of a free and united Africa, capable of charting her political and growth trajectory, independent of the alien influence. It is the body that is well positioned to advance this vision once espoused by such luminary leaders as Kwame Nkrumah, Jomo Kenyatta, Patrice Lumumba, Julius "Mwalimu" Nyerere who were strong proponents of Africa development agenda.Honourable President,Today’s sitting of the Third (3rd) Ordinary Session of the second Pan African Parliament happens at the time when Africa celebrates the 50th Independence Anniversary of seventeen (17) African states, which includes the most populous Nigeria. This is a celebration of half a century of freedom from colonial rule. It is the celebration of the rise of the African continent so that she can proudly stand amongst the nations of the world as an important player in the affairs of the world.However, such celebration must be accompanied by sober, frank and critical introspection of our programs and development. We need to reflect on the extent to which these programs have improved the living conditions of our people. We need to do an introspection as to whether or not we have done our work in order to strengthen and consolidate democratic institutions, promote the protection of human rights as well as promotion of good governance.These are some of the critical issues that we must honestly and openly engage in as a united force whose overarching interest is the well-being of Africa and her advancement. The unity of purpose we have forged through the establishment of such institutions as Pan African Parliament will only be made stronger if these issues are central in our work.As a continent we are not immune to global challenges and threats. Africa’s growth will remain arrested if we approach these matters as a disjointed community, particularly in the face of the fast globalizing world. We are at the stage where solidarity and unity amongst African nations are paramount. Turning the tide in favour of Africa demands that solidarity of nations becomes a requirement and not just a choice.Honourable President,As the host of the Pan African Parliament, we would like to assure you and the members that our support for the work of the Parliament will remain steadfast. We will do everything within our means to make your work and stay comfortable and worthwhile.Our Provincial Government and legislature here in Gauteng are more than willing to cooperate and exchange knowledge with this institution and its members. We believe that our work will be more enhanced if we promote cooperation and sharing of best practices.I wish you all a productive work period during this sitting. May Africa prosper. Thank you and God bless Africa.(Applaudissements)LE PRÉSIDENT:Honorables membres, j’invite maintenant notre hôte spécial, l’honorable Maite NKOANA-MASHABANE, Ministre des Relations internationales et de la Coopération de la République d’Afrique du Sud, à prendre la parole.
3.4 – Message de solidarité de HON. Maite NKOANA-MASHABANE, Ministre des Relations internationales et de la Coopération de la République d’Afrique du Sud
HON NKOANA-MASHABANE[MINISTER OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS]:The President of the Pan African Parliament, Dr IdrissNdeleMoussa,Honourable Members of the Pan African Parliament,Honourable Ministers and Deputy Ministers,Your Excellencies, Ambassadors and High Commissioners,Distinguished guests,Ladies and gentlemen.I would like to thank you for inviting me to speak to this pivotal Organ of the African Union on the occasion of the opening of the 3rd Ordinary Session of the Second Pan-African Parliament. Indeed, we are very proud as South Africa and the entire Southern Africa to have been given this opportunity by the African Union to host the PAP in this region.May I also take this opportunity to congratulate those Honourable members who were sworn in this morning. Congratulations!On behalf of the people and the Government of South Africa, I wish to convey our warmest greetings. I would like to say to all of you that you are welcome!We take this opportunity once again, to thank you as representatives of African Union Member States, for the support you gave us when we hosted, together, and successfully, and on your behalf the first FIFA World Cup in Africa. That event showcased to the whole world that this continent is no longer a sleeping giant, and that indeed Africa’s time has come, and that more importantly this is Africa’s century.Mr. President, the institutional birth of the Pan African Parliament can be traced to the Abuja Treaty that was signed in June 1991 and came into force in May 1994. The Treaty called for the establishment of the PAP as a platform for the African peoples to be actively involved in the affairs and decisions of the African Union. However, the Treaty envisaged a long term establishment of the PAP.But the Fourth Extra-ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the OAU held in Sirte, Libya, in September, 1999, adopted the Sirte Declaration which called for (among others) the speedy establishment of PAP. The SirteDeclaration marked a great leap in the coming into existence of the PAP. In July 2000, the 36th Ordinary session of the Conference of the Heads of States and Government in Lome, Togo, adopted the Constitutive Act of the African Union, which provided for the PAP as one of the Organs of the AU.Honourable President and Honourable members, we believe as a country that the Pan African Parliament is a very important Organ of the AU that has a critical role in the democratization process of the Continent, peace-building, development, unity and integration. I would want to agree with the President of ECOSOCC, that when our fore bearers that the Honourable Premier referred to earlier on, envisaged a United States of Africa, they meant the unity of our people who were divided by colonization. They did not envisage a unification of governments, but of our people. They envisaged free facilitated movement of goods and services of our people. They did not dream of an Africa in which intertrade can only be but 10%. So when we talk of United States of Africa, to many of us we talk about integration first of our people, with very strong institutions that will help govern that. So that is why we are not in haste to unite governments, but to unite our people. The 50th anniversary celebrations of the seventeen plus of our countries’ independence, means the unification of our people first. The vision of the African Union in establishing the PAP was to ensure that the peoples of Africa become active participants in the decisions of the AU pertaining to all aspects of our integration. We are, therefore, privileged as a country to have this opportunity to host an Organ of the AU whose task is to promote the shared values of democracy and good governance.It was in this light that our President, His Excellency Jacob Zuma, addressing this Assembly last year, expressed an unwavering support of our government to processes aimed at gradually transforming PAP towards a legislative body as envisaged in its founding Protocol. The African Union, we believe, needs an effective and efficient Pan African Parliament that will contribute towards the entrenchment of a culture of democracy and good governance as enshrined in the Constitutive Act.Indeed, the theme that has been agreed to for the next AU Summit to be held in Addis Ababa early next year, will be the promotion of shared values. In this regard, we commend the PAP for the regional campaigns - in Uganda, Chad and Zimbabwe - to make the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and good Governance known all over the Continent. The PAP is demonstrating through this campaign that it is well placed to support the implementation of the AU Summit decisions.Mr. President, the Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance is predicated on the objectives and principles enshrined in the AU Constitutive Act, particularly Articles 3 and 4, which emphasise the promotion of democracy and good governance, public participation, respect for the rule of law and promotion and protection of human rights on the continent.In this regard, we share the concern expressed by many on this continent that the pace of accession to this instrument has been far from satisfactory. The records of the African Union Commission show that by 31 August 2010, thirty seven countries had signed the Charter and only six had ratified and deposited their instruments with the Commission. This could have changed during the past month, however, the pace does remain slow.For our own part, we signed the instrument in February 2010, and can reveal that the process of ratification is at an advanced stage. I say so to further encourage Member States who have not yet signed and ratified the Charter to also embark on this process as it is for our common good, and it is what our people demand.This Charter, as you are all aware, wants to help improve not only the political governance on our continent, but also our economic and social governance. It is a known fact that socioeconomic development can be best realised in conditions under which public administration is efficient and effective, as well as transparent and accountable. It is the responsibility of the political leadership of our continent to create and foster such conditions for socio-economic development to be realised.This Charter provides us with an instrument, which promotes the participation of our people in democratic processes, which are not limited to just electing political leadership, but also in the administration of their affairs for the betterment of their lives. The Charter gives the necessary impetus for participatory democracy whereby all segments of the society have a say in the administration of public affairs. The PAP as a voice for our people is well suited to promote participatory democracy on the continent. This participatory democracy requires the continued participation of stronger and vibrant civil society and watchdog bodies.Once the Charter has entered into force, the PAP will have to work with all of us to assist us with its implementation, and especially its domestication by AU Member States. It is through its effective and comprehensive domestication that the Charter will have the intended impact on our respective countries. When the Charter is fully domesticated into our countries, its dreams will be a reality and its promises a fact of life for our people. Our success in the domestication of the Charter will in many ways reinforce our ongoing efforts to strengthen existing institutions which are meant to support democracy in our respective countries.Honorable Members, it is worth recalling that the AU has declared this year as the year of peace. We believe that the members of the PAP are well placed, as they come from all over the Continent, to promote peace. By working together as members of the PAP, you have proved that Africans can be united for a common cause regardless of their diversity. The PAP is well placed therefore, to spread this message of peace all over the Continent. It has been said many times that without peace there can be no development. All of us in this august House especially the female members, including the Premier, would know that when the elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers. By that I am referring to humble and ordinary women who will be seen carrying their goods and babies on their backs. So peace for us is not charity, it is what we expect from our leadership.I am aware of the good work that the PAP has been doing over the years in the peace and security domains. We commend you and encourage you to do more. We are pleased that your work is not confined to countries in conflict, but that you try to include in your list of countries, those that are emerging from conflicts and those in advanced stages of post-conflict reconstruction and development.The efforts of the PAP in peace and security area will go a long way in enhancing our ongoing efforts to deal with unconstitutional changes of government. The resurgence of this phenomenon undermines our continued efforts to entrench and consolidate democracy on the continent and remains a threat to the stability of Africa.It has also become more urgent for us to review the AU instruments we have in place to inform our response to cases of unconstitutional change of government. Honourable members may be aware that when we refer to unconstitutional changes of government, we no longer refer to military coups. There are other mechanisms that have come into play, where l have learnt from my young son who is studying law in South Africa that dear mother, you know there is a trend in this continent, where other countries hold elections, some organize elections. He said there are cases where a military leader carries out a coup, and then he organizes elections in which he is the sole candidate. My son calls that; organizing elections, which is unconstitutional. Our leaders have come to a determination that there are loopholes in these instruments that perpetrators of unconstitutional change of government exploit to their benefit, but to the detriment of our continent.We have to eradicate conflicts on the face of our continent if we want the next fifty years of our independence to be different from the ones we have experienced.In the next fifty years, we should not be talking of an Africa that is rising but an Africa that has arisen.In the next fifty years, we should not be talking of an Africa that is an emerging frontier of opportunities and economic growth, but an Africa that is an expanding frontier of endless opportunities and boundless economic growth.I have just returned from a meeting of the international community in New York, at the United Nations, to review our performance on achieving our targets for the Millennium Development Goals. The prospects are not encouraging for our continent. But I believe that with the bodies like the PAP, our continent can be marshaled into a force formidable enough to make maximum use of the remaining five years towards the MDG deadline of 2015 for a better life for our people.The next fifty years must belong to our people!Mr. President, we as the government would like to see a PAP that is effective and efficient, able to support the integration process of the AU. For this to happen, it is for the PAP to ensure that the institution is underpinned by a competent and efficient administration based on the principle of good governance.I say this mindful of the fact that the PAP requires capacity to carry out its important functions. It remains important in this regard for Member States to continue to provide the required support to the PAP to enable it to carry out its mandate.It is therefore necessary for us to redouble our efforts in working towards the transformation of this organ from its advisory status to a legislative one.We (South Africa) support the campaign and the decision of the AU to have the Protocol of the PAP reviewed to ensure a stronger parliament. We remain committed as the South African government to honoring our undertaking to build a permanent home for the PAP so that the honorable members of this Parliament can enjoy a comfortable stay as they do their work.We therefore wish you success in your deliberations throughout the session. Let me again welcome you to the Republic of South Africa.Your presence in our country for this session reassures us that we will not fail our people when we have on this continent, leaders of your caliber who are ready to leave behind their homes and families to serve Africa.It is this kind of commitment that will ensure that when we celebrate the centenary of our independence, in the next fifty years, our continent must be in a better shape and our people living a prosperous and better life.I thank you.(Applaudissements).
4.0 – ALLOCUTION D’OUVERTURE DE LA TROISIEME SESSION ORDINAIRE
LE PRÉSIDENT:Honorables membres,Je voudrais en votre nom, remercier et féliciter notre invitée spéciale, l’honorable Maite NKOANA-MASAHABANE, Ministre des Relations internationales et de la Coopération de la République d’Afrique du Sud et nos autres hôtes, pour leur message de solidarité, d’encouragement et de soutien.Je vais vous demander de les applaudir, encore une fois, pour ces messages de solidarité.(Applaudissements nourris)Excellence, Honorable Maite NKOANA-MASHABANE, Ministre des Relations extérieures et de la Coopération d’Afrique du Sud, invitée spéciale de notre session,Honorables membres du Bureau du Parlement panafricain,Honorables membres du Parlement,Excellences, Mesdames et Messieurs les membres du Gouvernement,Excellences, Mesdames et Messieurs les Ambassadeurs et chefs de missions diplomatiques et consulaires,Mesdames et Messieurs les Représentants des Organisations internationales,Honorables membres des délégations parlementaires invitées,Mesdames et Messieurs les chefs de partis politiques,Distinguées personnalités en vos rangs respectifs,Mesdames et Messieurs,C’est pour moi un insigne honneur et un réel plaisir de procéder, ce matin, à l’ouverture solennelle de la troisième session ordinaire de la deuxième législature du Parlement panafricain.Je remercie tous nos invités qui ont consacré leur temps précieux à rehausser, de leur présence, l’éclat de cette cérémonie officielle et solennelle prévue par l’article 28 du Règlement intérieur de notre Parlement.Je voudrais à cet égard vous inviter, Mesdames et Messieurs les parlementaires, à reconnaître à nouveau, dans cet hémicycle, Son Excellence Maite NKOANA-MASHABANE, Ministre des Relations extérieures et de la Coopération d’Afrique du Sud, Monsieur THEODOROS MELESSE, Directeur régional de l’IPPF, Docteur IBRAHIM A. MAYAKI, Directeur Exécutif du NEPAD, Son Excellence AKERE MUNA, Président du Conseil économique, social et cultuel (ECOSOCC) de l’Union Africaine, et Son Excellence l’honorable NOMVULAMOKONYANE, Gouverneur de la Province de Gauteng, province hôte du PAP.Distingués invités,La Représentation continentale vous sait gré de votre amitié, de votre solidarité et tient tout particulièrement à vous renouveler sa gratitude pour avoir accepté d’honorer son invitation.Aussi, au nom de tous les membres du Parlement ici présents, je souhaite la bienvenue, dans notre Parlement continental, aux députés nouvellement élus, en tant que représentants de leurs peuples respectifs au sein de cette auguste Assemblée.Ces forces nouvelles, qui viennent de prêter serment, contribueront par leurs vives participations aux débats, à revigorer le blason de cette institution panafricaine.Honorables membres,Distingués invités,Permettez-moi de saisir cette occasion pour rendre un vibrant hommage à la mémoire de feu le Président Umaru Musa Yar’Adua du Nigéria qui s’est éteint environ deux semaines après la clôture de notre deuxième session ordinaire, plus précisément, le 5 mai 2010.En outre, en signe de solidarité et d’hommage aux personnes décédées dans le crash survenu à Tripoli, en Libye, le 12 mai de cette année, et dans le double attentat revendiqué par les miliciens extrémistes d’Al Chabaab, le 11 juillet de la même année respectivement, à l’heure où l’Afrique toute entière et le reste du monde vibraient au rythme de la Coupe du monde de football organisée sur le sol africain, je vous invite à vous lever et à observer une minute de silence.(Une minute de silence est observée.)Je vous remercie.Honorables députés,En votre nom à tous, permettez-moi de saisir cette occasion pour renouveler notre compassion aux gouvernements nigérian, libyen et ougandais ainsi qu’aux familles affligées.C’est également le lieu de condamner avec véhémence cet acte ignoble de terrorisme perpétré en Ouganda contre des personnes innocentes.Chers collègues,Le Parlement panafricain, dont l’un des objectifs consignés dans les dispositions du Protocole portant sa création est de promouvoir la paix, la sécurité et la stabilité en Afrique,s’attardera davantage sur la situation de la Somalie à cause des deux attentats perpétrés en Ouganda, en collaboration avec le Conseil de Paix et de Sécurité de l’UA.Dans cet ordre d’idées, notre institution initiera des réflexions approfondies sur les progrès réalisés et les perspectives de résolution des conflits en cette année consacrée « Année de la Paix et de la Sécurité en Afrique».Aussi, avec la poursuite de certains conflits en Afrique, l’avènement de crises au terme des élections et le retour du fléau des coups d’Etat, le Parlement panafricain compte engager davantage d’efforts en vue de la consolidation de la paix et de la sécurité, de l’établissement et du renforcement de l’état de droit, et de l’observation de l’ordre constitutionnel en Afrique.Honorables députés,Distingués invités,C’est dans cette optique que le Parlement panafricain, en collaboration avec l’Union africaine, les institutions parlementaires régionales et nationales, ainsi que les représentants de la société civile, s’est livré à la vulgarisation de la Charte africaine de la Démocratie, des Elections et de la Gouvernance au niveau des Etats membres de l’UA, en vue de l’appropriation, par les peuples africains, du processus, suivie de la signature et la ratification de ce document important par 11 pays au moins, avant 2011.La grande campagne « 11 before 2011 » lancée par le Parlement panafricain à cette fin, a vu l’organisation de dialogues consultatifs stratégiques relatifs à la signature et à la ratification de cette Charte au niveau des sousrégions Afrique de l’Est (Kampala, Ouganda), Afrique centrale (Ndjamena, Tchad) et Afrique australe (Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe). Ces dialogues se poursuivront en Afrique du Nord et en Afrique de l’Ouest en novembre 2010.La réalisation de cet objectif que s’est fixé le Parlement panafricain participera à enraciner la culture de la démocratie, des élections et de la bonne gouvernance aux niveaux national et continental.Honorables députés,Distingués invités,Le continent africain a eu l’honneur d’abriter, du 11 juin au 11 juillet 2010, en Afrique du Sud, la dix-neuvième édition de la Coupe du Monde de Football.Pour la toute première fois de l’histoire, cette compétition d’envergure planétaire prenait ses quartiers sur le sol africain. Tous les pays du monde entier, du nord au sud, de l’est à l’ouest, riches et pauvres, ont eu le regard tourné vers l’Afrique.C’était un défi pour le continent de démontrer qu’il peut répondre aux attentes politiques, économiques, socioculturelles, touristiques et sécuritaires des performances sportives au cours d’une manifestation d’une telle envergure.La fierté du peuple sud-africain, en particulier, et de tous les Africains, en général en cette occasion, n’a eu de semblable que la joie et l’émotion engendrées par la prestation des Black Stars du Ghana à qui nous réitérons toutes nos félicitations.(Applaudissements).Honorables députés,Distingués invités,L’occasion est idéale pour tous les représentants des peuples africains, fiers du succès de cet évènement, d’exprimer notre joie et surtout de dire à tout le peuple sud-africain Je vous remercie!!! Shukran!!!Muchas gracias!!! Muito obrigado!!!Asante sane!!! Thank you very much!!! Siyabonga!!! Realebuha!!! Siyabulela!!!((Applaudissements).Honorables députés,Mesdames et Messieurs,Au-delà de la Coupe du monde abritée par l’Afrique en 2010, cette année marque également la commémoration du cinquantenaire des indépendances de 17 pays africains et des indépendances africaines.C’est l’occasion pour nous de rendre hommage à tous les pères des indépendances, tout pays africain confondu, qui ont eu le mérite de se vouer à la libération de nos Etats du joug de la colonisation.Je saisis cette même occasion pour lancer un vibrant appel à la mobilisation générale des peuples africains en vue de la sauvegarde et de la défense de cette précieuse liberté dont nous jouissons, aujourd’hui.Je voudrais, en particulier, inviter toutes les forces vives au niveau du Parlement à faire le bilan de ces cinquante années et à s’investir dans la réflexion qui sera entreprise demain dans cet hémicycle, en exprimant des propositions concrètes qui contribueraient à la consolidation de la démocratie et au développement de notre cher continent.L’avenir de l’Afrique nous appartient et nous interpelle tous!Notre destinée nous appartient et nous interpelle tous!Ensemble, en s’inspirant des leçons du passé, nous saurons édifier un continent émergent et dynamique dans le contexte actuel de la mondialisation; un continent capable de grandes réalisations; un continent prospère; un continent où la mortalité maternelle, néo-natale et infantile est réduite; un continent exempt de conflits, d’armes, de corruption, de famine et d’épidémies.Honorables députés,Mesdames et Messieurs,Le Sommet des Nations unies sur les Objectifs du Millénaire pour le Développement (OMD), tenu du 20 au 22 Septembre dernier à New York, qui s’est conclu avec l'adoption d'un programme d'action de réalisation des huit objectifs antipauvreté d'ici à 2015 et l'annonce de nouveaux engagements relatifs à la santé des femmes et des enfants, ainsi que d'autres initiatives pour lutter contre la pauvreté, la faim et les maladies, témoigne de la volonté partagée de la communauté internationale de trouver une stratégie globale et intégrée à tous ces problèmes épineux.Ces trois jours de rencontres, de débats, de propositions et d'échanges ont été l'occasion, pour toutes les parties prenantes, de passer en revue un catalogue de progrès, qui va de la réduction de la pauvreté à l'expansion de l'éducation primaire, en passant par la lutte contre les maladies mortelles et l'amélioration des conditions sanitaires de millions d'êtres humains.Ce Sommet a également permis d’examiner le chemin restant à parcourir jusqu’en 2015 et d’analyser les facteurs de succès et d‘échec des politiques menées en faveur des OMD après avoir pris conscience de l’interdépendance et de la complémentarité de tous les objectifs.Honorables députés,Mesdames et Messieurs,Le Parlement panafricain est d’avis que l’adhésion à nos valeurs fondamentales communes, notamment la liberté, l’égalité, la solidarité, la tolérance, le respect de tous les droits de l’homme, celui de la nature et le partage des responsabilités, est une condition essentielle de la réalisation des objectifs du Millénaire.A ce titre, nous invitons les États membres de l’UA à s'atteler davantage aux Objectifs du Millénaire pour le Développement avec une volonté renouvelée, à renforcer leur efficacité au stade de l'exécution des OMD et à intensifier leurs actions collectives, en se servant des stratégies de développement nationales ainsi que des politiques et des mécanismes éclairés qui ont fait leur preuve et qui se sont montrées efficaces.En outre, le Parlement panafricain veillera à une accélération des efforts en faveur de la réalisation, d’ici à 2015, des Objectifs du Millénaire pour le Développement à travers la mobilisation des peuples africains pour une bonne mise en exécution des plans conçus dans lesdits objectifs.Toutefois, en cette année commémorative, il y a lieu de se rappeler la situation du Sahara occidental toujours engagé vers la reconnaissance de son identité nationale en vue d’aboutir à un processus légitime axé sur les fondements républicains.Honorables députés,C’est le lieu de reconnaître l’urgence de la coopération régionale, qui s’avère si nécessaire pour l’Afrique, ainsi que le droit inaliénable des peuples sahraouis à l’autodétermination.Le Parlement panafricain soutient les efforts du Conseil de Sécurité des Nations unies visant à trouver une solution juste, durable et mutuellement acceptable aux peuples marocains et sahraouis.Le Plan d’action émanant du Sommet de Tripoli de 2009 et appelant à l’accélération du processus de recherche d’un règlement définitif de ce différend et à la tenue d’un référendum juste, libre et transparent pour l'autodétermination du Sahara occidental participe de cet effort.Honorables députés,Mesdames et Messieurs,Au cours de cette période transitoire où le Parlement se prépare à assumer, dans un avenir proche, des fonctions législatives, le Bureau souhaiterait que nous tirions le meilleur parti de nos atouts.Il s’agit pour nous de prendre toute la mesure du processus graduel de la transformation en organe législatif et d’exécuter autant que faire ce peut et à la mesure de nos moyens, le mandat actuel d’organe consultatif dévolu au Parlement panafricain.Permettez-moi, toutefois, de rappeler que ce Parlement, hautement enrichi de l’expertise de divers horizons d’Afrique, devrait aller au-delà du rôle consultatif/conseil et exercer de pleins pouvoirs législatifs au nom de l’Afrique.Ceci nous permettrait de faire suivre d’effets les engagements pris au nom de nos peuples.Voilà la raison pour laquelle le Bureau du PAP s’est engagée à faire de cette institution un parlement au sens propre du terme.Honorables députés,Mesdames et Messieurs,Le PAP s’est engagé à accompagner vigoureusement l’agenda sociopolitique et économique prôné par l’Union africaine en vue d’accélérer le développement du continent. Cet engagement se concrétisera par des promotions dans tous les domaines, et par la consolidation de nos relations avec l’ensemble des acteurs de l’Union africaine et autres partenaires internationaux pertinents.En conséquence, nous nous devons tous de faciliter la mise en œuvre des renforcements institutionnels envisagés.Plusieurs changements seront apportés à nos méthodes de travail, à nos procédures et à nos structures. Nous devons en effet réfléchir aux moyens d'améliorer la pertinence et l'efficacité de nos activités.Le Bureau tient à poursuivre ces objectifs nobles en continuant d’emprunter une approche participative et, pour ce faire, en étroite collaboration avec toutes les structures du PAP.Honorables députés,Mesdames et Messieurs,A l'ère de la mondialisation, nous sommes inévitablement confrontés à plusieurs défis au niveau continental. C’est le lieu de citer la question de la crise alimentaire, les problèmes environnementaux, et surtout la montée de l'intolérance et de la discrimination dans nos sociétés africaines.Nous devons bâtir notre maison commune continentale sur une société ouverte, respectueuse de la diversité africaine qui refuse l'exclusion, qui refuse la discrimination et qui refuse la haine.Chers collègues,Il est de notre devoir d'intensifier le dialogue interrégional et de veiller à l’établissement d’une synergie entre les Parlements nationaux, régionaux et le Parlement panafricain.C’est le lieu de se réjouir du passage du forum parlementaire de la CEMAC en un parlement.L’harmonisation des tarifs douaniers au niveau de la SADEC, l’établissement d’un marché commun des Etats de l’Afrique de l’Est, ainsi que la coordination des politiques économiques, la promotion des programmes d’intégration relatifs aux secteurs aussi importants que l’agriculture, les ressources naturelles, l’industrie, les transports, le commerce et la monnaie par la CEDEAO, constituent également des jalons importants de la visibilité parlementaire et de l’évolution démocratique du Continent.Nous devons transcender autant que possible les clivages nationaux, régionaux, sociaux, religieux, ainsi que toutes les craintes injustifiées qui conduisent à la discrimination et à l'intolérance.Nous nous devons de faire tout ce qui est en notre pouvoir pour réaliser l'idéal des pères fondateurs de l’UA qui se sont investis pour la consolidation d’une Afrique unie et intégrée. A cet égard, nous devons collaborer étroitement pour condamner et combattre les conflits tribaux, nationaux et régionaux, qui menacent directement ou indirectement nos valeurs.Et pour ce faire, l’intégration de l’Afrique doit commencer ici même au sein du PAP.Honorables députés,Distingués invités,Mesdames et Messieurs,Le Parlement a pris part, aux côtés de la délégation de l’UA, à l’observation des élections dans plusieurs pays depuis notre dernière rencontre.C’est le lieu pour moi, au nom de la Représentation continentale et à mon nom propre, d’adresser nos vives félicitations et tous nos vœux de succès aux élus d’Ethiopie, du Soudan, de l’Ile Maurice, du Burundi, du Sao Tomé et Principe et du Rwanda dans leurs missions respectives.Notre vœu le plus ardent c’est aussi de voir la Guinée Conakry conduire, dans la transparence, le second tour des élections présidentielles reporté à une date ultérieure.Ce vœu s’adresse également à la Tanzanie, à la Côte d’Ivoire, aux Comores, au Burkina Faso, au Niger et au Tchad, qui se préparent pour les élections dans les tout prochains jours ou les tout prochains mois.Nous appelons ces peuples à la tolérance et au respect des résultats du scrutin et les invitons à assumer leurs responsabilités dans la sérénité, pour donner à leurs nations respectives, un Président investi de l’onction populaire et de la légitimité, jalons indispensables à un exercice harmonieux de la fonction présidentielle.Honorables députés,Mesdames et Messieurs,En réitérant aux Chefs d’Etat et de gouvernement africains notre gratitude d’avoir permis la création de cet institution permettant la représentation de la diversité de nos peuples au niveau continental, je voudrais exprimer à nouveau l’engagement de l’ensemble des parlementaires panafricains, à les soutenir dans leurs efforts de mise en œuvre effective des politiques et objectifs de l’Union africaine.Honorables députés,Distingués invités,Mesdames et Messieurs,L’agenda de la présente session appelle, entre autres, des allocutions sur la commémoration du Cinquantenaire des indépendances africaines, l’audition du rapport d’activités du PAP, le rapport sur les progrès réalisés dans la révision du Protocole du PAP, des communications sur la campagne en faveur de la ratification de la Charte africaine sur la démocratie, les élections et la gouvernance, le rapport des missions d’observation électorale, le Budget du PAP pour 2011, le rapport sur les changements climatiques et le rapport sur les progrès dans la réalisation des OMD.Le discours du Président de la Commission de l’UA sur le budget de l’Union africaine prévu à l’ordre du jour est un exercice majeur prescrit par l’article 11 alinéa 2 du Protocole, et attendu chaque année par les parlementaires et les peuples africains.Vous êtes tous appelés à privilégier pendant nos échanges, la discussion sur ces questions d’envergure.Sur ce, Je vous remercie pour votre aimable attention.(Applaudissements nourris)Monsieur le Secrétaire général,La suite du programme, s’il vous plait!
5.0 – ANNONCES
THE CLERK OF PARLIAMENT:Honorable President,We shall take this opportunity to present a personal gift to our special guest the Minister of International relations of the Republic of South Africa.Thank you.(The gift is presented to the Minister ofInternational relations of the Republic of SouthAfrica by the President)After the adjournment, there are regional meetings in the afternoon. The arrangements are as follows:(i)Western Caucus: Committee room 1, 14h30(ii)Eastern Caucus: Committee room 2, 14h30(iii)Southern Caucus: Committee room 3(iv)Central Africa Caucus: Committee room 4(v)Northern Caucus: Committee room 5Also, there would be a group photograph once the procession leaves the Assembly. Later on, there would be a press conference with our special guest and the Bureau.
6.0 – SUSPENSION DE SEANCE
LE PRÉSIDENT:Merci!Honorables membres,Sur ce, la séance est levée jusqu'à demain mardi, 05 octobre à 09h00.Je vous remercie.La séance est levée à 10 heures 49 minutes.
Tuesday, 5th October 2010
1.0 – COMMUNICATION DE LA PRESIDENCE
LE PRESIDENT:Honorables Membres,Cette année, l’Afrique commémore les cinquante ans d’anniversaire de 17 pays africains qui se sont libérés du joug colonial. Le Parlement panafricain a jugé utile de dédier une journée à la célébration de ces événements. Toutes les activités d’aujourd’hui seront consacrées à la célébration des indépendances de l’Afrique, en général.Honorables Membres,Conformément aux dispositions de l’article 38, alinéa 1(h) du Règlement intérieur, j’ai le grand plaisir d’inviter Monsieur Tewedross Melesse, Directeur Régional de la Fédération Internationale de la Planification Familiale (IPPF), à entrer dans la Chambre.(Entrée de M. Tewedross Melesse)Je vais demander à notre hôte, M. Tewedross Melesse, Directeur de la Région Afrique de l’IPPF, de faire sa présentation.
2.0 – EXPOSE SUR LE ROLE DE LA SOCIETE CIVILE AFRICAINE EN FAVEUR DES INDEPENDANCES AFRICAINES ET ROLE ACTUEL EN FAVEUR DU DEVELOPPEMENT DE L’AFRIQUE ET DE LA REALISATION DES OMD
MR. TEWODROS MELESSE:Your Excellency, the President of the Pan-African Parliament, members of the Bureau, all Members of Parliament, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen; it is a great honour and privilege for me to address you on this occasion of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of African independence of many of the African countries. I would like on behalf of the chairperson of IPPF Africa region, Mrs Felicite Nsabimana, and the entire board of the federation, to express our gratitude to the organizers of this meeting, and particularly you, Mr. President, for the opportunity given to me to address this august assembly. We are doubly honoured, given the fact that this meeting is being held against the backdrop of the celebration of the 50 years of independence by seventeen (17) African countries and the invitation extended to us to make a presentation on "The role of the African Civil Society in Africa’s Independence and Current Role in Africa’s Development and Achievement of MDGs".Mr President, I would like to say that in the historical perspective, there are three phases. The first phase is what I would call the pre-colonial era, the second one, the colonial era and then the independence era, which I will split into two: one is struggle for affirmation and construction of the nations, which was a very difficult period between the 60s and the 90s where it was not only the development, but were taken like a battle ground for the east-west confrontation and for the affirmation of the independence of Africa. And then after the 90s, a new era which has come proved wrong those who doubted that Africa could have full independence. This saw the emergence of South Africa from the Apartheid era. It was almost giving up, but we did not because we could not afford to, and we had no choice. Besides, we were optimistic to liberate our continent.In this, the African civil society has played different roles. I know that when it comes to the civil society, there are different perspectives and different apprehensions about the civil society. However, I must say that there are the traditional civil societies, which may not have been organized in a formal way in the traditional society for the resistance of the colonial period; be it in the form of the religious communities, the traditional ones and some of the faith-based organizations in the church or in the mosques. However, the early arrival of the religious groups was, as the founding father of Kenya, Jomo Kenyatta said, "They gave us a Bible, they took our land." But there were also those religions that fought for the affirmation and independence of the African entity.Ladies and gentlemen, we must concede to this fact. The civil society is not a phenomenon that has emerged in contemporary times. The civil society was in existence before and under colonialism, albeit with one major difference - it was first and foremost for the colonizers who specifically created it to serve the interests of the white ruling class.This is particularly true of colonial settlements in Kenya and Rhodesia as well as the British, French or Portuguese colonies. In this regard, I cite the example of the Creole societies, which in the 19th Century in West Africa laid the foundation for the emergence of many opposition movements both to the colonial order and the colonial civil society in this part of our continent. Its main objective was to ensure the respect of the human rights for all. Therefore, civil society organisations in Africa played their part in the continent’s development, and this historical truth must be recognized.Civil society organizations were represented in diverse forms such as Christian Churches in Kenya and Burundi, the Moslem fraternity in Senegal and Sudan, lawyers and journalists’ associations in Ghana and Nigeria, farmers’ associations in Zimbabwe, miners’ trade unions in Zambia and South Africa, to mention but a few.The civil society has paid a heavy price in the accession of African countries to independence. Be they the fathers of independence like Jomo Kenyatta in Kenya, Kwame Nkrumah in Ghana, Felix Houphouet-Boigny in Cote d’Ivoire, Daniel Ouezzin Coulibaly in Burkina Faso, Modibo Keita in Mali, Hamani Diori in Niger, Patrice Lumumba in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Hubert Maga in Benin, Julius Nyerere in Tanzania, Samora Machel in Mozambique, Kenneth Kaunda in Zambia, Ahmed Sekou Toure in Guinea, Amilcar Cabral in Guinea Bissau and the islands of Cape Verde, Houari Boumediene in Algeria, Nelson Mandela in South Africa and many more. All these precursors and founding fathers were products of the civil society.The history of our independence and liberation process will not be complete without special mention of the role of the civil society organizations, including teachers’ and lawyers’ professional associations, students’ organizations and trade unions, women’s organizations, youth organizations, churches and Moslem societies. Each, in its place and playing its role, constituted a catalyst to awaken the conscience of the African people. This upheaval spread across the continent, reaching university campuses in Western countries and inspiring the support of those nongovernmental organizations across the world and the circle of pioneers of the Negritude movement.Independence attained in the wake of these events, with some struggles characterized by pain, was full of hope; hope for freedom, democracy and development in a continent with immense natural wealth. African independence fathers who were at the fore of the liberation struggle found themselves leading States without a nation, with the myriad of consequences inherent in this situation where the priority was first and foremost to create the sentiment of ‘togetherness', the cement of any nation.This year, when many African countries are celebrating 50 years of independence, we note that the harvest has not lived up to the promise. In fact, half a century after independence, African countries are still in the quest for development. Our continent is outstanding in declining performance. According to the United Nations classification, out of thirty four countries worldwide, identified as having a low human development indicator, thirty are located in subSaharan Africa where HIV/AIDS, maternal and infant mortality, low levels of education, conflicts and wars are factors that contribute to dismal performance.However, there are many encouraging signs. In food security, Malawi has achieved against all odds. Recently I just read that in Namibia, the fish industry has been one of the major export items, and in reduction of maternal mortality, some countries have made progress like Rwanda. It is not enough, but there is progress. In democratization, Africa has organized many elections or held many elections. I do not know because yesterday, the foreign affairs minister said maybe they are organized or held, but the elections are taking place. When everybody had given up on us, South Africa’s independence and the Portuguese colonialists in the later parts of the 70s and 80s, and also the holding of the World Cup when everybody doubted, South Africa proved them wrong by holding a successful World Cup and we are proud of that.We need to accept a second truth. Very often in the post independence period, leaders drawn from the civil society who steered their countries to independence had incomprehensible and even conflicting relationships with civil society organizations. For a long time the crucial role of the civil society in the march towards independence was disregarded and it was relegated to play second fiddle when the States embarked on the development process. An atmosphere of suspicion arose since the latent battle between the two often led to vague attempts to place civil society organizations under the control of the State. We witnessed intimidation or arrests of civil society leaders and the adoption of autocratic and restrictive measures targeting activities by civil society organizations.However, we have also to know that it is not all civil society which is an angel, just like it is not all governments that are very democratic. There is two-way traffic. There are civil society organizations who are messengers, who are not in development. In some parts of the world, they are called non-governmental individuals, but there are also those who are working genuinely and I think the states should measure that and weigh in order to see that they are the voice of the voiceless.We have to come together to address the challenges that our continent is facing. There should be cooperation between the public sector, the private sector and the civil society to embark on this development. The challenges facing our continent require all to recognize that its development cannot be the responsibility of public authorities alone. In any case, civil society organizations in the post-colonial era have demonstrated their usefulness, and have furnished proof of the complementarity of their actions with those conducted by governments in the areas of education, health, environment, human rights and family planning and reproductive health. Civil society organizations are present in the farthest corners of countries, and effectively make up for the government action that in many cases does not reach the remote parts of the countries, or they are too sensitive to be addressed by public authorities.Since the end of the 1980s, civil society activities have gathered momentum, sometimes making history on the continent. In French speaking Africa specifically, they have been the driving force behind national conferences that were organized at the end of single-party regimes and generally chaired by the civil society. Benin is to be cited as an example. When governments were pressurized or caused to apply the draconian Britton Woods measures, all state structures were rendered inexistent or significantly weakened by civil wars that left countries apathetic, civil society actors took over from the public administration to mitigate the effects. At the height of the crisis resulting from measures imposed by the IMF and the World Bank, civil society organizations were at the frontline of the battle denouncing the iniquity of these measures, or even calling for debt cancellation for African countries.Our countries’ territorial spaces are today covered by the civil society organizations that implement programs which support the work done by public authorities. In the international area, it is these organizations that convey messages which African governments cannot necessarily raise publicly, given their position and diplomatic correctness.In addition, their role has gained recognition by the international community and regional institutions like the African Development Bank, the African Union, regional economic communities and the Pan-African Parliament. At this point, when the Millennium Development Goals Review Summit that has just taken place at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, the time is right to recall the contribution of civil society organizations in the results achieved so far by African countries.Although the majority of the results are far from reaching the targets set out, the African continent has an abundance of diverse organizations and movements working on each of the Millennium Development Goals. The United Nations Development Program which led the in-country process for preparation of country reports has underscored the need for participation of the civil society organisations.Following the adoption of the Maputo Plan of Action for the Operationalisation of the Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights Continental Policy Framework by Heads of States and Governments, IPPF Africa Region in partnership with regional economic communities, mobilized civil society organizations to get involved in its implementation. At the end of the various consultations, country action plans were developed to ensure the involvement of civil society organizations in conjunction with governments in the implementation of the Maputo Plan. Our member associations in each of the countries that you represent honorable Members of Parliament are serving as the secretariat to coordinate the realization of the said action plans.In this regard, in partnership with the African Union and the other organizations, we have worked on the request to extend the timeline for the implementation of the Maputo Plan of Action so that it coincides with the 2015 date for the achievement of the MDGs. Acceptance of this request is an appeal for more involvement of civil society organizations to improve on the current results, and IPPF - Africa Region, has already committed itself to mobilizing them.Honorable Members of Parliament,We say that as governments have agreed in the Paris Declaration, and in the Accra Consensus for national ownership and accountability, we pledge also that the civil society will be accountable and will be working for national ownership because accountability should be and must be ‘togetherness’. As for the transformation of the Pan-African Parliament into a legislative body, and also holding accountable the civil society and the public authorities and the private sector, we hope that, that will be realized in the coming future. And that in partnership we can work towards the African renaissance because the renaissance is an important ingredient of the development of Africa. For the next generation to come we give hope and we live in hope. Thank you very much and long live African independence.(Applause)LE PRESIDENT:Je vous remercie beaucoup, M. Tewedross Melesse, d’avoir apporté le soutien de la société civile africaine à cette commémoration.Chers collègues,Je vous demande d’applaudir, encore une fois, notre hôte, M. Melesse.(Applaudissements)Notre Commission permanente de l’éducation, de la culture, du tourisme et des ressources humaines a eu l’initiative de nous proposer, il y a de cela sept ou huit mois, la commémoration des cinquante ans d’indépendance de dix-sept pays africains. C’est l’occasion, pour nous, de rendre hommage au staff de cette commission, à ses honorables membres et surtout à son président, Mohamed Elmadani El Houderi.(Applaudissements)
3.0 – INTERVENTION DU PRÉSIDENT DE LA COMMISSION PERMANENTE DE L’ÉDUCATION, DE LA CULTURE, DU TOURISME ET DES RESSOURCES HUMAINES
HON. EL-HOUDERI MOHAMED ELMADANI [LIBYA]:Honorable Idriss Ndélé Moussa, Président duParlement panafricain,Honorables collègues,Mesdames et Messieurs,Chers invités,Nous sommes rassemblés, aujourd'hui, pour commémorer avec fierté l'indépendance, couronnement de la lutte menée par nos peuples pour la liberté, la dignité, l'émancipation et la libre détermination.La colonisation a été un système inique, qui a annihilé les structures sociales africaines et a imposé les règles du colon, niant au citoyen africain toute perspective dans la maîtrise de son propre destin.La résistance et la lutte pour la liberté, conduites par nos aînés, ont été le fer de lance de la fierté et l’affirmation de l’identité africaine.Le Parlement panafricain, plateforme de la voix des citoyens du continent, nous réunit aujourd'hui pour célébrer le cinquantième anniversaire des indépendances de dix-sept pays africains. Mais, aujourd'hui, nous célébrons, de manière symbolique, les indépendances de toutes les nations africaines du joug du colonialisme. Nous célébrons l’histoire commune. Nous célébrons surtout cette fierté d’être africains.Je tiens à remercier les membres du Bureau du Parlement panafricain qui ont validé la proposition de la Commission de l’éducation, de la culture, du tourisme et des ressources humaines de commémorer les indépendances d’Afrique.Je remercie le personnel du Parlement panafricain pour sa contribution. Et, plus particulièrement, Maître Zwelethu Madasa, secrétaire-général du Parlement panafricain, qui a compris l’importance de la symbolique de cette manifestation.Ma gratitude va également à cette jeune génération née après les indépendances, sans qui, ce projet n’aurait pu exister, je veux nommer Francine Mukazi Picard, avec l’appui de Demba Diallo.Excellence,Honorables collègues,Mesdames et Messieurs,Je citerai Modibo Keita: « Vingt années de lutte, faite de sacrifices de tout ordre, vingt ans de lutte farouche pour sauvegarder notre dignité et notre indépendance que nous ne devons jamais dissocier de la dignité et de l'indépendance réelle de toute l'Afrique. »Il s’agit de notre histoire, chers collègues; celle que nous portons en nos cœurs avec dignité; celle que nous devons enseigner avec respect et lucidité; celle que nous avons le devoir de transmettre, car transmettre notre histoire c’est la faire vivre.La célébration du cinquantenaire del'indépendance enracine, en nous tous, la reconnaissance des hauts faits de nos peuples et son passé glorieux. Nous, Africains, honorons nos héros des indépendances! Permettez-moi de citer quelques uns de nos légendes: Habib Bourguiba, Patrice Lumumba, Omar Mukhtar, Frantz Fanon, Prince Abdel Kader, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, Kwameh Nrumah, Béhanzin, Menelik II, Samory Touré, Cetshwayo Kampande.Ils ont ancré, en nous, l’esprit des valeurs communes africaines. Aujourd’hui, nous sommes réunis pour leur témoigner que leurs idéaux se perpétuent à travers notre héritage. Ce jour, nous affirmons que leur sacrifice n’a pas été vain, car aujourd’hui nous affichons une Afrique rassemblée et unie.La détermination et l’aspiration des peuples africains à disposer de leur propre destin est une bataille constante.Souvenons-nous, en 1960, seuls neufs pays africains avaient obtenu leur indépendance. La solidarité africaine s'affichait déjà en ces temps, lorsque Osagefo Dr Kwame NKRUMAH, en 1957, affirmait: « L’indépendance du Ghanaserait sans signification réelle si nous ne disposons pas de notre liberté d’aider les autres peuples africains à se libérer, afin que nous ayons un continent sans domination étrangère et tourné vers la création d’une Union des Etats africains ».Mesdames et Messieurs,Cette solidarité constitue le socle de notre histoire commune. Cette solidarité a contribué à forger entre nous un sentiment d’appartenance à notre continent mère. Elle consolide l’identité africaine.La création de l'Organisation de l'Unité Africaine était une réponse au souci de conservation et de consolidation de nos indépendances chèrement acquises. Elle amena aussi l’Afrique à occuper sa place dans le concert des nations, et à répondre aux défis majeurs de ce siècle. L’Union africaine poursuit et développe cette tâche.La bataille qui s’impose aujourd’hui est la préservation de nos indépendances. Un adage dit que le plus difficile n’est pas d’acquérir la liberté, c’est de la conserver.Excellences, Honorable collègues,Nous devons avoir conscience que le développement du continent et son unification exigent la mobilisation, et la valorisation des valeurs intellectuelles et spirituelles africaines.Nous sommes un continent riche. La nature nous a bénis avec notre richesse humaine, nos énormes potentialités minières, notre biodiversité, notre faune et notre flore, qui sont autant d’atouts qui doivent nous rendre forts. Cependant, l’Afrique que l’on qualifie de Continent du futur reste vulnérable.Les crises alimentaires et économiques qui ont frappé ces dernières années nous acculent à réagir aux nouveaux défis. Ils nous rappellent aussi la nécessité d’avoir des positions communes, et de parler d’une voix aux autres nations. C’est par cette réalité que nous garantirons notre liberté. L’Afrique doit s’unir.Citoyennes et Citoyens d’Afrique,L'indépendance, certes, c’est l’émancipation politique, l'invulnérabilité économique mais aussi, le renforcement de la cohésion sociale.La culture de la démocratie que l’Afrique s’attèle à construire est primordiale. La pauvreté et l’ignorance, qui sont les maux de notre continent, ne sont pas une fatalité. Nous devons travailler, afin d’effacer ces maux, pour permettre à nos peuples de maîtriser leur avenir, et de jouir pleinement de l’indépendance acquise un siècle auparavant.Gamal Nasser le disait déjà:« Nous avons lutté pour nous débarrasser des traces du passé, de l’impérialisme et du despotisme, des traces de l’occupation étrangère et du despotisme intérieur. [...] La pauvreté n’est pas une honte, mais c’est l’exploitation des peuples qui l’est. »Chers collègues,Le respect et la protection du citoyen par nos Etats sont les conditions sine qua non de l’émancipation de l’individu africain. La dignité conquise un siècle auparavant serait vaine, si l’homme et la femme africaine ne jouissent pas de la juste redistribution des richesses de la nation. Nous ne pouvons prétendre avoir acquis l’indépendance si nous ne pouvons garantir à nos populations la liberté. Celle de s’exprimer, celle de participer au destin de la nation. Tous les Africains doivent avoir la possibilité de circuler sur le continent du sud au nord, de l’est à l’ouest.Pour assurer et affirmer les indépendances, le développement de l’Afrique, nous, parlementaires panafricains, devront être responsables du bien- être du citoyen africain.Il nous faut donner une éducation qui répond aux enjeux du siècle et qui valorise notre culture africaine. L’éducation aux politiques culturelles et la valorisation du multilinguisme doivent être pris avec sérieux. Le développement ne peut exister avec le déni de notre identité.Nous avions pris conscience du rôle primordial de l’éducation lors des mouvements de libération. L’éducation doit maintenant se focaliser sur l’unification africaine.Nous devons formuler des engagements clairs pour l’éducation, qui tiennent compte des priorités de la paix, de la citoyenneté, de la démocratie, du développement, de l’unité des peuples africains et la solidarité humaine.Nous devons veiller à introduire les principes de l’équité en genre. Les indépendances doivent bénéficier à la femme africaine et à l’homme africain.Nous devons être proactifs.L’existence du Parlement panafricain n’est que le reflet de l’expression de la volonté de l’Afrique d’avoir un forum, où la démocratie s’exprime, et les citoyens africains présents.Chers compatriotes africains,Le 21e siècle accélère les changements et les idéologies. Le citoyen africain demande à agir en son nom. Il ne doit pas être simplement représenté. Le citoyen doit agir directement pour ses intérêts et ceux de sa patrie. Les luttes menées pour l’obtention de l’indépendance lui confèrent ce droit.Nous devons nous enorgueillir de glorifier les noms de nos héros africains. Nous exprimons la fierté de nos valeurs partagées. L’Afrique, aujourd’hui, se décrit noblement comme solidaire et unie.Je me réjouis de constater que la devise « une Afrique, une voix » est concrétisée, en nous voyant tous ici rassemblés.Je dirai simplement l’indépendance, nos ainés nous l’ont légué, il nous appartient la responsabilité de la préserver. Préservons l’indépendance, afin d’être dignes de nos ancêtres. Préservons l’indépendance, afin d’être fiers de nous-mêmes.Comme nous fêtons le cinquantenaire des indépendances, nous ne devons pas oublier nos frères qui souffrent encore de la colonisation. Nous devons faire tout ce qu’il faut pour résoudre les problèmes de liberté en Afrique, où il existe. Je prends comme exemple, le Sahraoui, membre de cette auguste assemblée, qui souffre du manque de liberté. Nous devons nous souvenir toujours de notre devoir à l’égard de nos peuples qui ne sont pas encore libres.« La Luta continua »Vive l’Afrique!LE PRESIDENT:Honorables membres, je voudrais féliciter demander, pour le discours du Président Mohamed Elmadani EL HOUDERI et pour l’initiative heureuse de sa Commission, de l’applaudir encore une fois.(Applaudissements)Le Président EL HOUDERI disait que cette commémoration est symbolique. Elle symbolise les indépendances des 17 pays africains, mais aussi, les indépendances de tous les pays africains, pour marquer la solidarité africaine et pour donner à cet évènement son cachet continental.Je vais inviter les honorables Présidents des caucus régionaux, à dire un mot de félicitations et de solidarité africaine, pour donner un sens à cette commémoration continentale.Sur ce, j’invite l’honorable André OBAMI ITTOU, Président du caucus régional de l’Afrique centrale, à dire un mot en cette circonstance.
4.0 – INTERVENTION DU PRÉSIDENT DU CAUCUS AFRIQUE CENTRALE
HON. OBAMI-ITOU ANDRÉ [CONGO]:Honorale Président du Parlement Panafricain,Distingués invités, en vos rangs et qualités,Honorables Présidents des caucus régionaux et chers collègues,Honorables parlementaires,Mesdames et Messieurs,En prenant la parole, avec honneur et respect, au nom du groupe régional d’Afrique centrale, je voudrais, avant tout propos, vous transmettre les salutations et tous les meilleurs sentiments fraternels de leurs Excellences Denis Sassou- N’Guesso, Président de la République du Congo et Président en exercice de la Communauté Economique et Monétaire de l’Afrique Centrale (CEMAC), Paul Biya, Président de la République du Cameroun, Theodoro Obiang-Nguema, Président de la République de la Guinée Equatoriale, François Bozize, Président de la République centrafricaine, Idriss Deby Itno, Président de la République du Tchad, Pierre Korunziza, Président de la République du Burundi, et Ali Bongo Ondimba, Président de la République Gabonaise.Je voudrais aussi, au nom des membres du caucus Afrique centrale, et en mon nom propre, saluer très respectueusement le peuple et les dirigeants sud-africains, dans leur lourde tâche d’intégration, de renforcement de la démocratie, et du développement d’une société sud-africaine arcen-ciel.Puissent ces salutations se répercuter en échos amplifiés à travers toutes les provinces et toucher toutes les populations sud-africaines, populations courageuses, vaillantes et travailleuses qui viennent d’organiser avec succès la première coupe du monde de football sur le continent africain.Mesdames et Messieurs,Cette année 2010 est l’année de célébration du cinquantenaire de l’indépendance de 17 pays africains. En Afrique centrale, l’indépendance n’a pas été obtenue sans difficulté ou même n’a pas été un don de l’ancienne puissance coloniale.En effet, après des siècles d’esclavage, où nos meilleurs et vaillants travailleurs ont été déportés, dépeuplant ainsi notre sous-région, la colonisation a été aussi une période d’asservissement et d’avilissement qui a obligé nos populations d’Afrique centrale à se battre farouchement, et à opposer une résistance, obligeant ainsi le colonisateur, sous la pression, à octroyer l’indépendance et permettre aux jeunes Etats africains d’accéder à la souveraineté internationale.La participation - il faut le préciser - de nos dignes fils aux deux guerres mondiales, à côté des militaires européens, a également été un des facteurs déterminants de cette décolonisation.Ce demi-siècle de nos indépendances a donné lieu à des festivités grandioses pour symboliser notre joie - j’allais dire notre grande joie - d’être indépendants, libres, dignes et fiers de prendre en main nous-mêmes les destinées de nos pays.Par-delà cet aspect festif, il y a eu deux autres considérations:le bilan des cinquante années passées, etnos engagements pour les cinquante années à venir à partir déjà de maintenant.Le bilan du cinquantenaire est mitigé, parce que le legs colonial n’était pas formidable. Tout était donc à bâtir pour des populations qui manquaient de l’essentiel, et espéraient tout avoir, tout d’un coup, grâce, pensait-on, à la magie de l’indépendance.Or, il n’y a pas eu de magie. Il a simplement fallu, pour les dirigeants de la première génération, celle qui a suivi les indépendances en 1960, de regarder la réalité en face et de la prendre à bras le corps.La création de l’Organisation de l’Unité africaine (OUA), ancêtre de l’Union africaine, pour pallier l’émiettement de notre continent, participe de cette vision.L’entrée pour nos pays dans le deuxième cinquantenaire ouvre une ère nouvelle, portée par nos légitimes ambitions et notre volonté commune de combler nos retards, et de bâtir une Afrique unie, au pas de course, mais rationnellement et sans précipitation.Il nous faut édifier, bâtir nos pays, construire nos pays et les amener à un niveau acceptable de développement, d’où la pauvreté de masse sera bannie.Il nous faut, en même temps, faire assumer par les Etats leurs missions régaliennes, en matière de santé, d’éducation, de droit, de justice, de sûreté et de libre circulation des biens et des personnes, de sécurité du territoire et de politique étrangère.Autant de défis à relever, et auxquels s’ajoutent les défis majeurs de l’intégration et des regroupements régionaux dans une perspective panafricaine.Dans une pareille vision de l’Afrique du futur immédiat, nous, parlementaires panafricains, avons à jouer notre partition. Nous l’avons déjà compris et j’en voudrais pour preuve, la belle unanimité des parlementaires du caucus Afrique centrale, les 16 et 17 septembre dernier à N’Djamena, au Tchad, à l’occasion de la réunion consultative sur le thème ci-après: "Latransformation du Parlement panafricain en un organe législatif et la ratification de la Charte de la Démocratie, des Elections et de la Gouvernance".Mesdames et Messieurs,Je voudrais, au moment de terminer mon intervention, faire mien les propos d’un sage africain:« Le mythe fondateur de la lutte pour l’indépendance fut la quête de la liberté, de la dignité et du bien-être.Cinquante ans après; l’idéal n’a pas changé.Car, notre ambition globale demeure encore et toujours la liberté, la dignité, le bien-être et le progrès.C’est le combat d’aujourd’hui.C’est le combat des cinquante prochaines années.Ce combat, nous devons le gagner, pour que se perpétuent l’indépendance et la Nation. »Mesdames et Messieurs,Je vous remercie de votre aimable attention.(Applaudissements)LE PRESIDENT:je vous remercie Honorable Obami-Itou, président du caucus de l’Afrique centrale. A présent, j’invite l’honorable Miyir Ali Souleiman, président du groupe régional de l’Afrique de l’Est, à prendre la parole.
5.0 – INTERVENTION DU PRÉSIDENT DU CAUCUS AFRIQUE DE L’EST
HON. MIYIR ALI SOULEIMAN [DJIBOUTI]:Monsieur le Président du Parlement panafricain,Madame et Messieurs les membres du Bureau du PAP,Madame et Messieurs les Présidents des caucus régionaux,Mesdames et Messieurs les membres du PAP et chers collègues,Distingués invités,Mesdames et Messieurs,C’est pour moi un grand honneur et un agréable devoir de dire quelques mots sur la commémoration du cinquantenaire des indépendances des 17 pays africains, au nom du Groupe de la région de l’Afrique de l’Est.Je voudrais, tout d’abord, profiter de cette occasion pour saluer la mémoire des principaux artisans de ces indépendances africaines et rendre hommage aux pères fondateurs des nations béninoise, burkinabé, camerounaise, centrafricaine, congolaise, ivoirienne, gabonaise, malgache, malienne, mauritanienne, nigérienne, nigériane, sénégalaise, somalienne, tchadienne et togolaise.Je voudrais, aussi, joindre ma voix à celle de mon collègue qui m’a précédé à cette tribune pour féliciter, très chaleureusement, ces pays qui se sont libérés du joug colonial depuis maintenant un demi-siècle.Je forme, par ailleurs, le vœu que les peuples de ces pays frères puissent enfin connaître la félicité à laquelle ils espèrent légitimement en s’engageant enfin, résolument, sur la voie du développement durable et harmonieux.En tant que Président du Groupe régional de l’Afrique de l’Est, je dois vous avouer que ma tâche n’est pas aisée de vous présenter et de vous parler des acquis des indépendances des deux seuls pays de notre région qui ont accédé à la souveraineté internationale en 1960, à savoir le Madagascar et la Somalie.En effet, comme vous le savez tous, la situation actuelle de ces deux pays n’est guère réjouissante.En ce qui concerne le Madagascar, il est plongé depuis maintenant deux ans dans une crise politique et institutionnelle.S’agissant de la Somalie, c’est le chaos le plus total qui y règne. Depuis bientôt deux décennies, il n’existe plus, dans ce pays, un Etat digne de ce nom, et je pèse mes mots.C’est pourquoi, je saisis la présente occasion pour lancer un appel solennel à la représentation continentale afin qu’une réflexion sérieuse soit enfin engagée à l’occasion de cette session parlementaire sur les voies et moyens de venir en aide à ce pays frère ravagé et meurtri par deux décennies de guerre civile.(Applaudissements.)Mesdames et Messieurs, chers collègues, vous n’êtes pas sans savoir que le sang continue de couler quotidiennement en Somalie.Durant le mois béni de ramadan, l’odieux attentat perpétré par les insurgés islamistes Shebabs à l’Hotel Mouna situé à quelques encablures du palais présidentiel, à la veille de la fête de l’Aïd El Fitre, a fait plus de 30 morts dont 6 parlementaires.Cette situation intolérable ne peut plus durer. Elle ne peut nous laisser indifférents. C’est pourquoi, je vous lance un appel solennel pour voler au secours de ce pays frère menacé de disparition. Je forme aussi le vœu que Madagascar puisse retrouver l’ordre constitutionnel normal et qu’il puisse sortir de l’impasse dans laquelle il se trouve actuellement.Je vous remercie de votre aimable attention.(Applaudissements.)LE PRESIDENT:Honorable Président Ali Souleiman MIYIR, votre message est entendu. Vous avez entendu les applaudissements, suite au plaidoyer que vous avez fait à l’endroit de la Somalie.Je voudrais dire à l’attention des Présidents des Caucus que, malheureusement, nous n’avons pas encore fait des progrès au niveau de la communication interne du Parlement panafricain. On l’a décrié, mais la communication reste toujours une de nos faiblesses. La plupart des présidents des Caucus qui sont déjà passés ou qui vont passer présenter un mot tout à l’heure ont su, hier pour certains et ce matin pour d’autres, qu’ils devaient faire une présentation dans le calendrier de cette journée.Je vous demande de les applaudir, aussi bien ceux qui ont présenté que ceux qui vont venir, pour leur courage et leur détermination à s’engager devant la plénière, malgré la non préparation.(Applaudissements.)Sur ce, je vais inviter l’Honorable Khemakhem JAMELEDDINE, Président du Groupe régional Afrique du Nord à prendre la parole.
6.0 – INTERVENTION DU PRÉSIDENT DU CAUCUS AFRIQUE DU NORD
HON. KHEMAKHEM JAMELEDDINE [TUNISIE]:بسم هللا الرحمن الرحيم سيدي رئيس البرلمان السيدة والسادة نواب الرئيس السيدة والسادة نواب الرئيس السيدة والسادة رؤساء المجموعات االقليمية زميالتي وزمالئي أقدم هذه الكلمة أصالة عن نفسي ونيابة عن مجموعة شمال افريقيا بمناسبة االحتفال بخمسينية استقالل 17 دولة إفريقي. سيدي الرئيسنحيي اليوم ذكرى خمسمائة استقالل 17 دولة إفريقية خالل السنة الحالية زاخرا بمعاني الوفاء واالمتنان للمناضلين والشهداء األإبرار الذين ضحوا بحياتهم من أجل استقالل تلك البلدان وعزتها وكرامتها باعتبار أ ن استقالل البلدان اإلفريقية لم يكن هدية من المستعمر بل تتويجا لحركات الكفاح والنضال التي خاضتها الشعوب اإلفريقية الباسلة طيلة فترة طويلة ج سم خاللها اإلفريقيون واإلفريقيات رجاال ونساء كهوال وشبابا أبهى مظاهر الصمود واالستبسال ذودا عن الحمي ودفاعا عن حوزة أوطانهم.تعود بنا الذاكرة إذن إلى عقود الكفاح التحريري، لنذكر األجيال الصاعدة بهذا الحدث العظيم في تاريخ إفريقيا، فهو ليس مجرد حدث عابر، إنه أكبر من حدث، وأبعد أثرا من مجرد شريط يستحضر الماضي، بل إن هذا االحتفال يحمل أكثر من داللة، ويرمز إلى أكثر من معنى، ويعبر عن الصورة الناصعة في صفحات إفريقيا. فمن معاني االحتفال بهذا االستقالل، االعتزاز بتحرير إفريقيا من الهيمنة المباشرة لالستعمار منذ استقالل أول بلد إفريقي وهو "ليبيريا" في 26 جويلية 1847 إلى آخر بلد وهو "اريتريا" في 24 ماي 1993.ومن معانيه أيضا أن نثبت الوفاء للشهداء الذين وهبوا دماءهم إلى وطنهم في سبيل عزته وكرامته ورخائه وازدهاره، لهذا فإننا نسوق إليهم بهذه المناسبة تحية إكبار وإجالل. ومن معاني االحتفال بذكرى االستقالل كذلك مزيد تكريس "الوطنية" لدى أبنائنا وبناتنا وتشبث اإلفريقيين واإلفريقيات بهويتهم وبوطنهم والتضحية في سبيل ع زته وكرامة مواطنيهم والعمل بوفاء وإيمان وإخالص في سبيل المحافظة على هذا االستقالل، هذا المكسب الثمين الذي يمكن أن يضيع إذا ما لم نشد عليها بالنواجد ولم نؤكد تعلقنا بها ولم نجتهد في المحافظة عليها.ومن معاني هذا االحتفال العمل بحزم على مزيد الرفع من شأن المرأة في مجتمع متوازن وسطي يولي عناية كبرى بجميع فئاته ويحترم المقتضيات البيئية والتنمية المستديمة ويقد س حقوق اإلنسان ويجعل من اإلنسان الغاية والهدف. وإ ن نجاحات الدول ارتبطت بشكل كبير بإعادة االعتبار للمرأة ومعاملتها كشريك كامل الحقوق يساهم في بناء األسرة والمجتمع والدولة. ومن معاني هذا االحتفال أيضا الوعي بأهمية تكريس "الحكم الرشيد" الموصول بالديمقراطية الموصولة بمفهوم دولة القانون والمؤسسات، والذي يمثل المحور الرئيسي في صلب التص ور المعاصر ألنظمة القرن الواحد والعشرين والذي يهيئ المناخ واألسس ألنظمة ة القرار، يمارس فيها الحكم الرشيد مستقرة ومستقل.سيدي الرئيس، لقد كانت األضرار التي لحقت البلدان اإلفريقية أثناء فترة االحتالل جسيمة حيث انتزع االستعمار حريتها، وانتزع كرامتها، وأذلها، وأفقدها سيادتها وأقصى وهمش أبناءها ت الشعوب اإلفريقية تعلق عن تسيير شؤون الدولة. وظل آماال كبيرة على نيل االستقالل لمعالجة أوضاعها المرتبكة وأزماتها التي اشتدت على الشعوب وكبلتها وقيدت حركاتها، وكانت الفئــــات االجتماعية والنخبة السياسية والناس جميعا تنتظر إنقاذهم من الجهل والفقر والبطالة التي ورثتها عن االستعمار الذي ابتز خيراتها واستحوذ على مصادر ثرواتها، واحتكر أسواقها، وقتل صناعتها، وابتاع مصنوعاتها بأبخس األثمان.لذلك، فإ ن هذ ل مناسبة ثمينة لنقي م الحاضر ا االحتفال يمث ونستخلص العبر للمستقبل.ن المتتبع للشأن اإلفريقي يقف عند حد مظاهر الحروب أ ن واالضطرابات والفقر في بعض البلدان اإلفريقية، إال التحليل الدقيق والعميق لتطور قا رتنا يبرز التطور اإليجابي للوضع العام وانكباب أغلبية البلدان على تتويج االستقالل السياسي باستقالل اقتصادي وبوضع سياسات تنموية تأخذ بعين االعتبار أولويات الشعوب.فعـرفـت القـارة اإلفريقيـة في العشـريـات األخيـرة رغم الصعوبات التي انج رت عن العولمة وعن األزمات العالمية المالية واالقتصادية وحت ى الغذائية منها، تجارب تنموية متـعددة ناجحة بفضل إرادة سياسية ثابتة على التنمية وخدمة مصلحة الوطن وفرض استقالل القرار السياسي والسيادة الوطنية والمصلحة العليا للشعب م ما جعل عديد البلدان اإلفريقية في مختلف أقاليمها تتم يز بنموها وصالبة اقتصادها ورفاهة شعبها بشهادة المؤ سسات الدولية واإلقليمية مثل تقارير دافوس ودوينق بزنز وغيرها من التقارير.كما أ ن نجاح قا رتنا اإلفريقية في أخذ مبادرات دولية كتلك المتعلقة بالسنة الدولية للشباب وفي تنظيم تظاهرات دولية ناجحة كالقمة العالمية لمجتمع المعلومات وكأس العالم األخير بجنوب إفريقيا، يبرهن م رة أخرى على ثراء قارتنا واكتسابها لمق ومات االرتقاء للبلدان الفاعلة في الساحة العالمية.وإن ه ال ش ك في أ ن هذا القرن هو قرن إفريقيا وأ ن ما تختزنه قا رتنا من ثروات طبيعية وبشرية يؤ هلها ألخذ موقع متمي ز بين القوى المهيمنة على االقتصاد في العالم.ألفارقة كما أن ه ال ش ك في أ ن مستقبل إفريقيا ال يصنعه إال وإ ن ما برهنت عليه العديد من الدول اإلفريقية من تكريس للديمقراطية وللحكم الراشد بما ينطوي عليه من توسيع المشاركة الشعبية في عملية صنع القرارات وخاصة منهم الشباب والشاب ات الذين يمثلون أكثر من نصف المجتمعات اإلفريقية وتكريس سيادة القانون وتوفير اآلليات الفعالة التي يمكن للمواطنين من خاللهاممارسة حقوقهم، يف سر ما تحق ق من محاوالت جاد ة لتجاوز الصعاب التي كانت تعترض جهود التنمية على المستوى األفريقي وخاصة منها الفقر والفساد وتهميش دور المرأة، وانخفاض مستوى التعليم والثقافة.وإن القارة اإلفريقية قادرة اليوم بمواردها الذاتية سواء منها الطبيعية أو البشرية على المضي قدما نحو تدعيم استقاللها من براثن االستعمار باستقالل اقتصادي واجتماعي يحافظ على سيادتها وعلى مصلحة شعوبها. وإ ن ما تحتاج إليه اليوم لتحقيق ما تصبو إليه جميع الشعوب اإلفريقية هو وقفة قوية وفعالة من أبنائها للرقي بها إلى مصاف القارات المتقدمة من خالل اإلسراع في استكمال بناء هياكل االتحاد اإلفريقي الذي انطلق بإعالن سرت في 9 - 9 – 99 ليمثل أعظم حدث في تاريخ القارة يجسد إيمان األفارقة القوي بوحدتهم. إن وحدة إفريقيا وبناء مؤسسات االتحاد اإلفريقي هي مسألة حياة أو موت، فإذا لم يتحقق ذلك فإن القارة مهددة ب عزيمة مرة أخرى باالستعمار من جديد وهو ما يتطل راسخة على بناء هياكل سياسية واقتصادية إفريقية صلبة بما في ذلك برلمان إفريقي ذا صبغة تشريعية. كما أ ن عديد النزاعات التي تنخر إفريقيا من شمالها إلى جنوبها بما في في إطار ذلك مسالة الصحراء الغربية لن تجد لها الح ل إال م بصوت واحد وطبقا للشرعية الدولية.إفريقيا مو حدة تتكل وإ ن تدعيم اإلتحاد اإلفريقي بجميع هياكله وتبادل التجارب الناجحة بين البلدان اإلفريقية واالعتماد على الذات واستغالل ما يتوف مواجهة ر في ك ل بلد إفريقي من فرص والعمل سويا ل تحديات التنمية اإلفريقية المستقبلية هو الحل األفضل للتموقع بين التكتالت اإلقليمية العالمية التي تهيمن على االقتصاد العالمي وللمضي قدما نحو التنمية والرفاه. وإ ن تحقيق هذه الغاية النبيلة تم ر حتما بمزيد العمل على إرساء الحكم الرشيد على غرار عديد البلدان اإلفريقية التي تصدرت مختلف تراتيب المنظمات الدولية والذي يتمحور حول االرتقاء بنظم الحكم وحل النزاعات وتنمية الموارد البشرية وتكوين المهارات وزيادة تنافسية االقتصاديات اإلفريقية وتنويع قواعدها اإلنتاجية والتقليل من درجة االعتماد على المساعدات الخارجية وحل مشكلة الديون وتقوية روابط التعاون مع العالم الخارج وهي مهام عظيمة وكبيرة تتطلب جهداً غير عادي من االتحاد اإلفريقي ومؤ سساته وخاصة البرلمان اإلفريقي الذي ينبغي أن يم ر إلى مرحلة جديدة نفع ل خاللها صالحياته ودوره كسلطة تشريعية إفريقية. والسالم.
7.0 – INTERVENTION DU PRÉSIDENT DU CAUCUS AFRIQUE AUSTRALE
HON. ELIZABETH CHITIKA MOLOBEKA [ZAMBIA]:Your Excellency, the President of the PAP, Dr. Idriss Ndele Moussa, Members of the Bureau here presents, Presidents of Regional Caucuses, Honorable Members, may I simply said Distinguished invited guests.On behalf of the Southern Africa Regional Caucus, I would like to state that, the Independence of South Africa in 1994 closed the chapter of the struggle for decolonization in Southern Africa. The entire region is now free from the shackles of colonial bondage and oppression. With the newly won independence, states in Southern Africa were called upon to direct their energies towards improving the living conditions of an expectant citizenry. However, for many countries in Africa, the first decade of independence was characterised by arrested development.Nepotism and intolerance of dissent threatened to destroy the institutions of governance and had detrimental effects on the attitudes and roles played by the legislature, judiciary, the public service, civil society and the press. I am however happy to report that, in the period under review, Southern African States have exuded an unmistakable desire for good governance and democracy. In the recent past, elections have been held not organized (laughter), in Angola, Zambia, South Africa, Namibia, Malawi, Botswana, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. The situation in Zimbabwe Honorable Members has vastly improved in the aftermath of the signing of the Global Political Agreement which laid to the foundation and for the formation of the inclusive government.I would want to report that without hesitation that the region is experiencing unprecedented peace and tranquility. The SADC Organ on Defence and Politics has played a crucial and vanguard role in this regard. It is my hope that the efforts by the PAP imploring states to ratify the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance will help to consolidate the institutional foundations of good governance and democracy in our region.Our region is endowed with various precious minerals and these have contributed to the economic development we are currently experiencing. I am happy to report that the economies of the region have in the period under review registered a steady improvement. However, sustainable development can only thrive in an atmosphere where citizens of the region have control over their resources. Impelled by this moral obligation to ensure that our countries derive due benefit from the exploitation of our natural resources, our governments are actively pursuing maximum implementation of empowerment initiatives for our people.In the power sector, our governments are cognizant of the projected increased demand for electricity within the region and the possibility of a regional power deficit in years to come. To guarantee self-sufficiency, programmes for the expansion of power generation capacity through the construction of new power stations as well as revamping the existing ones have been embarked upon. However, these initiatives that our governments have undertaken should be complemented by energy efficiency and conservation efforts by all the users. I am also happy to report that the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP) is working towards power sector reforms as well as establishing guidelines on environmental impact assessment to ensure the supply of clean and environmentally friendly energy to the region.Ladies and gentlemen, our region has over the years been affected by severe droughts which have had serious ramifications on our food security and have led to increased incidences of poverty in our communities. Most countries in the region have been able to provide for their people through importation of maize from neighboring countries. However, gender imbalance in our societies is still a contributing factor to poverty. There is therefore need for women in the Southern African region to be educated, empowered and elevated to positions of authority if this trend is to be reversed.As we move towards full integration, it is only appropriate that we allow for free movement of people between and amongst our countries. I am happy to report that there are countries in our region that are actively pursuing this matter.It would be a remiss for me not to mention that our region hosted the world’s biggest soccer show case in June-July this year. In this regard, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Republic of South Africa for successfully hosting the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The vuvuzelas are all over and they added funny to this important tournament. Indeed you made the region and Africa as a whole proud. (Applause)Our governments in Southern Africa continue to enjoy cordial relations with countries within Africa and outside Africa, but we have insisted on being accorded the status of an equal partner in international relations. In our dealings with other nations on the international scene, we have also insisted on being recognized as sovereign and independent countries.In respect of the United Nations, our governments support the current negotiations on the reform of the Security Council in the hope that they will break the deadlock that has for sometime now prevented us as a region from making progress in an area of strategic interest to Africa.The reform of the Security Council is not only desirable but imperative, if it is to ensure the successful implementation of its global mandate to maintain international peace and security on behalf of member states. The fact that Africa, a major geographical region, remains underrepresented and without a permanent seat on the Security Council, is a serious anomaly whose redress is long overdue.Our governments have continued to support the revitalization of the General Assembly to make it more effective and thus enable it to fulfill its mandate. As the pre-eminent deliberative and policy making body of the United Nations, the General Assembly should play a more active role in mobilizing action against the diverse challenges that the world faces today.Finally, ladies and gentlemen, the Southern African region is well equipped to confront any challenge it might face in the political, economic and social domains. We have the resources, the infrastructure and the facilities. What is needed is for the region to forge ahead in unison and cooperation to implement strategies aimed at the betterment of the lot of our people.I thank you for listening.(Applause)M. LE PRESIDENT:Je vous remercie, Honorable Elizabeth Chikita Molobeka, Présidente du Groupe régional d’Afrique australe.A présent, j’invite l’Honorable Lassane SAWADOGO, Président du Groupe régional de l’Afrique de l’Ouest à prendre la parole.
8.0 – INTERVENTION DU PRÉSIDENT DU CAUCUS AFRIQUE DE L’OUEST
HON. LASSANE SAWADOGO [BURKINA FASO]:Je vous remercie, M. le Président du PAP.Honorables collègues du PAP,C’est avec joie, honneur et considération que je prends la parole au nom du caucus de l’Afrique de l’Ouest pour dire un mot sur cet évènement important que constitue la commémoration du cinquantenaire des indépendances africaines.Je voudrais, tout d’abord, féliciter le PAP pour cette initiative de commémorer le cinquantenaire des indépendances africaines. L’Afrique de l’Ouest se sent particulièrement concernée par ce cinquantenaire pour les raisons suivantes:La première raison est que, sur les 15 Etats qui composent cette région, 8 ont accédé à l’indépendance en 1960. Il s’agit du Bénin, du Burkina Faso, de la Côte d’Ivoire, du Mali, du Niger, du Nigeria, du Sénégal et du Togo. Trois pays ont accédé à l’indépendance plutôt: le Liberia en 1847, le Ghana en 1957 et la Guinée en 1958. La Sierra Léone y a accédé en 1961 et la Gambie en 1965. Quand aux pays lusophones, à savoir le Cap -Vert et la Guinée Bissau, ils ont accédé à l’indépendance un peu plus tard en 1975.Nous sommes donc l’une des régions qui est la plus concernée par cette commémoration, au-delà de son caractère symbolique.La deuxième raison est que notre région a résisté vaillamment à l’entreprise coloniale de notre continent, qui comme nous le savons est une négation de la dignité humaine, comme l’a été avant elle le phénomène de l’esclavage.La troisième raison est que, aussitôt après les indépendances, les Etats de l’Afrique de l’Ouest se sont engagés dans la bataille pour l’indépendance de l’ensemble des pays africains et pour la construction du panafricanisme. Permettez-moi de rendre hommage, ici, à certains de nos leaders historiques à l’instar de Kwamé N’Krumah qui s’est particulièrement illustré dans ce combat aux côtés d’autres leaders, tant sur le continent africain que hors du continent africain. Aujourd’hui encore, il représente un modèle pour l’ensemble des générations africaines préoccupées par la volonté de construire une Afrique véritablement indépendante, véritablement souveraine et véritablement maître de sa destinée.L’indépendance est un acquis et elle a permis également d’avoir d’autres acquis. Cependant, l’indépendance n’a pas été la panacée pour trouver comme, par miracle, des solutions à l’ensemble des problèmes de notre continent. Aujourd’hui, des défis importants se dressent devant nous. Il s’agit de la construction de la vraie indépendance qui passe par un affranchissement total du néo-colonialisme et des velléités de l’impérialisme international qui pèsent encore lourdement sur nos Etats.Il faut également construire une unité véritable de notre continent, en se fondant sur nos valeurs et nos ambitions partagées. Il faut construire l’indépendance économique, culturelle et sociale de notre cher continent.Je fonde l’espoir que, au-delà de sa dimension commémorative, ce cinquantenaire sera mis à profit pour réfléchir sur les voies et moyens d’une libération véritable de notre continent qui doit occuper la place qui lui revient dans le concert des nations.Je suis convaincu que le PAP a un rôle important à jouer dans ce combat et je salue d’oresetdéjà les initiatives qui sont développées à cet effet.Je vous remercie.LE PRESIDENT:Je vous remercie, Honorable Lassane SAWADOGO, Président du Groupe régional de l’Afrique de l’Ouest.Honorables membres,Je voudrais qu’on acclame les présidents des caucus régionaux qui ont été pris de court pour certains.(Applaudissements)J’ai vu certains prendre des notes pendant la plénière, parce qu’ils n’ont été informés qu’hier.Honourable Members,Pursuant to the provision of Rule 38, 1 (h) of the Rule of Procedure, I have invited an eminent person, the Former President of the United Republic of Tanzania, His Excellency Ali Hassan Mwinyi to address us.We will now take a short break of ten minutes. Business is now suspended to allow me to meet His Excellency Ali Hassan Mwinyi. I thank you.
9.0 – ANNONCES
THE CLERK:Honourable Members! Excuse me Honourable Members, can you please lend me your ears for a short while. It is because we will not be able to make this announcement after the adjournment, and that some of you will be attending meetings this afternoon. Those people who went for election observations. The ones who went to Ethiopia will be meeting at 1430 hours in Committee Room No. 1. Those who went to Guinea will be meeting at 1430 hours in Committee Room No. 2. Those who went to Burundi will be meeting at 1430 hours in Committee Room No. 4 and those who when to Rwanda will be meeting at the same time in Committee Room No. 5.The Committee on Rules will meet at 1430 hours in Committee Room No. 3, and the Committee on Transport will also meet at 1430 hours in Committee Room No. 6 this afternoon.It is a pity that these Members will cut short their lunch, which is the third part of this activity. The second being, after we have finished in this House with His Excellency Ali Hassan Mwinyi, there is an exhibition out in the foyer, which you will officially open. This will be followed by a group photo, and then you will go for lunch.Thank you very much Honourable Members.La séance, suspendue à 10h34, est reprise à 10h59
10.0 – DISCOURS DU PRESIDENT
LE PRESIDENT:Honorables membres, je vous demande de reconnaître et d’acclamer notre invité d’honneur, son Excellence Ali Hassan MWINYI.(Applaudissements.)En cette journée du 5 octobre 2010, le Parlement panafricain célèbre, de façon symbolique, l’accession à l’indépendance de dix sept (17) pays, ainsi que celle des pays d’Afrique qui ont accédé à la souveraineté internationale.Je tiens à remercier, en votre nom, tout particulièrement, son Excellence Ali Hassan MWINYI, ancien Président de la République de Tanzanie qui a bien voulu consacrer son temps précieux, pour rehausser de sa présence la cérémonie d’accession à l’indépendance de dix sept pays africains. Je voudrais, à cet égard, vous demander, encore une fois, d’applaudir notre illustre invité.(Applaudissements.)Je tiens également à remercier toutes les éminentes personnalités venues célébrer, avec les représentants des peuples africains que nous sommes, cet évènement mémorable.Excellence M. le Président,Distingués invités,En cette année où plusieurs nations africaines célèbrent leurs cinquante ans d’indépendance, il me revient le grand honneur d’évoquer, en cette circonstance particulière, la mémoire des pères des indépendances africaines. C’est le lieu et le moment de rendre un hommage appuyé à ces mémoires immortelles que le temps ne peut effacer et qui ont facilité le jaillissement des rayons d’indépendance en allumant le flambeau de la liberté dans leur pays et en assumant la lourde responsabilité de guider les premiers pas libérés du joug de la colonisation. Ces dignes combattants qui ont marqué l’histoire de l’Afrique restent, pour nous les générations futures, des modèles. Ils se sont identifiés au destin de leur peuple et ont dédié leur combat à l’émancipation de nos pays au prix d’énormes sacrifices.A ces hommes et femmes valeureux, j’exprime toute la reconnaissance des représentants des peuples africains et m’inclinent devant la mémoire de ceux qui ne sont plus de ce monde.Excellence M. le Président,Honorables membres,Distingués invités,L’histoire récente de notre continent nous enseigne que le Traité de Berlin qui a pris fin en février 1885 a ouvert la voie à la partition de l’Afrique exacerbée, au lendemain de la première guerre mondiale, par la ruée sur les ressources de l’Afrique en général et plus particulièrement en Afrique subsaharienne.Après des décennies d’atrocité et d’actes de deshumanisation indicibles, les populations des différentes parties de l’Afrique ont manifesté, de façon diverse, leur volonté inébranlable de jouir de leurs droits inaliénables à l’autodétermination.Il y a cinquante ans dix-sept pays africains accédaient à la souveraineté internationale. Cinquante ans, c’est le temps de revisiter l’histoire, de procéder à une évaluation rétrospective approfondie de nos réussites et de nos échecs, afin d’entreprendre une étude prospective et décliner la vision du développement que nous devons imprimer à notre continent.L’Afrique contient 1/6e de la population mondiale, mais contribue seulement pour 2% des échanges commerciaux de la planète, en dépit de ses énormes ressources et de ses potentialités encore inexplorées.Il serait temps que ce continent, berceau de l’humanité, après un demi-siècle d’atermoiement, occupe, sur l’échiquier international, une place proportionnelle aux richesses dont il recèle et à la vitalité de ses populations, sans oublier les sacrifices que ses enfants ont consenti pour le développement et le bien-être des autres continents.Exiger de la communauté internationale un plan Marshall pour l’Afrique ne serait pas trop demander aux égards des affres subis par nos ancêtres de la période de l’esclavage à la colonisation et à la mondialisation dont les effets pervers se font le plus sentir sur les populations africaines. Il en est de même du Conseil de Sécurité des Nations unies où l’Afrique n’est pas sur le point d’avoir un siège permanent.Sur le plan économique, les pays africains ayant des ressources pétrolières et minières n’ont pas pu transformer les richesses provenant de ces ressources en structures productives. Les politiques économiques d’exportation ont pris le pas sur les politiques économiques de subsistance. Plus de 68 % des importations africaines sont constituées de produits manufacturés alors que le continent exporte 70% d’hydrocarbures et de minerais. L’Afrique est déficitaire en terme de produits agricoles, car le continent a une balance négative de près de -6 % dans la part du commerce mondial. Il en a résulté un système de dépendance et d’assistanat pour la plupart des pays africains sans compter que la corruption et le déficit de démocratie n’ont pas facilité les choses.Selon toute vraisemblance, la Corée du Sud avait le même niveau de développement en 1962 que beaucoup de pays africains.Le bilan de cinquante ans sur une véritable appropriation de la souveraineté africaine n’est pas reluisant, notamment sur le plan culturel, économique et social. Ces années ont été caractérisées par un système de dépendance ou de consensus mou qui ont produit des résultats en deçà de nos attentes avec les Accords de Yaoundé, de Lomé et de Cotonou. Les plans d’ajustement structurel et l’aide au développement en sont un système qui a contribué à retarder l’avènement de la démocratie des contrepouvoirs et du bonheur des populations.La mauvaise gouvernance a également contribué, dans une grande mesure, à aggraver la situation sans oublier les guerres, les rebellions et les calamités naturelles.Ce sombre tableau, loin de nous émousser devrait plutôt nous galvaniser car, cinquante ans après les indépendances, nous avons l’impérieux devoir d’effacer de la mémoire collective le poncif suranné selon lequel l’Afrique est mal partie, de confondre les Afro pessimistes et de montrer à la face du monde que le continent de Soundjata Keïta, Ousman Dan Fodio, Chaka, Samory Touré et d’autres grandes figures africaines, dont le glorieux passé semblait à jamais oublier, est désormais déterminé à faire preuve d’innovation et d’inventivité pour aller au rendez-vous du donner et du recevoir, muni d’outils suffisants pour faire entendre sa voix et se faire respecter.A l’ère de la renaissance africaine, c’est ici, pour moi, le lieu d’interpeller les populations et les dirigeants de notre continent, afin que nous puissions nous faire maîtres de notre destin, conscients de ce que seul un développement endogène pourra nous amener à valoriser notre culture ancestrale et à concevoir, nous-mêmes, le modèle de développement adapté à nos populations qui, après l’abolition de l’esclavage, continuent de mourir en mer, pas parce qu’elles sont menées de forces vers les plantations de canne à sucre, mais parce qu’elles sont forcées d’aller à la recherche d’un avenir meilleur que leur continent ne peut leur offrir.Le Sommet des Nations unies sur les Objectifs du millénaire pour le développement s’est terminé le 22 septembre 2010, avec l’adoption d’un programme d’action, pour atteindre les huit objectifs d’ici à 2015 et l’annonce de nouveaux engagements pour la santé des femmes et des enfants ainsi que d’autres initiatives pour lutter contre la pauvreté, la faim et les maladies.Il ressort des conclusions de ce sommet qu’un effort supplémentaire est nécessaire en matière d’aide, de commerce et de dette pour atteindre l’objectif anti pauvreté.« Le nouveau partenariat mondial pour le développement à la croisée des chemins » conclut à de sérieux déficits par rapport à ces engagements, alors que nous ne sommes qu’à cinq ans de la date butoir fixée pour l’atteinte de ces objectifs.Il est évident que la vie des pauvres ne s’est pas beaucoup améliorée et que certains progrès ont été affectés par les changements climatiques et les crises alimentaires, économiques et financières. L’Afrique est, une fois de plus, le continent dont les progrès en termes de réalisation des OMD sont mitigés.En dépit des 40 milliards de dollars promis par la communauté internationale, pour la mise en œuvre de la stratégie globale pour la santé maternelle et infantile, en Afrique, les statistiques relatives à la mortalité maternelle sont particulièrement alarmantes. Sur 536 000 femmes dans le monde qui meurent chaque année de complications liées à la grosse et à l’accouchement, 99 % vivent dans des pays en développement et parmi celles-ci, la moitié se trouve en Afrique subsaharienne.Les statistiques relatives à la mortalité infantile sont elles aussi préoccupantes. Sur les 10 millions d’enfant de moins de cinq ans qui meurent chaque année dans le monde, 99 % vivent dans les pays en développement.Fort de ce constat et conscient de la communauté de destin, le Parlement panafricain, en tant que plateforme d’expression de la volonté de nos populations et lieu de convergence des expertises et des compétences multiformes de notre continent, devrait être le creuset des initiatives novatrices, visant à faire du continent africain le meilleur cadre de vie pour les populations actuelles et les générations futures.Nous avons tous, individuellement et collectivement, l’impérieux devoir de contribuer de façon significative à l’atteinte des OMD, car aucun de nous ne pourra ressentir légitimement la fierté d’être africain, tant que nos populations ne pourront pas avoir accès à l’eau, à l’éducation, à l’électricité, aux denrées de première nécessité, aux soins de santé primaire et j’en passe.Autant le Parlement panafricain s’engage à obtenir les 11 ratifications nécessaires à l’entrée en vigueur de la Charte africaine de la démocratie, des élections et de la gouvernance, autant il devrait s’engager pour assurer le développement économique et social rapide de l’ensemble du continent.Toutefois, les parlementaires panafricains restent convaincus que les années à venir seront plus glorieuses que les 50 dernières.Comme l’ont fait les vaillants combattants de la liberté de nos peuples, il y a cinquante ans, nous, représentants des peuples africains ici présents, exprimons, aujourd’hui, notre espérance et notre foi inébranlable en l’avenir radieux de notre continent.Au nom de l’ensemble des membres du Parlement panafricain et en mon nom propre, je voudrais souhaiter aux pays africains, paix, sécurité et prospérité.Aux dix-sept pays qui célèbrent cette année le cinquantenaire de leur indépendance mais également, aux pays qui ont eu leur indépendance avant 1960 comme le Liberia et le Soudan, les pays qui ont eu leur indépendance après 1960 comme le Cap-Vert et la Guinée Bissau, c’est à l’endroit de tous les pays africains que nous adressons nos souhaits de paix, de sécurité et de prospérité.Vive les indépendances!Vivent les peuples africains!Vive l’Afrique!Vive le Parlement panafricain!Vive l’Union africaine.(Applaudissements.)Honorables membres,Distingués invités,J’ai, à présent, l’honneur d’inviter notre hôte, Son Excellence Ali Hassan MWINI, à apporter sa contribution.Vous avez la parole, Excellence.
11.0 – DISCOURS PRONONCÉ PAR S.E. ALI HASSAN MWINYI, ANCIEN PRSIDENT DE LA REPUBLIQUE UNIE DE TANZANIE
H.E. MR. ALI HASSAN MWINYI [FORMER PRESIDENT OF TANZANIA]:Your Excellency, Dr Moussa Idriss Ndele, President of the Pan-African Parliament;Your Excellency, Dr Jean Ping, Chairperson of the African Union Commission;Honourable ministers and deputy ministers here present;Honourable Members of the Pan-African Parliament;Honourable Members of the South African Parliament;Your Excellencies, Ambassadors, High Commissioners and heads of International and Regional organizations;Distinguished guests; ladies and gentlemen,Let me begin by thanking you for the kind invitation extended to me to attend the third ordinary session of the Second Pan-African Parliament. I am grateful to the Pan-African Parliament for having organized the commemoration of 50 years of independence of some of our countries. This occasion provides me with an opportunity to reflect on where we came from, where we are now, and therefore chart our future course of action based on the experience gained so far. In the same vein, I would also like to extend my congratulations to 17 African states that are celebrating 50 years since they attained their independence.Mr. President, I have been asked to offer some insights on the independence struggle of the continent with specific reference to my country and the sub-region. As is publicly known, the path towards political independence by African countries differed. While some were granted independence after negotiations, others had to resort to the use of arms. Ghana, the first African country to get independence, did so on the basis of political negotiations. My country Tanganyika, and now Tanzania, as well as the 17 countries whose independence we are celebrating today, also attained their independence peacefully.Mr. President, unfortunately, this was not the case for all other countries. Algeria which attained its independence in 1962 had to resort to an armed struggle to get its independence. The Algerian revolution set an example for the rest of the continent in demanding independence, if need be, by armed struggle. The success of the Algerian revolution in the face of overwhelming opposition from the French colonialists provided encouragement to the nationalists that despite the heavy odds against them, they too could prevail in armed conflict. When it did gain independence, Algeria became one of the staunchest supporters of the liberation struggle on the continent, giving nationalists succor and sustenance as well as training and arms because its leadership believed in the necessity of liberating African countries. Algeria felt that without political independence, economic independence and African unity were but an illusion. I wish to pay tribute to His Excellency, Ahmed Ben Bella- (Applause) - and the Algerian people for their role in the liberation struggle of Algeria and Africa in general.Mr. President, owing to the accident of geography, Tanganyika found itself at the frontline of independent Africa and countries which were still suffering under the yoke of colonial rule and racial oppression when it attained independence on 9 December 1961. Like his peers, President Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, Ahmed Ben Bella of Algeria, the Emperor Selassie I, to mention but a few, Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere of Tanzania, our first president, believed that Tanzania’s independence was incomplete as long as any part of the African continent was still under colonial rule and domination.Tanzania made a commitment to assist the nationalist movements fighting against colonial rule and racial discrimination on our continent. Tanzania therefore became a home away from home for most of those fleeing from racial discrimination and colonial rule and freedom fighters from Angola, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Namibia, among many others. During the liberation struggle of Mozambique, Tanzania became a dependable and formidable rear base for the freedom fighters of FRELIMO, waging their armed struggle against the Portuguese colonial rule.Mwalimu Nyerere and other prominent PanAfrican leaders supported the continent’s independence movements and established the Organization of African Unity in 1963. The founding fathers of the Organization of African Unity made the liquidation of colonialism and racial discrimination their main objective and established a liberation committee to pursue this goal. Possibly owing also to geographical location, Tanzania was chosen to be the headquarters of the liberation committee which galvanized international action against colonial rule and racial oppression and the occupation of the Southern Africa states.Mr. President, at the sub-regional level, by 1975 the frontiers of independent Africa had shifted southwards following the defeat of Portuguese colonialism in Mozambique, Angola, Guinea Bissau and Cape Verde as well as Sao Tome and Principe. Nonetheless, colonialism, apartheid and illegal occupation remained in Zimbabwe, South Africa and Namibia, respectively. The leaders of Tanzania, Zambia, Botswana, Mozambique, Nigeria and Angola established the Frontline States under the chairmanship of the late Mwalimu Nyerere of Tanzania. His Excellency, Dr Kenneth Kaunda succeeded Mwalimu Nyerere as chairman of the Frontline States, while I succeeded him as the President of the United Republic of Tanzania. The Frontline States spearheaded the liberation struggle of southern Africa which aimed at establishing a majority rule in that part of the African sub-region. His Excellency, Dr Kenneth Kaunda as chairman of the Frontline States presided over the prosecution of the liberation struggle of Namibia and South Africa until the two countries were granted independence in 1990 and 1994 respectively.I wish to pay deserved tribute to His Excellency Dr Kenneth Kaunda- (Applause) - and his country for the unflinching role and support for the liberation struggles of our continent. He accepted, sometimes at great sacrifice of his own country, freedom fighters and those fleeing from their countries of origin from all over southern African states and beyond.The Frontline States formed the core of the Southern African Development Coordination Conference or SADCC, which was established to lessen dependence on the South African transport routes by the Frontline States. SADCC has since been transformed into SADC with the objective of integrating southern African states.Thanks to the sacrifices made by the national liberation movements, namely, the ANC, MPLA, FRELIMO, PAIGC, ZANU and SWAPO, the goal of the liberation of Africa is now almost complete. I say almost complete; not yet completely complete. Nevertheless we still have the challenge of resolving the issue of the occupation of Western Sahara by the Kingdom of Morocco.I wish to pay tribute to all- (Applause) - the gallant leaders that led these liberation movements as well as its fighters both present and those who passed on for their dedication, determination and commitment in ensuring that our continent was free and under majority rule.(Applause)Mr. President, the attainment of political independence by the African countries did notlead to economic independence. African countries soon realized that there were was still a long road towards attaining economic independence. The leaders of the continent decided to transform the Organization of African Unity into the African Union, with the primary objective of uniting and integrating our economies as well as socioeconomic infrastructure.Despite most of Africa having attained independence, we still have the decolonization of the Western Sahara: it remains as the unfinished business of the political emancipation of Africa. The African continent is also faced with the scourge of conflicts, ravages of HIV/AIDS, climate change and others. We also need to institute a culture of respect for democracy, good governance and human rights. These are the challenges that the African Union and other organs will have to address.Mr. President, let me conclude my remarks by reiterating my conviction that due to its mandate as a common platform for African peoples and their grass root organizations to be more involved in discussions and decision making on the problem of challenges facing the continent, the Pan-African Parliament has a special role in meeting these challenges and contributing to Africa’s renaissance or revival. I wish the PanAfrican Parliament the best in all its noble endeavors.Mr. President, I would like to end my speech by once again expressing my appreciation to the President of the Pan-African Parliament for the excellent facilities and hospitality accorded to me and my entourage. We say, thank you. (Applause) And where I come from we say, asante sana. Thank you very much. (Applause) I also wish to thank the President, the Government and the people of the Republic of South Africa for the usual friendliness and hospitality accorded to us all whenever we visit this great country.(Applause)Thank you.(Applause)LE PRESIDENT:Je vous remercie, Excellence.J’invite, à présent, l’honorable Mary MUGYENYI, 2e Vice-présidente, à donner lecture de la motion de remerciements.
12.0 – MOTION DE REMERCIEMENTS ET DE FELICITATION DE LA PRÉSIDENCE
HON. MUGYENYI MARY RUTAMWEBWA [UGANDA]:Your Excellency President Ali Hassan Mwinyi, Former President of the Republic of Tanzania; Your Excellency the President of the Pan African Parliament and Members of your bureau; Colleagues Members of Parliament; Your Excellencies the Ambassadors and High Commissioners representing African Countries in South Africa; ladies and gentlemen in your different capacities.Your Excellency President Mwinyi, it is indeed my pleasure and honour to move a vote of thanks on this very important day, on which Pan African Parliament is celebrating 50 years of independence by some of our member countries.First and foremost, I would like to move a vote of thanks to God Almighty, most gracious and most merciful, for giving us our land Africa, and for all the endeavors and endowments that he has given us. (Applause) That our land from the time of our ancestors has been able to provide for us, that quite often we have abused and mismanaged our land and its resources, but that you Almighty, you have continued to bless us with endless resources from our continent. We are, truly thankful and honour you father in heaven.We thank you for the different peoples of Africa, that in our different shades, languages and cultures, we have been inhabited this land, Africa, and that from amongst our people you created wise and brave men and women who have fought for the independence of their people, their countries and amongst whom we have one of them who is representing those wise men in the name of President Mwinyi. Congratulations indeed to all those countries that have attained independence. (Applause) Thank you lord in heaven for liberating our continent from the humiliation of slavery and colonialism, and indeed we thank you that you created Africans that were able to fight for their independence and that today we can boast, we are here celebrating that achievement.We do not forget to thank all those human beings on earth, beyond the African Continent, in Europe, America, Asia and elsewhere that supported the liberation of Africa. We honour them and can never forget them in our liberation history.We thank you master in heaven for the great leaders of Africa that have the vision of uniting Africa including President Mwinyi, and those that continue to support the unity of our continent. Maybe they will be rewarded by your truly united strong Africa that merits their efforts. That includes those who are alive and those departed.We are grateful to the present leaders of Africa for the African Union and its Organs, including the Pan African Parliament. This great organization that brings us together; we pray that the leaders of Africa are blessed with the wisdom to make right decisions for the prosperity of the people of Africa, so that independence becomes truly meaningful.We very heartedly congratulate all those countries that attained their independence 50 years ago, most of whom were former French colonies, with exception of Nigeria and Ghana who were under British colonial rule. May you truly be blessed with our virtues of democracy and good governance.Your Excellency President Mwinyi, we thank you for honouring our invitation to come all the way from Tanzania to South Africa, purposely to address the African Parliamentarians. This is a rare opportunity for you to address a congregation of African Parliamentarians and in turn we are happy to be addressed by a former President who belongs to the class of wise leaders, who not only have tried to unite Africa, but have become real models of democracy; leaders retiring voluntarily. (Applause) And I want to testify as your neighbour from Uganda that you have indeed contributed to the unity of Africa. I just wanted to give an example of how Tanzania is an example of Africa uniting. When Zanzibar, your homeland Your Excellency, was united to Tanganyika to make the Republic of Tanzania, you made it possible that different parts of Africa can actually unite and function. We congratulate you and thank you. (Applause)We applaud the contribution made by Tanzania towards the liberation of Africa. We do not underrate that and we all know that Tanzania played an important role towards the liberation of many other countries particularly in the Southern Africa, including Uganda from Idi Amini, to put that on record. We congratulate you and we thank you.I congratulate lastly, the President of the Pan African Parliament, Members of the Bureau and Members of Pan African Parliament for their decision to commemorate this day. I want particularly to single out the Committee that has been spearheading this event. We thank you so much for this wise vision and decision. May the day go well for all of us, and may there be tranquility for the seventeen (17) countries whose independence we celebrate today.I thank you all.LE PRESIDENT:Je vous remercie, Honorable Mary MUGYENYI. La parole est maintenant au Secrétaire général, pour la suite du programme.
13.0 – ANNONCES
THE CLERK:Honorable Members, I would like to make it known to you that now is the occasion for the Honorable President of the Pan-African Parliament to pass the gifts to our special guests, the former President of Tanzania, Honorable Mwinyi. Thank you.Honorable Members, I would like to make the following announcements that the Commission on Evaluation, Administration and Finance will meet today at half-past three o’clock in room seven.The last announcement is that the procession from here will proceed to the exhibition at the foyer. Thank you very much.LE PRESIDENT:Je vous remercie.Honorables membres. La séance est actuellement levée jusqu’à demain, mercredi 06 octobre 2010, à 09 heures.La séance est levée à 11heures 46 minutes.
Wednesday, 6th October 2010
LE PRESIDENT:Veuillez prendre place!M. le Secrétaire général,Donnez-nous le programme, s’il vous plaît!THE CLERK OF PARLIAMENT:Presentation and debates on the report of the President of the Pan African Parliament.(The Second Vice-president in the Chair)THE PRESIDENT:I now wish to call upon the President of the Pan African Parliament, H.E. Moussa Idriss Ndele, to make his presentation.
1.0 – PRESENTATION ET DEBAT RELATIFS AU RAPPORT DU PRESIDENT DU PARLEMENT PANAFRICAIN
HON. MOUSSA IDRISS NDELE [TCHAD]:Mesdames et Messieurs les membres du Parlement,Comme le veut le déroulement de nos activités, à chaque session ordinaire, le Bureau vous donne un aperçu des activités du Parlement durant la période d’intersession.Le présent rapport, que nous soumettons à votre bienveillante attention, trace les grandes lignes des activités entreprises par le Parlement panafricain, durant la période allant de mai à septembre 2010.Il me plaît de vous rappeler que les activités qui sont portées à votre attention restent en droite ligne avec les objectifs du Parlement, comme énoncé dans le Protocole au Traité instituant la Communauté économique africaine, relatif au Parlement panafricain;Ces activités reflètent la vision du Bureau du Parlement panafricain d’amener notre institution à s’aligner aux principes et règles édictés par l’Union africaine, et de se conformer à la révision du Protocole devant doter notre Parlement de pouvoirs législatifs.Ledit rapport aborde toutes les activités parlementaires, administratives et financières.Activités des membres du Bureau du Parlement panafricainLes membres du Bureau ont pris part durant la période précitée à plusieurs rencontres internationales qui ont eu pour objectifs, pour la plupart, à développer, à renforcer les relations entre le Parlement panafricain et les autres institutions internationales, et à faire le plaidoyer pour mieux faire connaître notre institution.Sommet de l’Union africaine à Kampala (Ouganda)La délégation du Parlement panafricain que j’ai eu l’honneur de conduire, a pris part aux réunions successives, statutaires des organes de l’Union africaine en commençant par le COREP, le Conseil Exécutif, et la Conférence des chefs d’État et de gouvernement.A cet effet, j’ai présenté l’objectif du Parlement, qui est la transformation en un organe législatif et j’ai, également, présenté les problèmes institutionnels qui minent le bon fonctionnement administratif et financier.Des consultations tenues avec les structures compétentes en charge de la révision du Protocole ont permis de redynamiser le processus de consultation entre les organes de l’Union africaine et de s’assurer que les positions du Parlement panafricain soient prises en considération dans le rapport sur la révision du Protocole qui sera soumis, nous l’espérons, aux chefs d’Etat et de gouvernement, lors du prochain Sommet de fin janvier 2011.Le Bureau a également participé au 20e Forum Economique Mondial qui s’est tenu à Dar-Es- Salaam, en Tanzanie, du 5 au 7 mai 2010.A la deuxième réunion du comité d’orientation du Forum permanent de dialogue Arabo-africain sur la démocratie et les droits humains à Paris, au siège de l’UNESCO, le Président a été invité en qualité d’observateur et a pris part aux travaux durant deux jours.Par ailleurs, la délégation a été reçue par la Directrice générale de l’UNESCO avec, en perspective, la possibilité d’un partenariat entre nos deux institutions.Lors de la première conférence parlementaire entre la Russie et l’Afrique à Moscou, à l’invitation de la Douma, le Parlement panafricain a été représenté par l’honorable El Houdery, qui a prononcé une allocution au nom dudit Parlement. Les deux parlements envisagent de développer des relations bilatérales.C’est le lieu de féliciter l’honorable El Houdery et de remercier le parlement de la Douma, qui a pris en charge les frais de transport et de séjour de l’honorable El Houdery qui était en mission pour le PAP.36e session de l’Assemblée parlementaire de la Francophonie à DakarLe Parlement panafricain a pris part, en qualité d’observateur, aux travaux de la 36e session de l’Assemblée parlementaire de la Francophonie; la délégation du Parlement panafricain était conduite par son Président.Aussi, la présidente du réseau des femmes parlementaires du PAP a pris part aux travaux du réseau des femmes de l’Agence parlementaire de la Francophonie (APF) et a adressé une communication sur la participation des femmes dans la vie politique en Afrique.En marge des travaux de la 36e session de l’APF, le Président du PAP et sa délégation ont été reçus par S.E Me Abdoulaye Wade, Président de la République du Sénégal, qui a donné son engagement à soutenir le Parlement panafricain dans son processus de transformation.Par ailleurs, une rencontre a eu lieu avec le Président du forum des parlementaires africains et arabes pour la population et le développement (FAAPPD), aux fins de renforcer la coopération autour de la réalisation des objectifs du millénaire pour le développement.Conférence de l’UNESCO sur l’éducationL’honorable Hammi Laroussi, 3e Vice-président du PAP, a représenté le Président du parlement et le PAP à la 4e session du forum arabe des parlementaires pour l’éducation, tenue à Beyrouth, au Liban, dont l’objectif consistait à renforcer le rôle des parlementaires dans la mise en œuvre des politiques nationales en matière d’éducation. C’est une initiative que le Parlement panafricain veut non seulement saluer, mais également accompagner.Mission du Parlement panafricain à Harare pour rencontrer les responsables de notre partenaire, l’ACBFL’honorable Joram Macdonald Gumbo, 4e Viceprésident, a conduit une délégation aux fins de rencontrer les responsables de l’ACBF et de rétablir le partenariat suspendu, suite à la décision de l’ACBF de geler le mémorandum existant entre nos deux institutions.A la suite de cette visite, les malentendus se sont dissipés et la coopération a été reprise.Participation à la cérémonie inaugurale du nouveau siège de l’Assemblée nationale du Malawiévénement. Cette mission était effectuée dans le cadre du renforcement des relations bilatérales et en vue d’un plaidoyer pour la participation du Président du Malawi, S.E Bingu Wa Mutharika, président en exercice de l’Union africaine, à la cérémonie d’ouverture de notre 3e session ordinaire du PAP. Ce qui était possible jusqu’au dernier jour, où le calendrier de Son Excellence a eu un changement, pour lequel on a reçu une information, qui fait que nous n’avons pas eu l’honneur d’avoir la présence du Président en exercice de l’Union africaine.Réunion du 27e Forum de l’Assemblée Parlementaire de la SADCL’honorable Joram Gumbo Macdonald, 4e Vice - président, a participé au 27e Forum de l’Assemblée Parlementaire de la SADC, qui s’est tenu à Livingstone, en Zambie, au mois de mai 2010.Conférence sur les risques et la gouvernance en Afrique, Durban, août 2010L’honorable Mary Mugyenyi, 2e Viceprésidente du Parlement panafricain, a représenté le PAP à la conférence sur les risques et la gouvernance en Afrique. Elle a eu l’opportunité de faire une communication sur le rôle du Parlement panafricain dans la bonne gouvernance en Afrique, et ce, conformément au Protocole.Activités ParlementairesLes Commissions permanentesLes commissions permanentes se sont réunies du 5 au 8 août 2010. Il ressort de cette réunion que plusieurs problèmes ont entravé la bonne marche de leurs travaux, notamment en ce qui concerne le contenu des programmes, la disponibilité de la documentation, la traduction des documents et le personnel d’appui.Ces problèmes rencontrés pendant les travaux des commissions sont dus, en partie, au manque de moyens financiers et, dans une autre mesure, ils sont liés à nos carences administratives. Il faut relever ici que la ligne budgétaire prévue pour les activités non statuaires des commissions a été retirée du budget 2010.Conformément à la décision 98 du Conseil exécutif, les Etats membres doivent prendre en charge la participation des membres aux réunions statutaires. A cet effet, nous avons constaté que le taux de participation des membres aux travaux des commissions est très faible. Il en ressort que les Etats membres ne peuvent pas prendre en charge la participation de leurs membres à toutes les réunions.A cet effet, le Bureau du Parlement panafricain a instruit le secrétariat de tout mettre en œuvre pour l’amélioration de l’organisation des prochaines réunions. Pour les réunions des commissions permanentes, en marge de notre session, ce sont les présidents des commissions permanentes qui ont eu la maîtrise de l’organisation et de leur agenda.Missions d’observation des électionsConformément à l’article 3 du Protocole au Traité instituant la communauté économique africaine relatif au Parlement panafricain, l’un des objectifs du Parlement panafricain consiste à promouvoir les principes des droits de l’homme et de la démocratie en Afrique.Conformément au Protocole, le PAP a dépêché des missions d’observation électorales dans les Etats membres de l’Union africaine (UA). Cependant, en vertu de la Décision No. Ex.CL/Dec.534(XVI), adoptée lors de la seizième session ordinaire du Conseil exécutif de l’Union africaine, en février 2010, à Addis-Abeba, les missions d’observation électorales organisées par tous les organes de l’Union africaine seront financées à partir d’un budget centralisé. En conséquence, la coordination des missions sera assurée conjointement par l’Union africaine, le PAP et les autres organes pertinents de l’Union africaine. Le PAP a participé à des missions mixtes dépêchées dans les Etats membres suivants:Ethiopie, Guinée Conakry, Burundi et Rwanda.Pour le Soudan et l’île Maurice, aucun membre du Parlement panafricain n’a pris part à ces missions au titre de ces missions conjointes.Malheureusement, on a constaté que la représentation du Parlement panafricain à ces missions était faible. Ceci est dû dans une large mesure aux conditions entourant la participation des honorables membres. Le Parlement panafricain considère que ces conditions ne conviennent pas au statut des membres d’une institution continentale. A titre d’illustration, les membres ont dû voyager en classe économique, même dans des cas où le voyage a duré plus de huit heures. En outre, les membres reçoivent des indemnités journalières de subsistance selon le taux des Nations unies, alors que le personnel de l’Union africaine bénéficie de taux plus élevés, ajustés à hauteur de 20% de celui des Nations unies, pour les mêmes missions.On a également noté que la coordination faite au niveau du Département des affaires politiques de l’Union africaine n’a pas été toujours à la hauteur, s’agissant de l’envoi des lettres d’invitation et des billets d’avion aux membres, ainsi que pour leur déploiement dans les circonscriptions électorales. Le Parlement panafricain a lancé un appel à l’endroit du COREP et du Conseil exécutif lors du Sommet de Kampala, en juillet dernier, afin d’examiner les préoccupations précitées, aux fins de permettre au Parlement panafricain de contribuer, de manière efficace, à la gouvernance démocratique en Afrique comme par le passé. Nous osons espérer, à l’issue de notre retraite avec le COREP pour le budget 2011, une amélioration et revenir à une participation séparée du Parlement panafricain pour les missions d’observation.Réunions consultatives sur la transformation du Parlement panafricain et la ratification de la charte de la démocratie, des élections et de la gouvernanceNous avons adopté une résolution pour accélérer la ratification de tous les traités et de tous les protocoles de l’Union africaine, en particulier celle de la Charte sur la démocratie, des élections et de la gouvernance par les Etats membres qui ne l’ont pas encore fait.A cet effet, nous avons entamé des dialogues consultatifs relatifs à la ratification de la charte africaine de la démocratie, des élections et de la gouvernance au niveau des régions de l’Afrique de l’Est, à Kampala, en Ouganda, en Afrique centrale, à Ndjamena, au Tchad et pour l’Afrique australe, à Victoria Falls, au Zimbabwe. Ces dialogues se poursuivront en Afrique du Nord et en Afrique de l’Ouest au mois de novembre 2010.Ces dialogues ont regroupé les membres du Parlement panafricain des régions précitées, les parlementaires et les représentants des hautes autorités des pays hôtes. L’ensemble des députés s’est engagé, à travers des communiqués, à accélérer le processus avant 2011, à travers la campagne "11 before 2011" lancée à Kampala.Par ailleurs, la question de la transformation du Parlement panafricain en un organe doté de pouvoirs législatifs a été également abordée pendant les trois réunions consultatives.Les gouvernements et les parlements nationaux des pays de ces régions se sont engagés à soutenir le processus de la révision du Protocole au Traité, aux fins de le doter de pouvoirs législatifs dans les domaines indiqués.L’objectif est de sensibiliser les gouvernements, les parlements nationaux et régionaux sur la pertinence de mettre en place un parlement continental avec des pouvoirs législatifs, en vue de la création d’un gouvernement de l’Union africaine.Il importe ici de saluer la contribution de la commission de l’Union africaine, à travers la Commissaire aux Affaires politiques et son département qui ont participé, de manière très efficace et effective, aux travaux de nos séminaires.Administration, Finance et Relations InternationalesCompte tenu du nombre réduit du personnel du Parlement panafricain, notamment au niveau des hautes responsabilités administratives, nous avons pris l’initiative de solliciter la Commission de l’Union africaine, par la mise à disposition à notre parlement de trois fonctionnaires pour une durée déterminée, à l’effet d’aider le secrétariat dans ses missions de gestion quotidienne.A ce titre, un responsable de la division des ressources humaines de la commission a été dépêché au Parlement panafricain au mois d’avril, et cette personnalité est restée jusqu’au mois de juillet 2010. Durant son séjour, elle a élaboré un rapport sur les procédures de recrutement, sur l’organigramme et elle nous a fait des recommandations.Suite au départ de l’interprète-traducteur en langue française et du responsable principal des finances, un appel à candidature a été lancé pour pourvoir à ces deux postes. Une sélection des candidats a été entreprise au mois de mai dernier et, faute de moyens financiers, la séance d’interview n’a pu être organisée. Le processus sera repris dès que les fonds seront disponibles.Aussi, il importe de vous informer que l’Union européenne a donné son accord pour financer le recrutement de personnel à des postes au niveau du département des finances principalement, pour répondre au principe de la séparation des tâches prévues dans le règlement financier de l’Union africaine.Ces postes n’ont jamais été pourvus depuis l’installation du PAP et, de ce fait, cela constitue un déficit important, ayant entrainé des faiblesses et lacunes dans le contrôle interne déjà soulignées par le comité ad hoc dans son rapport, remis à la plénière en octobre 2009.De plus, et dans le cadre de nos relations avec le Parlement de l’Afrique du Sud, ce dernier a décidé de mettre à notre disposition les fonds nécessaires pour le recrutement et la rémunération de fonctionnaires à différents postes non pourvus jusqu’ici; ce recrutement suivra bien sûr les procédures en vigueur, édictées par les règlements de l’Union africaine.En votre nom à tous, je tiens à adresser nos vifs remerciements à l’Union Européenne et au Parlement de l’Afrique du Sud pour leur soutien très appréciable.Sur un tout autre plan, l’organigramme administratif du Parlement panafricain attend toujours d’être adopté par les organes compétents de l’Union africaine; le texte a été finalisé par le groupe de travail désigné à cet effet par le souscomité des structures relevant du COREP, en collaboration avec les représentants administratifs du Parlement panafricain. Là, également, nous espérons faire une avancée à travers la retraite que nous organisons avec le COREP.Notre souhait est que ce texte soit adopté lors du prochain Sommet de l’Union africaine, fin janvier 2011, à Addis-Abeba, ce qui permettra à notre institution de procéder au recrutement du personnel nécessaire à son fonctionnement.En matière financière, notre budget demeure très limité, et ne nous permet pas d’assurer nos activités en dehors des sessions ordinaires, entravant de ce fait le nécessaire dynamisme qui permet au travail des commissions permanentes de se tenir et de donner une visibilité au Parlement panafricain.Nous faisons des démarches pour que des moyens conséquents soient octroyés au Parlement panafricain, pour lui permettre de s’impliquer davantage et pleinement dans les actions qui contribuent à la réalisation de l’intégration du continent.A cet effet, il nous incombe de convaincre les organes compétents de l’Union africaine de l’indispensable rôle que doit jouer le Parlement panafricain pour la réalisation des objectifs qui lui sont assignés et qui doivent bénéficier d’un financement conséquent du budget de l’Union, et non des partenaires au développement, car étant des objectifs statutaires.A ce sujet, il y a lieu d’indiquer que les faiblesses et les lacunes en matière de contrôle ont poussé certains de nos partenaires au développement à cesser le financement des activités convenues avec eux.Toutefois, quelques-uns de nos partenaires continuent toujours à nous apporter le soutien nécessaire en matière d’accomplissement de certaines activités, notamment celles qui ont trait à la série de séminaires que nous organisons sur la transformation du Parlement panafricain et la ratification de la Charte africaine sur la démocratie, les élections et la gouvernance. Je tiens, en votre nom, à les remercier, et en particulier, la GTZ, l’AWEPA, le PNUD.En conclusion, le Parlement panafricain est conscient de ses obligations et de son statut d’organe de l’Union africaine. A ce titre, il renouvelle son engagement d’œuvrer en étroite collaboration avec tous les autres organes de l’Union africaine, dans le respect des règles et pratiques de l’Union africaine, afin de contribuer au processus d’intégration du continent et de mise en œuvre des décisions et résolutions de l’Union africaine.En effet, pour atteindre les objectifs énoncés dans le Protocole, le Parlement panafricain doit être plus visible sur le continent et plus proche des populations qu’il représente.Pour cela, le Parlement panafricain invite les organes de l’Union africaine à faciliter le processus d’évaluation du Protocole au Traité relatif au Parlement panafricain, dans le cadre de la mise en œuvre de la décision EX/CL/459 (XIV) de l'Union africaine sur la révision du Protocole au Traité adopté en janvier 2009.Enfin, les progrès accomplis durant la période considérée, notamment dans l’avancée du processus de révision du Protocole, d’une part, et la ratification de la Charte africaine pour la démocratie, les élections et la gouvernance, fournissent la preuve de l’engagement du Parlement panafricain à œuvrer pour la prospérité de l’Afrique.Je vous remercie.THE PRESIDENT:We thank Mr. President for that elaborate and well articulated report on behalf of all of us. I want to use this opportunity of being in the Chair, to also inform the Members and confirm that under your leadership we are doing everything possible to move Pan African Parliament to a next stage, higher than it has been. We thank you very much. Hon. Members, before I open the debate, I just wanted to move a small amendment. There is one detail that was not included in the activities, I have noted; the International Criminal Court Conference of Parties that was held in Kampala in May to June, this year. I represented the President of PAN African Parliament at that Conference. It was also preceded by a Conference of Parliamentarians preceding the ICC Conference of parties. So, I thought that should be included on the list of activities that we carried out.Hon. Members, I now wish to open the floor for debate. I have a list of speakers, but if you have not seen the list and did not note down your name, just write it down and pass it on to me and you will be given the floor. Now, the time given is five minutes, and that is enough for Members to express themselves. I have a list of thirteen names and as I can see, I will be getting more, so, please try and observe the time allocated to you. The first speaker on the list is Hon. Joseph Njobvuyalema, from Malawi. Hon. Joseph, you may take the floor.HON. NJOBVUYALEMA JOSEPH [MALAWI]:Thank you very much Honourable Chair for giving me this opportunity to contribute to this report. I must say that I looked for a copy of this report yesterday when I indicated that I would like to contribute, but it was not available until late in the evening, and I have just come across it today, this morning. However, I will make quick reactions to the report as ably presented by the President.In the first place, I must commend the President for his leadership; indeed, there are a lot of changes and improvements in PAP. And since I have only five minutes to contribute, I just want to put it on record that Malawi appreciates very much his leadership. He involves everybody. Everybody is participating, and as a Member of PAP from Malawi, he involves me in most of the activities that are undertaken by PAP and we appreciate that very much.My first reaction is on page 4 of the report, which talks about the 27th Plenary Assembly of SADC Parliamentary Forum. (Noise) MadamChairperson, I am looking at the Activity Report which has been presented by the President and I am on page 4, which is talking about the 27th Assembly of SADC Parliamentary Forum. It is stated that our Vice President, Honourable Gumbo attended this Parliamentary Forum. We were looking forward to a brief about what main issues transpired in that session, because there is a general complaint that much as we are Members of PAP, we are expected to be linked to the SADC Forum as Members of the SADC Region. So, we thought we should be engaged in most of the activities that are undertaken at the SADC Parliamentary Forum because we are Members of the SADC Region, much as we are Members of PAP, but at the same time we have to be informed also of what is happening in our region.Also, for purposes of information, is there any progress on SADC PF’s efforts to become a legislative body? I thought something could be said in that connection.My other reaction is on Page 5, Item 8. That item is talking about problems, administrative shortcomings of PAP that have been encountered. This is a very serious statement. Administrative shortcomings will reflect the whole arrangement of PAP. What are these administrative shortcomings? We have people in place, we have a Clerk of Parliament, we have everybody, and we have the Bureau. What could have happened, and if these shortcomings have been noted, what has been the corrective measure?Indeed I want to agree that participation of Members for election missions is very low because time and again, we are not properly handled in terms of subsistence, travel arrangements, how we are looked after when we go out to the missions and how we are engaged in terms of giving views on the manner in which the elections have been conducted. We are generally sidelined. I am one of the Members who participated in a mission in Ethiopia. I must state that the whole arrangement was monopolized by NGO’s and, much as I had very constructive ideas, I was given a deaf ear. So, I was very concerned and I regretted having gone there. I wish there could be an improvement. I think it should be placed on record that Pan African Parliamentarians are politicians. I am an experienced politician, I am serving my third term as a Member of Parliament and I have a lot of experience, which if I am engaged in the electoral missions, I think I could come up with very constructive ideas and the whole African Union would benefit. That is my belief.My other reaction is on Page 6, where it is said that PAP or Item 15THE PRESIDENT:Thank you very much, I hope there is time keeping because the five minutes to me looked so long. So time keeper, please make sure you don’t allow more than five minutes, but thank you so much Honourable Members for those constructive comments.HON. TOSKIN JOHNSON BARTILE [UGANDA]:Thank you very much Madam President for availing me this opportunity to react to the President’s very well elaborated speech.Madam President, we are happy about the report of the President because it is showing clearly that the Pan-African Parliament is fully engaged in the activities in the region. It is important, Madam President, that these regional meetings are organized regularly so that PAP can be seen to be playing its important role. PAP is supposed to be a vanguard in driving social, economic and political activities within the region and therefore, we should take every opportunity whenever there are any meetings organized in the continent and even outside the continent.Madam President, I wanted to talk a little about the review of the protocol of PAP. This is a very important undertaking for PAP and we should use every opportunity, especially at this time, so that we can be able to convince those who will be involved in taking the final decision.Madam President, I am happy with the progress so far that whenever we shall be able to make our points clear, whenever we go to these meetings, like when the President attended the summit in Kampala; that was important. I want to add that it is also necessary that the PAP Bureau organizes deliberate moves and visits to specific leaders in their countries. I am thinking of the leaders who are influential in the summit. We should be able to organize meetings; the President and his team should be able to organize these meetingsprivate meetingsmeet these leaders and try to implore upon them so that they can give us the support we need. I think that is very necessary indeed.I also want to say that we should continue to invite these very influential leaders of Africa to come to PAP functions like we have already done. I think we still need to go further and invite them so that they come and see for themselves what is happening in the Pan-African Parliament. To this effect Mr. President- I do not know, I came a bit late- I do not know whether the President explained to the House why the President of South Africa did not come yesterday. We had been expecting him up to the last minute, but I am sure by the end of the day nobody told us why the President was not able to come because this is again another opportunity when we should be engaging the African leaders in the activities of the Pan-African Parliament.About the observer missions, Mr. President, we had started these observer missions very vigorously and it was really lifting the name of the Pan-African Parliament. With the new arrangement, I think we should not play a minor position. We should really play the same position like the other organs of the AU, so that we are treated the same way. Even if it is the payment of per diems or facilitation, it should be on an equal basis. We are an important organ of the AU.Then finally I would like to use this opportunity to thank the President, the Bureau and the members of the regional caucus and all those leaders of the various committees for attending the Kampala meeting in July. We were very happy as a country, and we are very proud that the PanAfrican Parliament actually came and joined us especially at the time when we had just had a bad incident where the al-Shabaab had just bombed Kampala. We are very grateful and we still invite you. Thank you very much Madam President.HON. BABOU ABDOULAYE [SENEGAL]:Je vous remercie Madame la Vice-présidente.Monsieur le Président, je voudrais vous féliciter pour votre rapport, il est succinct, mais le plus important, c’est qu’il touche du doigt tous les problèmes qui assaillent encore notre Parlement.Monsieur le Président, je voudrais d’abord faire un constat: dès l’ouverture de cette session, nous nous sommes rendus compte qu’il y a moins de monde par rapport aux sessions antérieures.Ce problème, nous l’avions déjà dans les Commissions, mais au moins, à l’ouverture de chaque session, il y avait du monde, malheureusement aujourd’hui, nous constatons que la situation se dégrade de plus en plus. Il y a là un problème, et nous gageons qu’une fois une semaine de travaux passée, la deuxième semaine, il n’y aura plus personne. Donc, si aujourd’hui on devrait voter des résolutions ou par exemple prendre des décisions qui allaient requérir un quorum, nous serions confrontés à des difficultés. Donc, ce problème mérite d’être résolu tant au niveau de la plénière qu’au niveau des Commissions.Autre chose, Monsieur le Président. Dans votre rapport, je demande une explication qui ne m’a pas semblé claire: s’agissant de l’observation des élections le Soudan je crois, en tout cas pour l’Ile Maurice, parce que cela me concerne, vous avez dit, peut-être que je n’ai pas très bien compris, qu’aucun député du PAP n’y était allé. Parce que moi, j’étais à l’Ile Maurice, nous étions 5 députés au total, mais sous le couvert de l’Union africaine. Et même, on nous avait permis au cours de la session de déposer un rapport, et ce rapport nous l’avons déposé entre vos mains. Je voudrais, donc, avoir des explications là-dessus, sur le traitement qu’il y a lieu de faire.Ensuite, Monsieur le Président, même dans le travail effectif du Parlement, nous nous trouvons confrontés à quelques difficultés, et la question que je pose est la suivante: est-ce que c’est le Secrétaire général du PAP qui doit donner un ordre du jour à chaque Commission? Il y a un problème à ce niveau.D’après notre Règlement intérieur, la Commission a des prérogatives qui lui sont fixées. L’autre jour, dans ma Commission des droits humains et justice, le Secrétaire général nous a présenté un ordre du jour qui n’avait rien à voir avec les compétences de notre Commission. On nous demandait, en outre, de parler du MAEP, donc nous n’avons discuté du MAEP que d’une manière indirecte. Alors que la Commission des droits humains et justice a d’autres prérogatives. Donc, moi je pense que, si c’est le Règlement intérieur qui l’impose, il faudra y réfléchir. Il faut donner à une Commission la possibilité de fixer son ordre du jour, en fonction de ses propres compétences.Je pense qu’en considérant, par exemple, la Commission qui est dirigée par notre sœur Agnès qui est d’ailleurs très compétente, nous avons beaucoup de matières à régler au sein de cette Commission, notamment en ce qui concerne les droits de l’homme dans certains pays. Donc, il n’appartient pas au Secrétaire général qui est administratif de régler cela, et généralement dans d’autres pays, nos Commissions ont compétence pour pouvoir se saisir de leurs matières. Parce que là c’est le texte même du PAP qui dit que chaque Commission permanente a tel ou tel pouvoir. A mon avis, je pense qu’il faut essayer d’harmoniser cela.Pour le reste vous avez raison, en ce qui concerne l’observation des élections. Quand nous allons aux élections, nous sommes moins considérés par rapport aux membres de l’Union africaine, par exemple. Nos pays nous font voyager en classe affaires et ils nous donnent un billet d’avion. Quand nous sommes sur place, nous ne recevons pas les perdiem, nous avons plutôt la moitié de ces perdiems. Or, le travail c’est nous qui le faisons.Le PAP est un organe qui doit être législatif, je pense qu’il doit se battre pour avoir les prérogatives pour désigner ses propres membres pour observer les élections. Ce n’est même pas d’ailleurs le rôle de l’exécutif d’observer les élections. Dans d’autres pays, c’est le législatif qui le fait, et ici dans le continent africain, au moins, il faut que ce soit nous qui représentons le législatif.Donc, je me demande comment c’est arrivé, mais en aucun cas, l’exécutif de l’Union africaine ne devrait se saisir des élections, c’est une compétence naturelle du Parlement panafricain. Je crois que pour le PAP, c’est une bataille à mener. Il faut qu’on se batte pour être indépendant et organiser nos propres élections.Je vous remercie, Madame la Présidente.AN HONORABLE MEMBER:With regards to rule 35(1) B2, dealing with cultural information and sedition or clarification, the President’s report on the last part of paragraph 12 indicated that no party member participated in the Joint Mission to Sudan. I participated in the Joint Mission to Sudan and I can recall at least one Member from Pan African Parliament, the lady from Malawi, Jennifer, she was also there. I thought that for purposes of the debate, this point ought to be corrected, so that it is taken on board during debates.OULÉMATOU HON. TAMBOURA ASCOFARE [MALI]:Je vous remercie, Madame la Présidente.Je voudrais tout d’abord déplorer le fait que nous n’avons pas pu avoir le rapport plus tôt, cela nous aurait permis peut-être de faire une meilleure contribution.Je voudrais, également, féliciter le Bureau du PAP pour tout ce qui a été entrepris durant l’intersession, on voit effectivement que le PAP est actuellement soumis à pas mal de difficultés, mais j’espère qu’avec la clairvoyance des membres du Bureau et avec les contributions de l’ensemble des députés, on arrivera certainement à bout de ces difficultés qui entravent le bon fonctionnement du Parlement panafricain.Je voudrais enfin souligner, comme mon collègue du Mali l’a dit tout à l’heure, que le Président du PAP était récemment au Mali, et cela n’est pas ressorti dans le rapport. Je ne sais pas si c’est un oubli, mais cela a été aussi un moment très fort qu’il fallait mentionner. La délégation a été reçue par le Président de la République du Mali, par le Président de l’Assemblée nationale du Mali, et des points très importants ont également été soulignés lors de cette visite.Voilà, je voudrais m’en arrêter là. Je vous remercie beaucoup.HON. MOHAMMED ALI ALMARDI [SUDAN]:بسم هللا الرحمن الرحيم.شكرا جزيال سيدتي الرئيسةنشيد بهذا التقرير الضافي الذي قدمه السيد/ رئيس البرلمان، ونحسب أن البرلمان قد وسع نشاطاته كثيرا وغطى كثيرا من المجاالت التي كان يتعين فعال أن يقوم بالعمل فيها، وأركز فقط على نقطة واحدة وهي أن لجان البرلمان هي الشرايين التي تحمل الدم إلى هذا الجسم الحديث الوالدة ونعتقد أن تنشيط عمل اللجان أمر ضروري وهام وبغيره سوف تتعطل أعمال البرلمان. فاذا كانت اللجان ال تستطيع القيام بمهامها بسبب قلة الموارد المالية أو قلة الموظفين أو عدم توفر الترجمة بالصورة المطلوبة أو كل األعمال اللوجستيه األخرى للجان، فال بد من أن نقرع جرس الخطر في هذا االمر. أعتقد إذا كانت الموارد المالية ليست كافية فبوسعنا نحن في البرلمان االفريقي أن نرفع توصية مسببة لالتحاد االفريقي ليناشد الدول ليس فقط أن تكتفي بدفع اشتراكاتها وإنما تقدم العون الالزم ونحن كممثلين لشعوب بالدنا سوف نبذل جهدنا كله مع حكوماتنا لكي تقدم الدعم حتى تستطيع هذه اللجان أن تقوم بعملها على الوجه المطلوب وشكرا جزيال.HON. MOISERAELE MASTER GOYA [BOTSWANA]:Thank you very much Madam President for giving me the floor to also say a few words in a bid to respond to His Excellency’s report.Madam President, I would like to commend and applaud His Excellency, our President for his report. His report is quite relevant and gives us a sense of what is obtaining, or, what has obtained at Pan African Parliament for the period May to September this year. But Madam President, I am of the unwavering opinion that the issues raised in His Excellency’s report are very important and they should be taken seriously. By this I mean that, we as Members of Parliament should have been given enough time. This report should have been presented to us and we should have been given enough time to digest the report, to research on issues contained therein, and to crosscheck facts and be able to debate this report from a wellinformed research viewpoint.I know that we as Members of Parliament, we are paid to talk, but some of us want to talk from well informed and researched view points. So, for the report to be presented to us this morning, and for us to be expected to debate it, I don’t think justice is being done to us Members of Parliament. And I will suggest that in future, when we come here, His Excellency’s report should form the basis of activities that take place on day one of the Plenary, and then the debate can follow on either the second day or the third day of the plenary.So, having said that Madam President, I would like to comment on Page 6, Paragraph 13, where His Excellency says and I quote ‘unfortunately it has been noted that the representation of PAP on these missions is very low’, that is pertaining to election observer missions.I wholly agree with His Excellency’s view point. Our representation as PAP on these missions has been very low. But His Excellency continues on to say in paragraph 15, that PAP appealed to the PRC and the Executive Council during the Kampala Summit. I would want to believe that this appeal was made by word of mouth, and if that is the case, then I will request that our Bureau here should actually formalize this appeal by way of writing to the African Union or to the PRC, so that they should also put in writing and respond to our appeal as Pan African Parliament. This is a very serious issue; it is a very fundamental issue Madam President that should be tackled with much vigour.With these few remarks Madam President, I thank you very much for giving me the floor. Thank you.HON. MAKGALEMELE DIKGANG PHILLIP [BOTSWANA]:I thank you, Madam President, and I also want to congratulate His Excellency, the President on the report that he presented before this Parliament and, just like hon. Goya and hon. Joseph, to express concern that it will help us if the President’s report is made available to us in advance to allow us to research and make more informed contributions. In the context of the Botswana Parliament, for example, after the State of the Nation Address by His Excellency has been presented, we are given two clear days to internalize the report and do further research.However, having said that, Mr. President, I want to appreciate the fact that the deadlock with ACBF was resolved. But I would have expected that we should be informed in more concrete terms to saywhen the statement reads, "...after this visit the misunderstandings were cleared", it has to be explicit as to whether we now have a formally strengthened relationship with ACBF. Maybe the President should touch on that in his response.I also appreciate, Madam President, that we attended the audit risk and governance conference, but I would also wish that maybe we be given some of the major issues and resolutions coming from this very important conference because it can only serve to strengthen the way we conduct our business within PAP.I also note, Madam President, that there is what I consider to be the missing links in the President’s report. I would have expected the President to apprise us on some of the resolutions from the last PAP sitting, especially with regards to the resolutions on peace initiatives that were supposed to be undertaken. If my memory serves me well, there was some resolution on one or two countries, where we said we were worried about the political situation in those countries, and we would want some more concrete actions taken in order to have those countries resolve those issues.I also note with appreciation the regional meetings that took place since I had the benefit to attend the one in Victoria Falls. However, I was also hoping that the Bureau could have made sure that by the time we come for this Parliament, they would have completed the meetings for all the five regions, so that the recommendations coming from all the five regions would form the basis of our discussions during this session.Going forward, Madam President, I have three proposals. One is with regards to the whole issue of resources within PAP. I think we need to find ways through which we can double our efforts, and I want to propose that as we look at our staffing within PAP, we should have a staff member designated for resource mobilization and, maybe that person can be supported by a special committee on resource mobilization. I still believe that there are quite substantial opportunities which we may not be currently tapping into as PAP, but if we have somebody who is specifically looking at resource mobilization, I think we should be able to have better results.I also want us to enhance our relationship with civil society, with NGOs because I still believe that some of our responsibilities, some of our mandate as PAP can actually be executed in partnership with civil society organizations.Finally, Madam President, I want to propose that there be a team building exercise that would ensure that the working relationship within the staff of PAP is actually enhanced. I am saying this, Madam President, because during the last session, when the issue of the appointment of the Clerk was discussed, there was clear indication that there were some mumblings and disagreements here and there, but I am not sure whether following that appointment and the subsequent starting of work by the Clerk and the Deputy, there has been any team building exercise meant to consolidate the working relationship within our team.Finally Madam President, before I sit down I would want to appreciate the support that South Africa has committed with regards to personnel, and I also wish to urge other countries to do likewise. I thank you, Madam President.HON. ELIZABETH K. CHITIKA- MOLOBEKA (MRS) [ZAMBIA]:Thank you Madam President, I would like to thank the President for the elaborate report just presented. I would like to briefly comment on just a few issues. I will start with the Parliamentary activity that is item number (b) in the President’s report.Madam President, the work of the permanent Committees is key to the efficient running of this Parliament. Committees play a very important oversight role and it is the work of the various committees that feed into the system of our Parliament or indeed any Parliament. Committees bring out problems, challenges, make recommendations and most of the time they come up with solutions. However, this is not what is happening right now.Madam President, when we come for Committee work, we travel all the way from our various countries, but we fail to make any tangible decisions because of lack of quorum. This is a very serious set-back as far as the smooth operation of this Parliament is concerned. I am happy to note that the President in his speech stated that this is as a result of some of the member countries who are no longer supporting or covering the costs of non statutory committee meetings. The fact that we know that this is one of the reasons, it is a strong point for this Parliament to lobby for the reinstatement of this provision in future budgets. You need as a bureau, Madam President, to engage all the stakeholders for them to see and appreciate the importance of Committee work. It will be very difficult madam President for this Parliament to transform into a legislative organ if its Committee work or Parliamentary activities are very weak.Madam President, coming to the issue of the consultative meetings that have been going on in the regions, I would like Madam President, to thank the bureau for this timely initiative. As Members of Parliament in the regions where these meetings have taken place, I can confirm that we are at another level in terms of knowledge gained and awareness. We have been conscientised, and our role is that we shall ensure that our governments ratify this important Charter. We will take seriously the resolutions from these meetings. As appointed champions, our role now is to ensure that all the stakeholders are engaged to ensure that before the end of the year, we shall have more countries, especially from Southern African region ratifying this Convention, so that it can come into effect. I thank you.HON. JUSTIN JOSEPH MARONA [SUDAN]:Thank you, Madame Chair. It is really an opportunity for me to be among our colleagues in this important organ, one of the organs of the AU. I really appreciate and congratulate the President of Pan-African Parliament on the eloquent report that he presented and underlined all the activities that took place during the period May to September 2010.Madame Chair, this Parliament is one of the organs that need to be enhanced and strengthened so that it can air the voice of the people of Africa. Therefore, when I underline some of the issues raised by the President with regard to the activities of the PAP, especially on financial issues, it is to give us a responsibility as Members of PAP to draw a very clear road map to how we can mobilize resources in order to strengthen our activities, and in order to put us in a very concrete position, as we are having aspiration of transforming this Parliament from an Advisory to a Legislative Body. That will require us also to have some of the decisive decisions that we can correct the Executive Body of AU.Therefore, I will support the idea that came from my colleague from Malawi, that we need to form a resources mobilization panel, and we need also to engage our Regional Assemblies or Parliaments in order to know the actual challenges that we are facing here at the PAP. Because some of the Regions will look at us and think that since we are big enough, we have the hands of having strategic partners and we are the third organ in the AU hierarchy, therefore, maybe we don’t have difficulties in such areas. This issue Madame Chair is very important and Mr. President has to take note of it. Without resources, our committees will not have the ability to move even to missions, even for some of the important issues that we can embark on as a voice of the people of Africa.Lastly, Madame Chair, I would like honestly to congratulate the people of the government of South Africa on hosting this important organ that represent the African voice, and also I would like to congratulate our President who really appeared in his report that he will tirelessly work in order to promote this institution with all the barriers in regard to the meetings and activities that they have attended inside and outside the continent. Madame Chair, these are the few words that I will add my voice to our colleagues. Thank you very much for giving me the opportunity.HON. MOHSNI TAÏEB [TUNISIA]:Je vous remercie, Madame la Présidente. Je ne parlerai pas de choses positives, car cela va de soi que le Bureau, et à sa tête le Président, est là pour les réaliser. Mais, je suis déçu par certains points.1.L’absence de beaucoup de nos collègues qui, pour des raisons d’économie, leurs parlements nationaux n’ont pas jugé utile de les envoyer. Il ne faudrait pas que les réunions du PAP se limitent aux députés venant de pays aisés ou à une majorité de députés provenant d’une sous-région proche géographiquement du lieu où se situe le siège du PAP.2.Je pense que nous méritons une information sur la non venue du Président ZUMA.3.Pour le recrutement du personnel, je remercie le Parlement de l’Afrique du Sud et l’Union européenne. Mais, je voudrais souligner que le PAP doit être libre et totalement libre de recruter du personnel, en veillant à ce qu’il y ait plus de justice entre les sous-régions.4.Il faudrait revoir la possibilité de réduire la durée de la tenue des sessions, car deux semaines sont trop, surtout qu’il faut ajouter, pour certains d’entre nous, trois à quatre jours de voyage. Nous pourrions travailler plus durant une semaine.5.Je suggère l’introduction, au sein de nos travaux, d’une méthode de vote, loin des tapages sur les tables, qui ne donnent aucune indication sur le nombre de voix.6.Enfin, je suis aussi déçu par la nonapprobation de la Charte africaine sur la démocratie, les élections et la bonne gouvernance par certains Etats membres, ce qui me rend pessimiste quant à la transformation du PAP d’un organe consultatif à un organe législatif.Je vous remercie, Madame la Présidente.HON. KANTENGWA JULIANA [RWANDA]:Thank you Madame President for giving me the floor.Madame President, allow me to congratulate you and your Bureau on the good reports, a good range of activities well covered and the manner through which you carried us through the different activities that enabled us to understand and fully appreciate what has been covered since May.Personally, I felt as if I was part and parcel of what was happening because much as I was back home, it has really brought me to understand what has been going on and allow me to say thank you.Madame President, I also note with a strong sense of appreciation and admiration at the efforts you are putting, trying to push our institution to the required heights, and the type of heights that it deserves. Congratulations to you.And also I wish to thank and appreciate the South African Government for the huge effort it is putting in, in its presence and involvement with the Pan-African Parliament, starting from what we have observed, presence of its Ministers, they are continuing hosting us, it really makes us feel home and appreciated being in South Africa. We wish to thank them and tell them to continue, to keep it up, it is good; we feel we are at home.Having said that Madame President, I wish to come back to your report, particularly paragraph 6, 13 and 15, they remind me, for those of us who are familiar with the Bible, a Chapter called Lamentations. I call it Lamentations because it seems the Bureau is trying to do all its best, but I am not sure if the status of PAP is being taken seriously or if it is well understood within the institutional architecture of the AU organs. We need to reassert the status of PAP and its membership.When I come here, rather when I am back home in Rwanda, I feel I am a very important woman. But when I am being sent on a fact finding mission with the AU staff, with the Ambassadors who don’t come to talk to me, when I need them, I call the Foreign Affairs Minister, but here the Ambassadors are giving us instructions. And paragraph 15, PAP appeals to the PRC and the Executive Council, so as to enable the PanAfrican Parliament to contribute effectively to democratic governance in Africa as was the case in the past. This is a Lamentation. How strong can we do it Madame President for them to understand that we have an important role to play on the African Continent and that they have no right taking it from us? It is good to negotiate, it is a good quality, we need to make these appeals but I think we need to say it louder and in a more forceful manner. And they don’t have a right to take away our constitutional rights. Why should an Ambassador simply because he is seated at the AU feel more important than a whole Pan-African Parliamentarian? Parliaments are usually the beacon of hope in any country. So do we reflect that when we are being considered and pushed to the rear, like my colleague from Zambia was lamenting when he went to Addis Ababa, he couldn’t even get the audience he needed among the NGO’s.So we need to reassert Madame President the status of the Members of the Pan-African Parliament, whatever it needs and whatever it takes, we want to assure you that we are behind you onward match on and we will reassert ourselves. The process of PAP being granted legislative powers is on and you seem to be taking on the process by taking on the bull by the horns but the review process I am worried, if it is carried out with this kind of where we do not know where our status is within the architecture of the African Union, we might be granted legislative powers whereby we actually do not have powers. What would be the point of legislating, if we are going to be instructed fully on what we are going to legislate upon? If we agree and it is within the framework, within the protocols, I understand, but if behind people can come and instruct us, it doesn’t sound good.Madame President, so without taking a lot of time on what has been said by my colleagues, if we are to be what we are required to be, I think we need to assert ourselves much more than we are doing. And I once again want to congratulate you and encourage the Bureau that you continue on the track, but that we need to be more involved in a transparent manner with the AU when it comes to the inputs of PAP into the review of the protocol because we need to be given the place that we deserve. I thank you Madame President.HON. DERY AMBROSE [GHANA]:Thank you Madame President. Madame President, let me start by commending the President for a very good report, I am not given to flattery but I think that the President and his Bureau are doing very well as reflected in this.But because we have a limited time, let me go straight to page five of the report on Election Observer Missions.Madame President, item twelve, it says about the decisions of the AU 534 (XVI), taken February, 2010, by EC, Sixteenth Ordinary Session in which they are imposing a joint mission with AU organs. The President has already dealt with administrative issues and all I can say is, I agree with him. But there is a more fundamental issue; the vision of the AU is to involve African peoples and grassroots in decision making. A number of declarations have made to this effect including the African Charter for Popular Participation in Development adopted in Addis Abba, Ethiopia in July, 1990 which emphasized the need to involve the African people and the grassroots. And I say without contradiction, that PAP is the closest organ of the AU to reflect that diversity of opinion at the grassroots.Protocol, Article 4(3) on the composition of PAP states as follows, "the representation of every member state must reflect the diversity of political opinions in each National Assembly or deliberative organ".So, in this House, we have diverse views reflecting our grassroots. Contrast that with the situation of Article 6 of the Constitutive Act on The Assembly, the President or Heads of Government and their representatives, no diversity of opinion. Article 6 of Protocol enhances this diversity by saying, "the African Parliamentarians shall vote in his personal and independent capacity".Madame President, therefore, we represent the grassroots, we are at the continental level the bastion of popular participation. Yes, when we become elected by universal adult suffrage that would be perfect. But for now, when the decision says we should be part of the AU, joint mission, we lose that diversity. The AU is a supreme organ and AU member would be the leader, by that decision it said that the decisions, the final report must go the AU for some approval before it comes to us. Therefore, our participation is cosmetic, it is seriously cosmetic.Madame President, we are moving towards the African Charter on Democracy, Election and Good Governance. If you look at the preamble at the first stanza, one of the things talked there is popular participation. We don’t have popular participation, where at the continental level the Executive has to swallow the Legislature, we don’t have it. We are working against separation of powers at continental level which is not good governance.So, Madame President, what we need to point out, apart from the statement made by the President, is for this House to move and send resolutions backing the President. First, the fundamental incompatibility of this issue of a joint mission which is against the vision of popular participation. And secondly, that we must be given a chance to debate it, because when we go as a team, we bring our report to the Pan-African Parliament. Pan-African Parliament then debates it including Members of the States that they have gone to observe. Now, with the AU, where do we stand? It is in a sense, an unconstitutional usurpation of the role of PAP at the continental level which must be resisted. We have one step forward two step backwards in the achievement of the vision of the African Union and we need to point to the Assembly that probably is not conscious of the issue but is a dangerous trend and we must say no to that. (Applause)Furthermore, Madame President, we as MPs have a certain protocol in our countries, we come after the Executive, Ambassadors come after the MPs, but here we are, we have a Commission made up of Ambassadors who in my country come on the protocol list, at number nine and they decide for me, what I should do. Yes, if we are poor, we are poor, but we must have principles. Let us let the AU knows that we are prepared to go out and raise funds. Let the NGOs know what we are doing, we want to play our role as the advocate of democracy and popular representation at the continental level. We have no compromise in this matter. (Applause)Madame President, let me say, that clearly you can see the administrative complications, here we are, we did not even know that, Honorable Adjaho had gone for the Sudan observation, also to whom has gone for Mauritius, that is what is happen to us. We should know that the Executive has the tendency to want to push the frontiers of its powers. Ours is to check it, we should check it. Let’s send the resolution there and let them refuse so that we see that there are the people who are working against the popular participation. We cannot compromise the interest of the people who have sent us here. Otherwise we have no need to come here at all.Madame President, in doing so, let look the EAC law that the countries must finance Parliamentarians to come here because they don’t want the Legislative to do their work of oversight, they don’t want to be checked and if you are going to have this Charter which is a blue print, Charter on Democracy, Election and Good Governance, we should go beyond our service, and beyond our service should accord PAP its rightfully place as the most popular representative organ, we should not say because budget is under them they should bully us, no, let us stand up, we are the products of the African Union; the founding fathers, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, Julius Nyerere and the rest of them. We are in South Africa where Nelson Mandela stands and gives his life for it; we should not shy away, just because of fear or love for certain things.Thank you Madame President.HON. SUAD EL FATEH EL BADAOUI (MS) [SUDAN]:Thank you very much Madam President. I also want to express my appreciation for the activities of Pan African Parliament and its President. Let me just react to a very sad situation, which PAP is now in that drove our last speaker to what he said about the service of the Members of Pan African Parliament. I think this is not the way to carry out this work and to solve our problems.If we look back, people have been saying this for the last five years, but nothing has been done about it, why? Because PAP is not doing the work that it should be doing through its Committees. The Committees are the most important organs of PAP, but because there is no funding, there is no proper work. We have got very, very, very weak Committees. Very little has been done since we started this work of PAP.I think it is not going to do us any good to lament about our position, complaining that people are looking down upon us and that we should have this and this and this; and that Ambassadors are above us in the protocol of the AU. It will not take us anywhere. I think the proper thing to do is not to ask African Union (AU) to give us the funds to enrich our budget; this is not the way. I think if we are serious about this, we should find our own funds through our own fund-raising. This was a proposal given three years ago and nothing has been done about it, and whatever was done was connected to previous corruption in this PAP, I am sorry to say this. So, I think now is the time to start this very serious job of finding our own funds. If we have funds, if we have the power of money, if we have the power to fund our Committees, then AU will respect us. They will respect us if we care about our grassroots, their education and their health. This is not going to be done by words or by anger; it is going to be done by funding programmes and implementing them. So, please let us stop this and start working. I want to say to the leaders of AU that we are able in PAP, and we are capable of doing this ourselves.It could be done; there is a lot of funding around the world waiting for us. Give them our programs and they will give us funds. I believe that this is the right way, and my proposal is that we should start fund raising for PAP. We cannot force governments to give us funds because they have a handful of problems. They are doing what they can and you cannot go on and on begging them to give you more. By having our fund raising activities, we will convince people at the grassroots that we are doing something for them. The grassroots want food, medical care, healthy water and houses. They do not want to hear speeches. They do not want to hear words, they need services. I expect that PAP should decide here and now to come up with its fund, and plan in a way that is going to be workable and successful. In this way, we will have the power of funding, and AU will respect us whether they like it or not, because we will have the power to run this Parliament and even run some of their work at the AU. Thank you very much.HON. INZOUNGOU-MASSANGA ZELY PIERRE [CONGO]:Je vous remercie, Madame la Présidente.Je voudrais, Madame la Présidente, féliciter très chaleureusement le Bureau du PAP, pour la qualité du rapport clair, concis et complet que le Président vient de présenter, parce que ce rapport ramasse toutes les activités menées par le Bureau en cette période d’intersession et ces activités ont porté fondamentalement sur les domaines de compétence du Parlement.Je félicite, particulièrement, Monsieur le Président, pour le respect des engagements qu’il avait pris au lendemain de son élection. Vous vous souviendrez, chers collègues, que le Président avait présenté un programme au moment de son élection. Et, je suis heureux de constater que, à mi-parcours, il tient fermement à la mise en œuvre de ce programme que nous avons tous salué, dans cette salle.Dans cette optique, je voudrais demander au Bureau de faire un effort supplémentaire dans le fonctionnement de l’administration du Parlement, parce qu’il y a encore beaucoup de choses à faire de ce côté-là.Je vais encore féliciter le Bureau pour avoir réussi à assainir le climat dans les relations entre le Parlement et les autres organes de l’Union africaine. Bien sûr, il reste bien des choses à faire, mais déjà, à ce niveau, on peut dire que beaucoup de choses ont été faites et la visibilité du PAP est plus ou moins grande.Monsieur le Président, vous avez eu une activité très intense durant cette période d’intersession, vous êtes allé jusqu’à rencontrer beaucoup de chefs d’Etats, je vous exhorte à poursuivre dans ce sens, parce que vous avez, ensemble, avec le Parlement, un grand plaidoyer à mener dans le cadre de la révision du Protocole.Pour ce qui est du recrutement du personnel tel qu’énoncé dans le rapport, Monsieur le Président, vous devez être vigilantle Bureau j’entendspour que le Parlement reste libre dans ses choix et ne pas faire qu’il y ait une surreprésentation d’une région au sein de l’administration du Parlement. Il faut tenir compte de toutes les régions et je suis convaincu que, dans toutes les régions, on peut trouver des compétences.Monsieur le Président, dans l’énumération des activités que vous avez menées, je n’ai pas cru entendre la participation du 1er Viceprésident, certainement que j’ai été un peu distrait, mais il m’a semblé que le 1er Vice-président n’a pas beaucoup participé à ces activités. Qu’est-ce qu’il en a été? Est-ce qu’il n’était pas disponible? Serait-il malade ou alors, est-ce moi qui ai mal entendu? Je voudrais bien que quelques explications me soient données à ce niveau.Pour ce qui est des élections, Monsieur le Président, je vous félicite pour avoir pris l’initiative d’inscrire ce point à l’ordre du jour, parce qu’il y aura un débat sur la participation des parlementaires aux missions d’observation des élections. Il y a de nombreuses choses qu’il faut dire là-dessus, mes collègues ont d’ailleurs déjà commencé à le dire, et je crois que le moment venu, un débat doit être organisé, parce que cela ne se passe certainement pas comme le Parlement panafricain l’aurait souhaité.Voilà les quelques contributions que je voulais apporter pour apprécier ce rapport qui, une fois de plus, est bon, Madame la Présidente.Je vous remercie.HON. NJUBA SAMUEL KALEGA [UGANDA]:Thank you Madam President. Well, I would like to join the Members of this House who have expressed appreciation of the report to the Chairman, through him to the President, and through him to the Bureau.I have two points to make. One is with regard to the first Parliamentary conference between Russia and Africa in Moscow. I happened to be there in my other capacity as Member of Parliament from Uganda. I represented the Speaker of Uganda.I think it was a very good conference and it was a good opportunity for the promotion of image of African states, especially in the area of commerce. More contacts were made by Members. I think this should continue even in future because it will help us in Africa and those in Russia to know each other better.The second point is with regard to observation missions. I happened to have gone to observe elections in Guinea Conakry, the first attempt. (Laughter) Madam President, in the report, the President has expressed concern at the low participation of Members to these missions. I have observed and I am concerned that the cause of these delays or low participation is the late information we get; and two, the poor facilitation given to Members. First, in my case, I had only one day’s notice and then I was told it had been send to me through the internet. I checked on my computer, on the internet and I did not find anything. I tried to call back and could not get anything from here or from Addis Ababa. So, I took a risk, I had to buy my own ticket, in fact I was told I can buy my own ticket. I had to buy my own ticket to go to Conakry and it was a risky business as you know.Secondly, the ticket given, which was the economy class; you see, that’s what we can use. But at our age to sit for 8 to 10 hours on the plane from Uganda via Nairobi to Conakry is not an easy task, it is not attractive. So this will discourage people. When you get there you are uncertain, nobody gives you information.So, I propose that in future, and we are going again I am told, we should have communication sent from one point here because I don’t know anybody in the AU who can respond quickly. But if we are sending it here from Protocol to our office, we would get the necessary assistance. So, if we want people to participate fully, we must consider both the question of travel, facilitation and the speed, the future planning so that you don’t just land an invitation in two days and you are supposed to be there. I had an invitation to go to Mauritius and the invitation arrived two days after the date of the observation. So, I am pleading with you Mr. President that in future we should get the information well in advance. We are busy people and we need to plan before we travel. We would like to serve, it is our duty, but to do it, we must have proper facilitation and information in time.Lastly, of course I would like to thank all Members who attended the AU, who came to Uganda during the very difficult time we had, and as one honorable person has indicated, we hope you will come when the atmosphere is better. Thank you very much.HON. MATLALI NTEBALENG MAVIS [SOUTH AFRICA]:Thank you Honorable Deputy President. I would like to echo the very same sentiments made by my colleagues in congratulating the Honorable President and his Bureau, for the brilliant report presented which is very much informative. Nevertheless, I have got some points to raise that are challenges to PAP.The first matter is indicated on page five in which the President was reminding Members of the fact that the budget for the Non-statutory Committee activities at PAP was removed by AU which is the root cause of the House not making its full compliment in its seatings as well as Committees that are supposed to be fruitful and effective in deliberating upon their duties especially of countries that do have limited resources to cover the costs of their Members while attending at PAP. What we would like to find out is, since a budget is a process, what is PAP doing in preparation of the budget for 2011 that would make this item of the budget for Non-statutory Committee activities to come back into the budget of PAP as well as to find out if sponsorship has been looked for to maybe add up on the limited meager resources that we have been provided for by the AU?Another point which is really alarming, is the one that is presented on page eighty, the ones that says that, there are very critical posts at PAP that were never filled ever since its establishment and one really says it has taken rather too long. And in this matter, we congratulate the Government of South Africa, my country, for having helped by presenting the financial resource that would aid PAP to put these critical posts into action and fill them up and they are not to be vacant anymore. And we are looking forward to the hasty action in advertising as well as the interviews of these positions.I have got a third matter here to present, being the matter on the activities of PAP and I would like to say we are fully aware of the problem that PAP might be finding in putting all women at PAP together so that they can also have their Committees sitting as other Committees of the House. Nevertheless it has been a concern to notice that the program of this session does not have Women Caucus Committee Meetings except only the conference on the 8th and 9th and we are appealing to PAP that it should as well be scheduled not only on request but as other Committees so that we would be able to do the business of women. And we are also requesting that it should not be put towards the end of the session when everybody is tired and people are looking forward to rushing back home. It must be provided time in order that it does its work fruitfully.My last point, Honorable Chairperson, is the point of AU staff getting rates higher than the rates of the Honorable Members. This is highly absurd and I would like to add to the voice of other Honorable Members that AU be presented a letter of concern that the matter be straightened out. I thank you.HON. ADJAHO EDWARD KORBLY DOE [GHANA]:Thank you very much Madam President. Madam President, I add my voice today in commending the President for a very good report, which he has presented to this Honourable House. I can only wish him and his team God’s guidance as they steer the affairs of PAP. By submitting his report, he has submitted himself to the criticism of this noble house, and I think that it is a step that must be encouraged.Having said that, I keep on saying, since I entered this House about 5 years ago, one major default that I have noticed and which I attempted to correct, was the timing of the report and the debate. What I did was to submit a memo to PAP so that they look at the international best practices. And this point has been raised by those before me; you didn’t present the report earlier, and as such, we see the report the same day and we are debating it almost a few seconds after seeing the report. We cannot continue as PAP in this direction. We are not the executive; the executive takes a long process. They have their technical people, they have their people supporting them, briefing them, but we are here to talk. We get the report, and before we do research we debate it. So, invariably, the quality of our contributions on the floor is affected by when the report is made available to Honourable Members. Indeed, that is why in certain jurisdictions, the practice is that you have to lay the paper first, and after certain days before the substantive debate takes place. Members study the report and do a constructive debate on the report. I think that this is the time PAP should refer this matter to the appropriate Permanent Committee of the House to look at international best practices. This is not only with regards to the President’s report. Year in, year out, we come to this floor and we complain as to why reports are made available to us rather late. And I think that as we progress, we need to inject more transparency into the administration of PAP. That time has come for us also to open up and look at international best practices with regards to some of these. (Applause)Whatever we do today, future generations are going to look at our contributions, they are going to look at the reports that we presented. If I were not here or my sister from Malawi was not here, it would have gone into a permanent record that there was no PAP Member in Sudan or in Mauritius, and this would have been there as a permanent record. And that quickly brings me to the level of coordination between the AU Commission and PAP.When I took my flight from Ghana through Addis Ababa to Khartoum, I knew that I was representing PAP. Now, my President and the Bureau of PAP were not aware that I was in their service. What if something happened to me there? (Laughter) I have just decided that unless I get communication from PAP, I am not going to any observer mission. I will not honour any invitation from the AU Commission if I have not got any confirmation from the PAP Bureau.With regard to the economy ticket, Honourable Members should be assured; my team in Khartoum included two PRC Members and for records purposes I will mention them. The Ambassador from Sierra-leone and from South Africa, they were part of my team in Khartoum and they were also given economy ticket. They were also complaining. They were also asked to take the medicine that we were being given and they found the medicine too bitter. (Laughter) They gave me the assurance that the next PRC meeting, they will make sure that the rules are changed. (Laughter) So, this is the real situation, and as we criticize the PRC, we should also know that at times they are in the same position as we find ourselves.Madam President, we need to further engage the AUC, the African Union Commission with regard to these observer missions. Because the observer missions are only there on the day the people are voting. We should go beyond, because there is what we call the pre-election mission and PAP has never done that. The Pre-election Mission means you go to the ground and assess the situation to see whether the conditions are conducive for a free and fair election. It is when they clear the ground that the election can take place before the real election observer missions actually take place. All these years PAP has been left out with regards to that. So, if we really want to be a proper observer mission, it is important that this House takes part in the pre-election mission to make sure that the ground is good, is fertile for a free and fair election before we even go for the observer mission. They should go there, assess the situation and say it is okay, now you can go. So far we have not developed that capacity with regard to pre-elections. I know Members in this House are capable of doing that.So, I think that if we should be able to engage the AUC, or the impression that I am getting, at least from the PRC is that there are more than prepared to deal with the current Bureau than the previous one. The first time we tried to take a certain position I guess, it didn’t work. Now, we want to behave as people who want to corporate and we are having problems with resources. There is something wrong somewhere? Whichever way, we lose.We need to engage more of the MPs of PAP to talk to our Foreign Ministers, to talk to our Presidents, to talk to our Ambassadors on issues of concern. I know a lot of people in this house have influence over their respective governments; even before we go to the AUC, and I believe that they will know where we are coming from. Madam President, I thank you for the opportunity.HON. KEBZABO SALEH [TCHAD]:Je vous remercie de me donner la parole, Madame la Présidente.Je voudrais joindre ma voix à celle de mes collègues qui m’ont précédé, pour féliciter le Président, et à travers lui le Bureau, pour le travail qui a été accompli et dont le rapport nous a été soumis ce matin.Je voudrais aussi, comme l’ont fait certains collègues, souligner que le débat que nous avons aujourd’hui est celui du fonctionnement du Bureau, pratiquement à mi-chemin de son mandat. C’est, donc, un bilan partiel qu’on devrait avoir aujourd’hui et les débats devraient donc porter sur les activités que le Bureau a menées depuis sa mise en place, il y a un an et demi.Nous savons tous dans quel contexte le Bureau a été mis en place. A l’époque, avec la chaleur des élections, il convient de rappeler que le contexte le plus important qui a été évoqué, c’est celui des mauvaises relations entre le Bureau du PAP sortant, et la Commission de l’Union africaine à Addis-Abeba.Ces questions nous ont été exposées en détail, et on nous a dit que, si blocage il y avait entre Addis- Abeba et Midrand, c’est à cause du Bureau et donc, le Bureau a été renouvelé. Aujourd’hui, nous pouvons nous poser la question de savoir, Madame la Présidente, quelles sont les améliorations qui sont apportées entre Midrand et Addis-Abeba. Est-ce que tous les blocages que nous avions connus à l’époque ont été levés, et lesquels ont été levés? Nous constatons pour ce qui nous concerne, en tant que parlementaires, que certaines questions sont restées toujours en suspens. L’organigramme qui devait débloquer la question de recrutement du personnel est toujours en examen à Addis-Abeba, et donc le problème de recrutement subséquent reste toujours en cause, ce qui est dommageable au bon fonctionnement de nos activités. Je ne laisse pas de côté l’importante question des finances, notre budget qui a été pratiquement coupé en deux l’est toujours, et nous espérons qu’à partir de l’année prochaine, nous allons avoir un financement conséquent pour que les activités du PAP soient menées à bon niveau.Voilà toutes ces questions, et bien d’autres, Madame la Présidente, qui nous amènent à nous poser la question de savoir si réellement ces relations sont améliorées, et le Président est bien placé pour nous dire comment elles se sont améliorées.En ce qui concerne le fonctionnement administratif et financier, là aussi nous avons l’impression qu’il n’y a pas, à véritablement parler, de progrès. Vous avez entendu depuis ce matin, beaucoup de critiques qui ont fusé par rapport, soit à la distribution tardive des documents, au manque de traduction, et nous avons depuis plusieurs jours que nous sommes maintenant ici, constaté qu’il y a un certain flottement au niveau de l’administration, mais nous ne savons pas si cela est dû au fait que le secrétariat est mis en place depuis pas très longtemps, ou s’il s’agit de nouvelles méthodes de travail auxquelles nous ne comprenons pas grandchose. Mais, toujours est-il que nous avons vraiment l’impression qu’il y a plus qu’un flottement. Il y a, du point de vue du rendement du travail de l’administration, j’allais dire, une légère régression, et cela n’est pas bon pour notre travail, ni pour l’image du PAP et pour tout ce que nous sommes en train de faire. Je ne vais pas là- dessus entrer dans des détails que d’autres camarades ont déjà évoqués. Mais, si vous prenez, ne serait-ce que l’envoi du courrier, pour venir à cette session, là déjà il y a problème. Donc, il faut déjà qu’on fasse des efforts pour améliorer cela.Je vais évoquer en troisième lieu et en dernier, le problème de la visibilité du PAP qui a toujours été en question. Nous avons toujours insisté sur le fait qu’il n’y a pas de visibilité sur les activités du PAP, et on se demande un peu partout en Afrique à quoi sert réellement le PAP. Et s’il n’y a pas de réponse à cette question, c’est parce que les services de communication du PAP ne sont pas très compétents à mon avis. Ce matin, un interprète que je ne connais pas m’a interpellé pour me dire que depuis le début, les activités que nous menons ici ne sont même pas passées à la télévision nationale sud-africaine, même pas la séance d’ouverture. Je n’ai pas suivi la télé, et donc je ne sais pas si cette information est vraie.Même si ce n’était pas tout à fait le cas, cela voudrait quand même refléter une réalité, à savoir que la communication sur les activités du PAP ne fonctionnent pas, et cela n’est pas normal, parce que les Africains ont l’impression que nous venons ici pour ne rien faire, et c’est pour cela qu’il faudrait peut-être rappeler ce que nous avions dit auparavant par rapport à la communication du PAP.Il faut absolument que les services de la communication soient en rapport constant avec leurs collègues des médias, parce que nous sommes dans un monde où, lorsque la communication est déficitaire, vous êtes relégué pratiquement au dernier rang. Il y a donc lieu, je crois, de sortir quotidiennement des communiqués de presse, pour rendre compte de nos activités, et ces communiqués ne doivent pas être destinés seulement à la presse sud-africaine, mais à l’ensemble de la presse africaine. Il faut que tous les pays membres du PAP soient régulièrement ou quotidiennement informés de nos activités, et c’est de cette façon que nous allons améliorer l’image de notre organisation auprès de nos Gouvernements et auprès de nos opinions publiques.Je vous remercie beaucoup, Madame la Présidente.HON. HASSABO MOHAMMED ABDUL RAHMAN [SUDAN]:السادة النواب، نواب الرئيس، السادة األعضاء الكرام اسمحوا لي جميعا بأن أعبر بأنني فخور وسعيد أن أكون عضوا في البرلمان اإلفريقي في هذه المرحلة التاريخية الهامة التي تشهدها قارتنا إفريقيا، كما اسمحوا لي أن أشيد بتقرير السيد/الرئيس والذي فهمت بأن هذا التقرير من مايو حتى سبتمبر ،وكذلك نثمن عاليا المجهودات التي بذلها الرئيس، رغم الظروف والعقبات، والسادة معاونيه ومن األمانة العامة ونواب الرئيس واللجان في هذا النشاط، كما اسمحوا لي أن أشيد بطريقة الشفافية {Transparency} التى عرض بها الرئيس التقرير، حتى نتحمل معه نحن األعضاء المسئولية فنقترح بأننا كلنا نتحمل المسئولية في دولنا األعضاء وفي برلماناتنا وكلنا نحرك حملة لدعم البرلمان وال نترك المسئولية للرئيس أو النائب أو األمين العام فوحدهم ال يكفي. أيضأ اسمحوا لي أن أشيد بفكرة إرسال البرلمان اإلفريقي لبعثات مراقبة االنتخابات ألن االنتخابات هي مرحلة هامة جدا في الديمقراطية، وعليه أشيد باإلخوة من أعضاء البرلمان الذين شاركوا في انتخابات السودان، ولكن يبدو أن هناك خطأ مطبعي بأنهم لم يشاركوا في السودان، بل هم شاركوا في السودان، وأنا قابلتهم. وهذه االنتخابات في السودان كانت انتخابات هامة جدا في مرحلة تاريخية هامة من عمر السودان وكانت تشهد مرحلة التحول من الحرب الطويلة إلى مرحلة االستقرار والسالم والديمقراطية. اسمحوا لي يا سيادة الرئيس أن أشيد أيضأ، بالدعم الكبير الذي قدمه االتحاد االفريقي للسودان، من قمة االتحاد في سرت وفي كمباال وفي قمم االتحاد االفريقي ونشيد أيضأ بالدول االعضاء التي أرسلت قوات ودعم لبعثة دعم السالم في دارفور {UNMID} وكان لها أثرا كبيرا في استيعاب قضية دارفور ألنها قضية إفريقية داخلية ، وفي استيعاب العادات والتقاليد لجذور المشكلة، ونحن نثمن عاليا إرسال بعثات إفريقية لدول إفريقية ألنهم من إفريقيا يعرفون تفاصيل إفريقيا ومشاكل إفريقيا أفضل بكثير من البعثات الغربية، التي ال تفهم ثقافاتنا وال عاداتنا وال تقاليدنا. كما نشيد باللجنة العليا، لجنة الحكماء، برئاسة الرئيس امبيكي الرئيس السابق لجنوب إفريقيا التي قدمت تقريرا ممتازا ساعد السودان في رسم خريطة الحل السياسي في السودان. وهذه اللجنة برئاسة الرئيس امبيكي تلعب دورا هاما اآلن في السودان، خاصة في سالم دارفور الذي أصبح قريبا وكذلك في سالم الجنوب كما نؤكد للسيد/ الرئيس بأننا سنبذل قصارى جهدنا في دعم االتحاد البرلماني االفريقي حتى يصبح أداة تشريعية قوية محترمة، وعليه أكرر اقتراحي بأننا كلنا نتحمل المسئولية وأن نعمل {lobby} حملة. كما أقترح بتعزيز تطوير العالقات مع البرلمانات الدولية واالقليمية وشبه االقليمية وتبادل التجارب خاصة أن البرلمان االفريقي ينتقل إلى مرحلة التشريع، فنحتاج إلى الدروس والعبر من البرلمانات األخرى، كما أنتهز هذه الفرصة ألدعو السيد/ رئيس البرلمان والسادة النواب ورؤساء اللجان والسادة األعضاء لزيارة السودان في يناير القادم، ألن السودان يشهد مرحلة هامة جدا وهي مرحلة االستفتاء {The Referendum} بين الشمال والجنوب ونود للبرلمان االفريقي أن يكون شاهدا وأن يكون مراقبا وأقترح أن تكون هناك بعثة باسم البرلمان االفريقي، وليست طرفا في االتحاد أي أن تكون بعثة مباشرة، ولهذا أكرر دعوتي للسيد/ الرئيس والسادة نواب الرئيس والسادة رؤساء اللجان والسادة األعضاء لزيارة السودان، في هذه المرحلة، وأنا أشكر لهذه الفرصة وشكرا جزيال والشكر لهذا التقرير وأتمنى أن يكون التقرير لفترة أوسع حتى نطلع عليه حتى نستطيع أن نؤدي دورنا فيه وشكرا جزيال.HON. COULIBALY KADIDIATOU SAMAKE [MALI]:Je vous remercie, Madame la Présidente. Je voudrais, à mon tour, me joindre aux collègues, pour féliciter le Bureau du rapport succinct qui nous a été présenté et surtout de la franchise avec laquelle l’exposé a été fait.Madame la Présidente, j’ai l’impression que le Parlement est en train d’avancer en reculant: un pas en avant, un pas en arrière. Pour preuve, la mission d’observation me semblait être un acquis, parce qu’on a eu à faire des missions d’observation ici même au sein du Parlement.Quant aux finances, même si on avait des problèmes, on arrivait à faire les travaux en commission. Il me semble que les finances sont encore plus faibles qu’avant.La gestion administrative, que nous avons décriée ici, est encore à l’ordre du jour. C’est pour cela que je dis que nous faisons un pas en avant et un pas en arrière.Monsieur le Président, je voudrais insister sur le rapport ente le PAP, les chefs d’Etat et les présidents des Assemblées nationales. Tout à l’heure, ma collègue a parlé de l’échange que vous avez eu au Mali avec le Président de la République et le Président de l’Assemblée nationale. Cette visite a été importante pour vous et, je pense, pour nous aussi. C’est pourquoi nous insistons. Vous avez apporté les témoignages de notre participation au sein de ce Parlement et la contribution que nous pouvons amener. Cela a été très important pour nous.C’est difficile - cela a été dit - pour les parlements d’envoyer leurs parlementaires ici au sein de l’Assemblée pour nos travaux. Il faut un plaidoyer fort, un lobbying fort pour que vraiment nos travaux puissent continuer.Le rapport qui a été présenté ce matin a montré beaucoup de difficultés. C’est pourquoi, il est important que ces plaidoyers puissent se faire. Non seulement à notre niveau, chaque parlementaire doit travailler dans ce sens mais, vous, Monsieur le Président, et le Bureau, vous avez aussi un lobbying fort à faire. Moi, je vous encourage à poursuivre le genre de rencontres que vous avez eues à faire au Mali, dans les autres pays. Je sais que les finances ne le permettent pas, mais à chaque fois qu’il y a une occasion, il faut que vous essayiez d’approcher le Président. C’est beaucoup plus intéressant quand vous parlez de vive voix à un chef d’Etat dans son pays que lors d’un forum.Aussi, les rencontres avec les Présidents d’Assemblées sont importantes. C’est dommage que l’ouverture de nos sessions coïncide avec l’ouverture des sessions de la plupart des Assemblées. Aussi, les Présidents des Assemblées ne peuvent pas à venir. Notre Président aurait bien voulu être là, mais notre ouverture, c’était le lundi où on était ici, et je crois que c’est la même chose dans la plupart des pays sahéliens, parce que nous avons le même code que la France, et leur session s’ouvre en octobre.Donc, je souhaite qu’on puisse voir comment on peut intéresser les présidents d’Assemblées à nos activités. C’est déjà bien de les inviter aux sessions, mais je crois qu’il faut faire encore plus.J’ai une idée, mais je ne sais pas si on peut prendre cette décision. Toutefois, je souhaite qu’on en parle. J’aurais souhaité qu’il y ait un roulement de sessions dans nos différents pays, comme cela se fait à l’Union Inter-Parlementaire. Certainement, dans nos textes, il est prévu que toutes les sessions se fassent ici. Il y a une question de commodité, aussi. Mais, je crois que ce serait bien si les sessions pouvaient se faire de façon tournante. Cela se fait à d’autres niveaux. J’ai parlé de l’Union Inter-Parlementaire. J’ai assisté à une session de l’Union Inter-Parlementaire au Burkina Faso. Le Burkina est comme le Mali. Ce pays n’est pas considéré comme un pays riche, mais cela a été organisé de façon parfaite. J’ai assisté à d’autres sessions dans des pays plus riches, et ce n’était pas mieux qu’au Burkina Faso. Donc, je dis que c’est faisable. Je souhaiterais qu’on réfléchisse par rapport à cela.Je vous remercie, Madame la Présidente.HON. LOKII ABRAHAMS PETER [UGANDA]:Thank you, Madam President. I would also like to add my voice to voices already made by the colleagues in thanking the President and the Bureau for a good job done.I however, have a few comments to make. It has already been noted by Members that there is need to get an explanation as to what happened that the President of South Africa appeared on our program but did not appear physically.And following that, I would like to propose that may be there is need for us to consider ensuring that at least in the tenure of office of the Chair of the AU, there should be an opportunity for whoever is elected to come and attend an opening ceremony so that in that process our President will be able to outline in his presentation the issues that will require the attention of the Summit. But that can only be taken by a Head of State or Chairman of the AU directly from us. I have a fear that whenever we present our issues through the Commission, we are not sure whether they really reach to the Summit because they go through a sieve and whatever is sieved we may not be sure whether our critical issues are taken care of.Secondly, on page five of the report on the Election Observer Missions, a lot of things have been said but I wanted to draw the attention of Members to the element on the objectives, paragraph No. 11, where the President says, "...one of the objectives of the Pan-African Parliament is to promote the principles of human rights and democracy in Africa." I have always found it difficult that whenever we go out for election observation missions, the issues, the concerns, the situation that occurs before the elections begin or the process of elections are put on course, always worries me because they are never ever captured during the electoral process or during the Election Day. And most of our reports focus more on what happens one week to the elections. The question is what then would the Committees be doing? Because I am beginning to get worried that sometimes what we discuss in our Committees are not really very substantive issues which concern the people of Africa. I think it is time that we began to showcase what our Committees are doing.For example, when I came to this Parliament in 2006, there was a report by a Mission that went to Ivory Coast concerning waste disposal in West Africa but I think sometime this year, I was hearing about the death of over 100 people again because of waste disposal and we as the PanAfrican Parliament have kept quiet, no Committee seems to be taking interest in this. Therefore, where is the voice of the African people? I think it is important that issues of human rights are attended to not only in situations where there are elections but also in situations where there are no elections.I am also aware that there was a report by a Mission that went to Darfur. Today we are grappling with the issue of the indictment of the President of Sudan but nobody seems to be concerned about the realities behind the indictment. Is it just unfounded or are there facts that there was genocide; there was abuse of human rights? I think it is important that we focus on this as the Pan-African Parliament. (Applause)The other comment I wanted to add on is the issue of paragraph No.8. The President in his report has said that we would like to work on 11 before 2011. A question to ask is what has been done? What is the status of the ratification as we are left with two months to enter 2011? Is there anything happening anywhere? I think it is important, Madame President, that more light is required on this whether we are having an impact in terms of building up the numbers that are required or nothing is happening at all so that we re-evaluate our strategy.And finally, I would like to also make a comment on the issue of the visibility of PAP in terms of the Missions. I definitely agree that what the Mission did in Zimbabwe, what the Mission did in Ghana and in a number of countries really put PAP on record and made our contribution and our existence very clear. (Applause)But I am beginning to worry that we seem to be getting into the ambit of the AU, the concern that Members have already raised. I am beginning to worry because a situation where a friend from Ghana says he was present in the Mission to Sudan and then the President is not in the knowledge, that makes me think that the AU seems to be picking Members of Parliament in the pretext that they represent the interests of PAP and the Bureau is not the one responsible on determining who participates in these Missions. I think that also must be defined because at the end of the day, the name of PAP will be used to write a report where PAP did not participate in determining who the participants are. So, I think it is important that is focused on.But maybe this also is a way the AU used to trying to get rid of us because a situation where you are not responsible, unaccountable on the product of what you have produced, then what kind of Mission is this one? Because I think we must stand for the voice of the people like we did in the case of Zimbabwe where the Summit had to wait for the final word from the PAP Mission and therefore that is what was taken as final in ensuring that the issues of elections in Zimbabwe were dealt with.So, I think I am not surprised that Members will be disinterested in this kind of thing because why should you go for a Mission where you are not even going to be acknowledged in terms of what you are doing as an institution? Some of us would be happy to do work for PAP where PAP is acknowledged and recognized because we are entrancing ourselves into a system where we are talking about transformation into a legislative body. How will you become legislative with feeble feet? I think it is important that whatever we are doing now are the building blocks for the legislative function that our Parliament is going to undertake.Once more, I want to thank the President for his report. Thank you. (Applause)HON. KANE BOCAR SADIKH [SENEGAL]:Je vous remercie, Madame la Présidente.Madame la Présidente, à l’instar de mes collègues qui m’ont précédé, je voudrais féliciter le Président Idriss et ses collaborateurs, pour l’excellent travail qui a été compilé dans ce rapport, entre le mois de mai et celui de septembre.Monsieur le Président, je vous encourage, comme je l’avais fait lors de la dernière session, puisque c’est au sortir de moments extrêmement difficiles que vous et votre Bureau avez été installés, sur la base d’une mission à la fois difficile et complexe, et sur la base d’une feuille de route. Et, je me rends compte, en faisant une lecture très sereine des choses, sans passion, que vous êtes en train de dérouler cette feuille de route, il est évident que ce n’est pas facile, et nous autres parlementaires devons regarder ce côté difficile pour vous aider à éviter les écueils.C’est sous ce rapport que j’invite mes collègues à toujours avoir à l’esprit, que nous sommes toujours, le troisième organe de l’Union africaine, je ne peux pas dire que nous sommes sous tutelle, au sens réel du terme, mais nous ne sommes pas loin de là, et la bataille qui vaille aujourd’hui, c’est d’accompagner les Présidents, pour faire des lobbyings au niveau des chefs d’Etats, au niveau du Conseil exécutif, au niveau de nos parlements nationaux respectifs, pour qu’on devienne un organe législatif. Et c’est à ce moment-là seulement, avec cette indépendance de prise de décision, que nous pourrons avancer. Donc, il faut que l’on se focalise le plus sur cet aspect, autrement on risque de retomber dans ces discours auxquels j’ai assisté ici depuis longtemps, des discours de va-t-en guerre contre la Commission de l’Union africaine, discours qui ne nous avancent pas du tout.Aujourd’hui, je pense, comme l’ont si bien dit les collègues Saleh du Tchad et Madame El BADAHOUI du Soudan, que nous devons mettre l’accent en tant que parlementaires sur l’efficacité du travail dans les commissions. Puisque je suis persuadé que si le travail dans les commissions marche, nous pouvons à travers ces commissions, trouver des financements pour faire beaucoup d’autres activités.Je fais une transition pour parler de l’observation des élections. Effectivement, à partir de ces commissions, on peut trouver des moyens pour financer nos interventions et notre présence lors des élections dans nos pays respectifs, au niveau de l’Afrique. Il ne sert à rien d’être présent pour être présent. Il faut quand même que nous soyons conséquents avec nous-mêmes. Pendant des années, on s’est battu ici pour l’efficacité de la dépense et on rencontre, effectivement, que ceuxlà, qui se rendent dans ces élections, perdent de l’argent mais, ils ne sont pas dans des conditions pour être efficaces. Et, moi personnellement, je l’ai dit à mon comité régional, hier. On m’a demandé d’aller au Rwanda, mais j’ai refusé, parce que je ne peux pas admettre, étant un parlementaire dans mon pays, ayant un certain rang que la loi me confère, qu’une structure parlementaire supérieure africaine me mette dans un rang inférieur, cela n’a pas de sens. C’est la raison pour laquelle, j’ai dit que, quand on ne met pas dans les conditions, je ne vais pas me déplacer. Sachant que je ne peux pas faire un bon travail, je ne vais pas prendre la responsabilité d’aller là-bas pour faire du tourisme et revenir.Ceci étant dit, je vais parler d’un seul point qui concerne la représentation du Bureau du Parlement dans certaines instances internationales. J’ai constaté que seuls les membres du Bureau y allaient, alors que pour qu’il y ait un bon relai, un bon suivi des décisions qui sont prises, il faut, dans une conférence X, que la Commission concernée soit représentée là-bas. Si, du point de vue des moyens ou matériellement cela n’est pas possible, au moins que le Bureau répercute les décisions qui sont prises au niveau des Commissions concernées pour que le suivi puisse se faire. J’ai constaté que vous avez été à l’UNESCO, pour parler d’un partenariat sur les questions de l’éducation, vous avez été à Beyrouth également, dans le cadre du travail de l’UNESCO sur les questions de l’éducation, alors que la Commission de l’Education n’a pas participé à cette mission, encore moins, elle n’a pas été ampliataire des décisions de cette mission pour le suivi.Les commissions techniques sont là pour faire ce suivi, et c’est cela qui alimente leur travail. Si tel n’est pas le cas, le Bureau va voyager, engranger des décisions de partenariat, mais cela s’arrête là. Il n’y a pas de suivi, ni de progrès. Or, ce suivi et ce progrès doivent être assurés par les Commissions techniques.Voilà ce que je voulais dire. Encore une fois, Monsieur le Président, je vous soutiens et je suis persuadé que votre calme, votre sérénité est un moyen efficace pour aller de l’avant. Ce ne sont pas des discours de va-t-en-guerre qui vont régler nos problèmes avec la Commission de l’UA. C’est dans le calme et la sérénité que nous devons avancer et ne pas oublier que le Parlement européen a été mis en place, non en 10 ans, 20 ans mais, pendant des décennies et des décennies. Il faut qu’on accepte le temps de voir les choses se mettre en place, consolider les acquis et aller en avant.Je vous remercie.THE PRESIDENT:Thank you very much hon. Kane for those very focused visionary contributions. I could only agree with you when you said that the solution to all these complaints we have regarding AUC, whatever, can only be solved through the transformation of the Pan-African Parliament, which we have been following and working on.Mr. President, it is now your opportunity to respond to the many issues that were raised by the members, so, I give you the Floor. Thank you.HON. NDELE MOUSSA IDRISS [TCHAD]:Je vous remercie. Je voudrais, pour commencer, remercier, au nom du Bureau du Parlement panafricain, et très sincèrement, les parlementaires, pour les contributions, les correctifs, les corrections et l’amélioration qualitative qu’ils ont apportés au rapport, ainsi que les encouragements et les félicitations à l’endroit du Bureau. Je les félicite également pour les propositions d’amélioration de notre gestion, qu’il revient à la plénière d’apprécier, pour une partie.Je voudrais apporter un certain nombre de correctifs à certaines omissions malencontreuses, dans le rapport.Premièrement, nous avons omis de citer la participation de l’honorable Mary MUGYENYI, 2e Vice-présidente du PAP, à la réunion organisée par la CPI à Kampala. L’honorable Mary a représenté le Parlement panafricain de manière efficace.Nous avons eu l’honneur d’être invité et de participer, au Mali, à la conférence des ministres en charge de l’environnement, en juin; une des conférences ministérielles phares du moment, dans le continent africain. Cette participation a également été omise dans le rapport.Nous avons, en marge de cette conférence, eu l’honneur de bénéficier d’une audience. Toute la délégation du PAP, présidée par le Président du PAP, avec le Vice-président de la commission de l’environnement, accompagné de nos frères et sœurs du Parlement panafricain du Mali, nous avons eu l’honneur d’être reçu par Son Excellence, le Président de la République du Mali, à qui nous avons transmis un message de félicitations du Parlement panafricain et demandé le soutien pour la transformation dudit Parlement.Nous avons également eu une réponse positive de Son Excellence, le Président de la République du Mali, qui nous a demandé de ne pas douter de son soutien pour la transformation du Parlement panafricain.Nous avons également, en marge d’une conférence, eu l’opportunité de tenir deux séances de travail avec le Président de l’Assemblée nationale du Mali et son Bureau. Nous l’avons félicité pour la participation régulière des parlementaires du Mali et encouragé pour que les parlementaires du Mali puissent venir à l’ensemble des sessions et des réunions des commissions permanentes. Il nous a assuré que, malgré les difficultés financières, les parlementaires du PAP ont une priorité auprès du Parlement du Mali et nous l’avons remercié, encore une fois.En marge, également, de cette importante conférence, nous avons eu deux séances de travail: l’une avec la présidente sortante de l’AMSEN, avec qui nous continuons de travaillerelle viendra pendant la session, d’ailleurs - et l’autre avec le président entrant de l’AMSEN également.Son Excellence, Jacob ZUMA, de la République d’Afrique du Sud, notre pays hôte, est le tout premier supporter du Parlement panafricain. Non seulement, son pays abrite le siège du Parlement panafricain, mais le gouvernement de l’Afrique du Sud et la province du Gauteng nous font des facilités, sur le plan politique. Dans le discours qu’il a tenu devant nous, lors de notre session d’avril, il ne cessait de faire le plaidoyer pour la transformation du Parlement panafricain. Il s’est engagé à venir à l’ouverture de la commémoration qui lui tient à cœur, parce que l’histoire de notre continent, celle des indépendances, et des indépendances tumultueuses, difficiles, notamment en Afrique australe, lui tient à cœur. La lutte des peuples africains pour l’indépendance, et la lutte du peuple sud-africain, aidé de ses frères et sœurs africains, est un sujet très important pour lui. Malheureusement, son calendrier ne le lui a pas permis de venir. A la veille de la journée de la commémoration, nous avons reçu de ses services ces regrets, parce qu’il ne pouvait pas venir ce jour-là à cause de son calendrier. Par ailleurs, nous avons eu l’information selon laquelle, il recevait le mêmejour la visite d’un chef d’Etat d’un pays membre de l’Union africaine, d’un pays de la sous-région. Ce qui peut expliquer, bien sûr, l’indisponibilité de Son Excellence, le Président Jacob ZUMA.Nous avons suivi de très près, et régulièrement, le processus qui a conduit le Kenya à avoir une nouvelle Constitution. C’est une innovation dans ce pays qui a connu des difficultés, des conflits d’après-élections et qui est dirigé, aujourd’hui, par une coalition hybride, mais qui a eu le courage de s’en sortir définitivement par l’adoption, par référendum, d’une nouvelle Constitution, je dirais, inspiré de la cinquième République française, qui honore le Kenya et l’Afrique, et qui peut résoudre, de manière définitive, les faits récurrents d’actes et de situations difficiles d’après-élections. C’est un des éléments qui a manqué également dans le rapport que nous avons présenté, parce que nous avons suivi cela de très près.Honorables Membres, chers Collègues,La première question était celle de la participation du forum parlementaire de la SADC. L’honorable Gumbo Macdonald y a participé, au nom du Parlement panafricain. Il a apporté une contribution, un message de solidarité et des encouragements du Parlement panafricain, pour que le forum continue son chemin et devienne un organe législatif. Il a profité de l’opportunité qui lui était offerte pour parler de deux sujets qui sont importants, aujourd’hui, pour le Parlement panafricain et faire le plaidoyer. S’agissant des sujets, il était question d’une part, de la transformation du Parlement panafricain et d’autre part, de la ratification de la Charte pour la démocratie, les élections et la gouvernance.Les travaux en commissions, au mois d’août, ont connu des difficultés que nous avons reconnues. Mais, un correctif est apporté, parce que pour les présentes assises des commissions, pendant la session, ce sont les Présidents des commissions permanentes qui ont été maîtres du calendrier de leurs commissions. C’est l’assurance que nous avons reçue du secrétariat. Même si le secrétariat peut faire des propositions de calendrier, c’est la commission et surtout, les Présidents des commissions qui doivent valider l’ordre du jour de leur réunion.La transformation du Parlement panafricain pour laquelle nous nous sommes engagés, à partir de la profession de foi que vous avez adoptée, est en très bonne voie. Nous reviendrons sur le débat. Le Président de la commission des règlements va nous indiquer où nous en sommes aujourd’hui, mais, croyez-moi, nous sommes en très bonne voie. Je suis de ceux qui pensent que, au sommet d’Addis-Abeba en fin janvier, sinon au plus tard au sommet de juillet, sur le plan juridique, le projet de transformation du Parlement panafricain sera posé devant le Bureau du sommet des chefs d’Etat et de gouvernement.Il est regrettable de constater, effectivement, que la présence du nombre de parlementaires diminue de session en session. Les commissions permanentes connaissent, davantage, des difficultés de quorum. Nous avons eu quelques propositions, qui vont du plaidoyer à l’endroit de nos exécutifs, de nos parlements nationaux à des suggestions tendant à mettre des mécanismes de recherche de financement. Ce sont des propositions intéressantes. Ensemble, nous verrons comment les mettre en œuvre et comment faire, tout en continuant le plaidoyer timide que nous faisons, à défaut de moyens, bien sûr. Comme vous l’avez remarqué, quand nous avons l’opportunité de participer à une conférence, nous en profitons. C’est une occasion pour rencontrer les autorités des pays, notamment les chefs d’Etat, les présidents des Assemblées sœurs, afin d’essayer de plaider pour les parlementaires.Les parlementaires panafricains étaient bien présents aussi bien au Soudan qu’à l’île Maurice. Il y a une coquille dans le texte. En fait, pour le Soudan et pour l’Ile Maurice, à défaut de temps, c’est l’Union africaine qui a fait le choix des parlementaires. Elle nous a communiqué la liste et nous a demandé de vérifier si ces parlementaires sont bien en fonction; ce que nous avons fait, parce que le temps était très court. Pour toutes les autres missions, après le Soudan et l’Ile Maurice, c’est le Parlement panafricain qui a proposé des parlementaires après que les services du Commissaire aux affaires politiques lui ont donné le nombre de parlementaires par mission. Le nombre retenu, après deux réunions entre la commission de l’Union africaine et le PAP, est de 40% de parlementaires du PAP et de 60% pour les autres organes, notamment la Commission ellemême, le COREP, etc.Donc, honorables membres, nous savions bien que vous faisiez partie de la mission au Soudan, tout comme pour ce qui était de la mission à l’Ile Maurice. Ce qu’on a voulu dire, c’est, par défaut de temps, l’Union africaine vous a désignés et nous avons confirmé que vous étiez bien membre du Parlement panafricain.Evidemment, beaucoup de parlementaires, tout en appréciant le rapport, ont demandé judicieusement que celui-ci soit mis à la disposition des parlementaires quelques jours avant, de manière à ce que la qualité des propositions soit encore meilleure. Vous constaterez que, bien que vous ayez eu le rapport, pour certains d’entre vous probablement aujourd’hui, néanmoins vous avez fait de très bonnes contributions. Mais, si vous aviez ce rapport deux ou trois jours avant, je suis sûr que vous feriez, non seulement des propositions comme vous le faites actuellement, mais aussi des propositions concrètes, pour qu’on puisse avancer davantage. Je suis d’accord avec vous. Le Bureau prend note. Avec le secrétariat, nous allons corriger cela.Les relations entre le Parlement panafricain et les autres organes de l’Union africaine se sont beaucoup améliorées. Je suis d’accord avec l’honorable KANE, selon qui, au point où nous sommes en train d’atteindre les objectifs que nous nous sommes assignés, il vaut mieux finir l’année 2010 avec cette approche en douceur, pour que nous obtenions ce qui devrait nous revenir de droit.Au dernier plaidoyer que nous avons fait à Kampala, au Conseil exécutif, le Président de séance de ce Conseil a dit qu’il n’est pas normal que les parlementaires voyagent en classe économie, je dis bien le Conseil exécutif, c'est-à- dire, le conseil des ministres. Il n’est pas normal que les parlementaires aient des indemnités inférieures aux membres du staff de l’Union africaine, qui ont les indemnités des Nations unies plus 20%.La commission dit qu’elle prend bonne note. Etant en cours d’exercice, les propositions ne peuvent être prises en considération que dans le budget 2011.Avec le COREP, les relations sont très bonnes; et comme il est mentionné dans le programme, nous allons avoir une rencontre le vendredi 15 et le samedi 16 dans un complexe pas très loin de Midrand. Plus de 40 ambassadeurs viendront à cette rencontre. Une soixantaine de parlementaires du PAP y seront également et ensemble, nous allons peaufiner le plaidoyer, pour que le COREP puisse s’approprier la dernière mouture de la transformation et la mettre dans le circuit afin qu’elle arrive, au plus tôt, au sommet des chefs d’Etat et de gouvernement, en passant par le Conseil exécutif.La deuxième chose que nous attendons et pour laquelle nous allons faire le plaidoyer, c’est l’adoption de l’organigramme du Parlement panafricain.La troisième chose, c’est le budget du Parlement panafricain. On peut déjà se féliciter car, pour le budget 2009, neuf organes ont leurs budgets revus à la baisse, il n’y a que deux organes: la Commission de l’Union africaine et le Parlement panafricain qui n’ont pas connu de baisse. La seule chose qui a été revue à la baisse, c’est le fonds pour l’observation d’élections du Parlement panafricain qui est sorti du budget du PAP et mis au profit budget de la Commission de l’Union africaine. Mais, nous ne nous contentons pas de stagner, nous allons faire le plaidoyer et expliquer l’opportunité de revoir à la hausse le budget du Parlement panafricain.Le dernier plaidoyer que nous devons faire, c’est expliquer, comme l’honorable Abdoulaye le faisait, tout à l’heure, si éloquemment et sur un ton conciliant, en fait, que l’observation des élections revienne aux élus. Quand on parle d’élection, cela doit revenir essentiellement aux élus. Et, pour que le Parlement panafricain puisse avoir ces missions, même si c’est de taille moyenne ou de petite taille, il lui faut une ligne budgétaire pour ses propres missions d’observation, surtout que les missions de pré-élection et d’après-élection ne sont même pas du souci de nos partenaires de l’Union africaine, alors que nous, nous savons que les missions, avant élection, sont aussi importantes que les missions post-élection. Il n’y a pas que le jour de l’élection. On fera donc le plaidoyer ensemble pour qu’une petite ligne budgétaire puisse être sortie par le Parlement panafricain dans son budget. Je dis petite, parce que dès qu’on aura la possibilité de faire nos missions à nous, on a des partenaires qui veulent bien financer les missions d’observation d’élections du Parlement panafricain , mais pas quand c’est une mission conjointe avec l’Union africaine. Cependant, je remercie bien les quelques rares partenaires qui, malgré tout, en 2009, ont voulu apporter leur contribution; ces fonds-là doivent aller à l’Union africaine pour des missions conjointes pour lesquelles, on est obligé de gérer de cette manière jusqu’à la fin de l’année.Nous avons eu beaucoup de contributions de parlementaires par rapport au financement de nos activités et plusieurs parlementaires ont proposé qu’on fasse des plaidoyers dans nos pays, auprès de nos chefs d’Etats, de nos parlements pour chercher à créer des fonds.Les réunions consultatives de dialogue ont porté sur la transformation du PAP est sur le plaidoyer pour la ratification de la Charte africaine pour la démocratie, les élections et la gouvernance.Les trois premières réunions se sont très bien tenues. Nous avons eu des engagements fermes aussi bien du côté de l’Exécutif que du côté de nos frères et sœurs parlementaires, notamment les présidents des chambres qui étaient avec nous.Trente-six (36) pays, à ce jour, ont signé la Charte et sept (07) pays l’ont ratifiée. Il nous faut huit (08) pays, avant la fin de l’année pour qu’on atteigne le chiffre de quinze (15), chiffre fatidique qui fera de cette Charte, une Charte de droit pour l’Afrique.Le thème du sommet de fin janvier 2011, c’est celui des valeurs partagées de l’Afrique. Il n’y a pas meilleure valeur partagée en Afrique que la démocratie, les élections régulières libres et transparentes et la bonne gouvernance.C’est pourquoi notre plaidoyer est porteur. Moi, je suis très optimiste, avant le sommet de janvier 2011, le chiffre de quinze doit être atteint, parce que les premiers ministres, les présidents des parlements ont publiquement pris des engagements. Et, je suis sûr que, avec les deux derniers ateliers qu’on va organiser en novembre, on atteindra le chiffre de quinze et cela sera une fierté pour l’Afrique. En s’associant sur le thème « valeurs partagées », donc on sait que la Charte africaine de la démocratie, des élections et de la gouvernance devient de droit.Nous ne féliciterons pas assez nos partenaires et nous allons encore les remercier: l’Union européenne et l’Afrique du Sud qui mettent des ressources à notre disposition. C’est dans les règles du Parlement panafricain et surtout de l’Union africaine qu’un bon nombre de nouveaux cadres vont être recrutés; malheureusement, les cadres issus des pays sous sanction seront exclus. Mais, pour une meilleure représentation des régions et surtout des pays, la priorité va être donnée aux pays qui ne sont pas représentés à un niveau supérieur au sein du Parlement panafricain. Avant la fin de la session, tous les parlementaires ici présents auront la liste de l’ensemble des vacances de postes et les quelques éléments apportés par le Bureau pour donner plus de chance pour que l’ensemble des pays africains se sentent concernés. Cela vous sera également soumis avant que vous ne partiez, parce qu’on s’est rendu compte que, en envoyant les courriers, seulement par nos circuits parfois difficiles, aux parlements nationaux, au passage, certains individus s’accaparent de ces courriers d’annonces de vacances de postes dès qu’ils les reçoivent et cela ne circule pas au sein desdits parlements. Et comme on a un site web qui n’est pas mis à jour assez régulièrement, il n’est pas très attractif et peu d’africains vont sur ce site pour voir ses offres. Donc, nous vous mettrons à contribution d’abord pour l’information pour que, également, vous apportiez ces informations au niveau de vos parlements respectifs.Notre participation aux missions conjointes a été difficile, parce que, de manière générale, on ne brille pas, au niveau de l’Union africaine, par la célérité de l’information et de la communication. Donc, il y a une lourdeur administrative au niveau de la Commission qui nous dit que, peu de semaines avant une élection, on veut aller en Côte d’Ivoire, qu’on a vingt (20) membres à désigner au niveau du Parlement panafricain. Le temps que cette information vienne chez nous, on est à parfois deux semaines, parfois dix jours. Maintenant, il faut répartir; le Bureau répartit proportionnellement sur les cinq régions et quand il y a un surplus, s’il y a dix-huit (18) et que nous attribuons deux à chaque région, les trois positions supplémentaires sont données généralement aux groupes qui ont le plus de pays, donc le plus de parlementaires. Et, comme nous avons des moyens de communication très difficile, souvent on a demandé à chaque membre du Bureau, quand c’est un, de désigner un de sa région, quand c’est deux, ce sont deux de sa région et ainsi de suite. Donc, jusqu’à aujourd’hui, la répartition et la rotation sont prises par la responsabilité de vos représentants au Bureau. Si vous pensez qu’il y a une bonne rotation, tant mieux; si vous pensez que nous ne faisons pas une bonne rotation, nous en sommes responsables et vous devez peut-être nous dire de donner la main aux présidents des caucus ou à d’autres. Mais, le nœud du problème ce sont les délais, on nous donne très peu de temps. Parfois, on vérifie si l’honorable est disposé à aller dans un pays, parfois, on n’a même pas le temps de vérifier la disponibilité, on met des noms. Il y en a qui ne sont pas disponibles, d’autres, vu les nouvelles conditions, ne peuvent pas aller, et on les comprend très bien, aussi. Mais, avec le plaidoyer que nous faisons, aujourd’hui, et que nous allons poursuivre ensemble, il y a beaucoup d’espoirs que les choses changent à compter de janvier 2011.Après la mission conduite par l’honorable Gumbo Macdonald à Hararé pour rencontrer notre partenaire ACBF et que la Délégation du PAP ait expliqué les tenants et les aboutissants de notre gestion du rapport de la Commission ad hoc qui a été pris comme prétexte et de la situation du PAP aujourd’hui, l’ACBF a dégelé sa contribution et la coopération est reprise normalement avec l’ACBF.Nous sommes, il est vrai, à mi-parcours du mandat du Bureau qui, comme l’ont rappelé les honorables ZELY et KEBZAGO, est de trois ans, et ce mandat est très particulier, parce qu’il est transitoire avec un objectif bien précis, issu de la profession de foi de votre Président qui est de conduire, sur le plan juridique, à la transformation du Parlement panafricain, comme le dit l’article 25 du Protocole, en un organe législatif. Nous sommes très proches de 2011 et, nous sommes très près d’atteindre cet objectif également, nous allons faire ce chemin-là ensemble.Tout à l’heure le Président SERPOS et son équipe vont nous expliquer où nous en sommes. Vous verrez qu’on est bien avancé. Nous aurons pendant cette session à apporter notre dernière contribution. Après cette dernière contribution, il y aura une dernière réunion, Commission de l’Union africaine/Consultants/Parlementpanafricain, les 10 et 11 novembre 2010, ici même à Midrand, pour arrêter la dernière mouture de proposition d’amendement du Protocole qui va être envoyé au COREP. Mais, ce qui est bien, c’est que, entre temps, nous puissions faire également le plaidoyer pendant la rencontre avec le COREP.La rencontre Russie-Afrique est un succès, et nous avons reçu le rapport du Président de la Commission Education, nous le remercions pour avoir fait un discours fort important, au nom du Président du PAP, et pour le rapport qu’il a pu faire. Nous remercions encore l’honorable El HOUDERI et son pays, parce qu’à défaut de ressources suffisantes, il a mis à profit son titre de transport et ses perdiems pays pour représenter le Parlement panafricain. Il ressort de cette conférence et du rapport que nous avons reçu d’El HOUDERI qu’il va y avoir, en décembre, si je ne me trompe, une conférence, cette fois-ci à Paris, organisée par la Douma, entre la Russie et l’Afrique.S’agissant du nombre de participants dans les missions d’observation des élections, les raisons sont connues.Pour les neuf (09) postes à pourvoir avec le financement de l’Union européenne, les six (06) postes sur financement de l’Afrique du Sud et les quatre (04) postes sur financement de l’Union africaine, le processus n’a pas pu finir; non parce que les traitements et les salaires de ces cadres ne sont pas dans le budget mais, on avait pris des fonds pour finir le processus de recrutement. Nous avons maintenant l’engagement de nos partenaires, pour nous aider à faire l’appel à candidature, les interviews et le recrutement sur leur financement, en respectant, scrupuleusement, les normes de l’Union africaine. Vous serez associez, parce que vous aurez aussi bien le mémorandum que la liste des postes vacants et les appels à candidature.Concernant le plaidoyer, tout le monde est conscient que nous essayons de le faire dans la mesure du possible. Les moyens nous limitent à aller dans beaucoup de pays, mais avec la proposition que chaque parlementaire, chaque délégation a la mission de faire le lobbying et le plaidoyer dans son pays, auprès de nos Chefs d’Etat, des présidents de Sénat, des présidents d’Assemblées nationales, des ministres des Affaires Etrangères, de nos Ambassadeurs, pour la transformation, ce sera une bonne opportunité.Pour la retraite, sont concernés les bureaux de toutes les commissions permanentes, les bureaux de tous les Caucus régionaux et les Caucus des femmes, le Bureau du Parlement panafricain; mais, au-delà, on a demandé au Secrétariat de vérifier. Pour tout pays non représenté, au niveau de tous ses bureaux, un parlementaire va être désigné, de manière à ce que, quand les membres du COREP vont venir, ils trouvent au moins un parlementaire de leurs pays. Le staff aussi sera avec nous; par rapport à l’organisation matérielle, nous aurons les détails par le Secrétariat. Le souci d’avoir un bon nombre de parlementaires est important, mais le souci qu’il y ait au moins un parlementaire par pays est plus important encore, pour que les membres du COREP trouvent, au moins, un représentant de leur pays dans la délégation.S’agissant du travail du COREP, cette mission est importante. On a eu, en outre, une organisation qui n’a pas été à la hauteur, des programmes qui étaient faits par le Secrétariat, cela est corrigé cette fois-ci. Mais, il reste toujours le niveau de participation. Si, à la plénière, on a peu de participants, cela influerait également sur la réunion des commissions. Ensemble, on va mettre à profit les quelques propositions qui ont été faites.On a parlé de la CPI, même si c’est de manière indirecte. En tant qu’organe de l’Union africaine, notre position officielle est la même que celle de l’Union africaine, lors du sommet de Syrte 2009, qui a été répétée au sommet de juillet 2010 à Kampala.Nous sommes ouverts aux échanges, aux débats mais, on est à la place et on a le devoir d’écouter et de parler quel que soit le sujet. Cependant, comme nous aspirons à avoir des pouvoirs réellement législatifs, aujourd’hui, on doit toujours affirmer, en tant qu’organe de l’Union africaine, la position de celle-ci, qui a été très claire aussi bien à Syrte 2009 qu’à Kampala en juillet dernier.Votre proposition d’aider au lobbying, aussi bien ici que dans nos pays, est importante, c’est déjà ce que vous êtes en train de faire. Maintenant, nous nous conscientisons davantage pour que, de manière organisée, par délégation, on puisse faire un plaidoyer dans chacun de nos pays.Honorables membres, vos contributions sont très nombreuses. J’ai essayé de ramasser les réponses mais, je voudrais, encore une fois, vous féliciter sincèrement pour la pertinence de vos contributions qui améliorent le rapport.Vous avez fait des propositions de plaidoyer de financement pour lesquelles je vais laisser à la plénière le soin d’affiner. Quand on aura écouté le rapport sur l’avancée de la transformation, on pourra maintenant continuer le plaidoyer avec le COREP.Il y a des propositions de résolutions et des recommandations à l’endroit du Conseil exécutif et à l’endroit du Sommet des chefs d’Etats qui sont très bonnes. Mais, on est à une phase critique. On est très proche du but, aussi bien pour l’amélioration de notre budget, pour une autonomie d’observation des élections que pour la transformation du PAP surtout. Puisqu’on est très proche, c’est dans un ton, dans une approche positive et conciliante qu’on fera une présentation au prochain Conseil exécutif.Honorable Présidente de séance, il se pourrait, éventuellement, que je n’aie pas répondu à certaines questions et je suis toujours à votre disposition. Sur ce, je vais m’arrêter là en attendant de probables questions ou des rappels, pour une question à laquelle je n’aurais pas répondu.Je vous remercie.THE PRESIDENT:Thank you very much Mr. President, I was sitting in the Chair and I tried to follow what was raised and what you have answered to, I believe that you have touched almost everything that has been raised.So, I want to conclude this debate and this presentation by thanking you Mr. President for this elaborative report and also the conciseness in which you have responded to the issues that were raised by the Members. Thank you so much.And in the same venue, I would like to thank the Honorable Members who contributed to this debate, indeed, we should make Pan-African Parliament a House that is democratic, where people can raise constructive views both negative and positive and that is the way to build the institution. So, we thank you so much for your contributions.THE PRESIDENT:You see I am not used to this Chair; I have made a mistake. (Laughter)I have just been reminded by the Fourth Vice President that we have not adopted this report. I thank you so much. So, can we first of all adopt the report of the President?(Applause)So, we are adopting the report with amendments as raised by the Members. I thank you so much.(Applause)May I now request the Clerk to read the next business on the agenda, I believe it is coming to one o’clock, so we cannot have the presentation that was supposed to be done next, that will have to be postponed until tomorrow but the Clerk still has business to read for housekeeping. I thank you very much.
2.0 – ANNONCES
THE CLERK:Thank you Honorable Vice President, I would like to make the following announcements. The following Committee meetings will take place all of them at half-past-two o’clock this afternoon. Committee on Monetary and Financial Matters, Room No.1, Committee on Cooperation, International Relations and Conflict Resolutions, Room No.2, Committee on Privileges and Discipline, Room No.3, Committee on Education, Culture, Tourism and Human Resources, Room No.4, Committee on Gender, Family, Youth and People with Disability, Room No. 5.The last announcement is that the Chairperson of the Southern African Caucus is making the following announcements that she would like to meet all the Members of the Regional Caucus immediately after the adjournment of this meeting for a brief discussion. Members are required to remain behind the Chamber. Thank you very much.THE PRESIDENT:Thank you very much Mr. Clerk. So, the House stands adjourned until tomorrow at 0900 hours.La séance est levée à 12 heures 40 minutes.
Thursday, 7th October 2010
1.0 – PRESTATION DE SERMENT
LE PRESIDENT:Honorables Membres,In accordance with rule 9 of the Rule of Procedure, I call upon Honourable Agbessi Theophile Adjamgba from Togo to take his Oath.(Member sworn in)Honorables Membres,In accordance with the provision of rule 38 (1) h, I invite Dr. Khabele Matlosa from UNDP to enter the Chamber.The Clerks will read the first order of the day.THE CLERK:Presentation and debate on the promotion of the ratification of the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance.THE PRESIDENT:I call upon Honourable Joram McDonald Gumbo, Forth Vice President of PAP to present the report of the PAP Regional Meetings held in Kampala, Ndjamena and Victoria Falls on the promotion for the ratification of the African Charter on Democracy, Election and Governance. Honourable Gumbo, you have the floor.
2.0 – PRÉSENTATION ET DÉBATS SUR LA CHARTE AFRICAINE DE LA DÉMOCRATIE, DES ÉLECTIONS ET DE LA GOUVERNANCE
HON. GUMBO JORAM MACDONALD [ZIMBABWE]:Thank you Mr. President. Colleagues, I have been requested by the Bureau to make a presentation on the meetings that we have had so far regarding the transformation of the Pan-African Parliament to a legislative body and also the ratification of the Charter on Elections, Democracy and Governance.As it is required by Protocol to the Treaty Establishing the African Economic Community relating to the Pan-African Parliament it requires amongst other things that the PAP facilitates implementation of the African Union decisions, cooperation and development in Africa and to strengthen continental solidarity and build a sense of common destiny among the people of Africa.In pursuance of the protocol, the Pan-African Parliament organized consultative meetings in Kampala-Uganda; N’djamena-Chad and Victoria Falls - Zimbabwe. I would want to present the report of these meetings as follows:(Member sworn in)Honourable Members,Kampala, Uganda; the Consultative meeting in Kampala was held on 16th and 17th of July 2010 in accordance with Article 9(e) of the Protocol Establishing the Pan-African Parliament which requires the Parliament to monitor the implementation of the decisions of the African Union and Article 18 of the Protocol which requires the PAP to convene Annual Consultative Meetings with Regional and National Parliaments or other deliberative organs.The issue which the meeting sought to address is the slow pace of ratification of the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance. Only 36 out of 53 countries have signed the Charter out of which a mere four countries, by the time that we attended our meeting in Kampala, had appended their signatures in the ratification column and these are: Burkina Faso; Ethiopia; Mauritania and Lesotho. This represents about 5 percent of the countries in Africa which needs to have 25 percent, or 11 more countries to deliver on promises made to consolidate strong and sustained democracies for the 1 billion peoples of Africa.The meeting which was opened by the Speaker of the Parliament of Uganda was attended by the AU Commissioner for Political Affairs, representatives of the Government of Uganda, some Members of Parliament from the East African Region, the chairs of the five Regions of our Continent and the Deputy Speaker of Ireland. The South African delegation attended the meeting as observers. In total, the meeting was attended by about 120 participants.In terms of impact, the meeting achieved the following:1.Support for transformation of the PAP into a legislative body was obtained;2.The African Charter on Democracy, Elections, Governance was popularized;3.The PAP advocacy program at Regional and National levels was sustained;4.Continental advocacy for ratification of the Charter by 11 countries was launched;5.The broader participation by the MPs in the East African Region was achieved;6.The convening power and functional abilities by PAP to effect a seismic shift in governance and democracy principles in Africa was attained;7.Impetus towards the transformation of PAP into a legislative body was increased; and8.Evidence of PAP’s abilities to take initiative and effect change for Africa’s political transformation was proven and firmly established.N’djamena, Chad; the meeting was opened, participants were Honorable Idriss Ndele, our President; His Excellency, Emmanuel Nadingar, I am sorry about the name; the pronunciation might be wrong, I think it is Nandigar, Prime Minister and Head of the Government of Chad; members of the Government, His Excellency, Asseld Gamar Assilek (MP) and Deputy President of the National Assembly; Her Excellency, Ms Julia D. Joiner, AU Commissioner for Political Affairs, Members of the Bureau of PAP; Honorable Members of the PAP in the region and Counselors and Members of the Diplomatic Corps accredited to Chad.Deliberations; Members called on the AUC and the states whose leaders play a key role within AU policy organs such as Gabon which holds the Presidency of the AUC, Chad, which holds the Presidency of PAP, Congo which holds the Presidency of CEMAC, etc, to undertake sensitization campaigns within their states for ratification of the Charter so as to attain the required number of ratifications for its entry into force.Participants suggested that a campaign for dissemination and promotion of the Charter be also aimed at the African peoples. They recommended that appropriate means be provided at regional and national levels for the popularization of the content.In connection with the ratification of the Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance, the Speaker of the National Assembly of Chad made a solemn commitment to ratify the Charter on Budget Day in October 2010.These are the outcomes of our meeting in Chad. The participants adopted the N’djamena Declaration as follows:1.Commended the considerable effort of His Excellency, Idriss Deby Itno in supporting the transformation process of the PanAfrican Parliament into a legislative organ and requested him to extend these efforts to include his peers in the Central African region;2.Undertook to sensitize their respective Parliaments to support the review process of the Protocol of the Treaty Establishing the African Economic Community relating to the Pan-African Parliament so as to confer legislative powers on the institution in the agreed areas;3.Undertook to sensitize their respective governments to accelerate the ratification of the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance;4.Hailed the commitment of the Government and the National Assembly of Chad expressed during the consultative dialogue to finalize the process of ratification before the end of 2010;5.Called upon the civil society organizations and the media to contribute towards dissemination of the Charter within each member state of the region; and6.Commended the efforts of the President of PAP and the Central African Region Caucus and called upon them to follow up the consultations with the Heads of State in the Region to accelerate the transformation process of the Pan-African Parliament into a legislative organ and the ratification process of the Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance.Victoria Falls-Zimbabwe; this was also held on 27th to 28th September. The meeting was attended by 56 Pan-African Parliament Members in the Region; five Southern African Development Community Parliamentarians (SADC-PF Members of Parliament) and five Members of the Parliament of Zimbabwe. The meeting then was opened by the Governor and Resident Minister of Matebeleland on behalf of His Excellency, President Robert Gabriel Mugabe.Outcomes and outputs, the meeting achieved its objectives to a great extent. In the exchange of views, the meeting underscored its vision of achieving greater unity and integration of the African Continent. In discussing the review of the Protocol, the meeting emphasized the need for further dialogue on issues relating to the elections of PAP MPs, the finance model, the need for a gradual transition and limited legislative powers.On the issue of the ratification of the Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance, the meeting underscored the need for the region to ratify the Charter since the Charter has a lot of resonance with already existing SADC Protocols. All the Parliamentary Delegations attending the meeting pledged to make appropriate follow-ups on the ratification of the Charter with more than 80 percent of the delegations promising ratifications before 2011.The meeting adopted a communiqué outlining its intentions and steps to ensure ratification by Southern African Member Parliaments of the PAP as follows:1.They congratulated the Kingdom of Lesotho for ratifying the Charter. Lesotho is the only country in Southern Africa which has ratified;2.They also noted that while some of the fundamental tenets of democracy, democratic elections and good governance are in enshrined in national constitutions, policies and programs of the various African countries, there is need for the Charter to be urgently ratified;3.They also took cognizance of the fact that Southern African Member States had adopted various governance treaties including the 2001 Protocol on Politics, Defense and Security Cooperation, the 2004 Strategic Indicative Plan of the Organ on Politics, Defense and Security Cooperation and the 2004 Principles and Guidelines governing democratic elections, whose core elements resonate with the letter and the spirit of the Charter, but this still needs to find full expression through ratification of the Charter;4.They called upon all Members of the PanAfrican Parliament to implore their Ministers of Foreign Affairs, International Relations and relevant Government Ministries and Departments to speed up the ratification of the Charter by the end of 2010;5.They also resolved that all Members of the Pan-African Parliament conscientize National Parliamentary Committees responsible for International Treaties and Protocols to bring to the attention of their Parliaments, the need to expedite the ratification process by the end of 2010;6.They also resolved that the Pan-African Parliament, in collaboration with organs of the African Union, national Parliaments and the civil society organizations, enhance the popularization of the Charter within the member states of the African Union so that African citizens own the process;7.Resolved that the Pan-African Parliament MPs urge other fellow MPs in their respective National Parliaments to bring the issue of ratification of the Charter through motions, questions and lobbying among other things; and8.That the Pan-African Parliament Members become champions in the Region to ensure speedy signing and ratification of the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance by the end of 2010 and final domestication and application of the Charter.In conclusion, Mr. President, the PAP actively encourages member states to ratify the Charter so as to obtain the required number of 50 ratifications to facilitate its entry into force. A progress report of the ratification process will be sent to the states that have not yet ratified the Charter.However, to achieve the number of 50, Mr. President, the PAP has resolved to expedite the holding of Regional Meetings and therefore meetings will be held in West Africa and North Africa next month to complete the regional cycle.This is all that I can report to the colleagues, Mr. President, about the meetings that we held in the three regions that I have already mentioned. I thank you.DR. KHABELE MATLOSA [UNDP]:Your Excellency Mr. President, let me start first of all by thanking you and your good office for inviting the United Nations Development Programme through me to come to this August House and discuss this important matter, namely the ratification of the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance. We would like to thank you Sir for this good gesture because UNDP fully supports this process that the PAP has already embarked upon and we will continue to provide as much support as we can as the UNDP, we would like to thank your Sir.Your Excellency, allow me to just take the August House through my presentation. The presentation will focus mainly on promoting ratification of the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance. And I am happy that I am doing this after Honorable Gumbo has already reported on the Regional Meetings, so, that I do not have to dwell in a lot of details emanating from those Regional Consultative Meetings.In order to ensure that we are on the same page Mr. President, I would like to deliver my presentation in five segments. The first segment will deal mainly on the contextual background to the Charter namely the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance, its background.The second segment will deal with the main objectives of the Charter, why is it important. The third objective Mr. President will give you the scope on coverage of the Charter, what is inside the Charter, so to be more precisely, what is inside this document? Then I will come back to highlight some of the issues that Honorable Gumbo, the Fourth Vice President talked about regarding the state of ratification so far. That is the fourth, the state of ratification. And Mr. President then I will wind up with some thoughts to this August House on the way forward.Mr. President, first, background. With regard to the background to the Charter, I think it is important for this August House to recognize that the Charter is a consolidation of various Declarations, Conventions and Treaties on democracy, human rights, rule of law constitutionalism that have been adopted since the OAU up to the AU. So, it is a consolidation of all the Declarations, Conventions and Treaties that the OAU have adopted since 1963 and the AU has adopted and ratified since 2000 with the Constitutive Act of the AU. So, it is important Mr. President to capture that, the Charter should not be seen as something new but rather as a continuation of commitments by the OAU and AU towards democracy, human rights, constitutionalism, rule of law etc. So, that is the first point I think I would clarify that it is a part of a continuing commitment.Mr. President, number two on the background, is that with the transformation of the OAU into AU, there was a paradigm shift that Honorable Members should know. There was a paradigm shift away from a culture of non-interference into the internal affairs of members states to the current culture now of non-indifference, nonindifference to human rights abuses, to instability and to the disturbances of peace and security. I think that is an important point to grasp also. That paradigm shift from culture of non-interference to a current culture of non-indifference. That the AU now presently within the context of Constitutive Act, promotes democracy within our Continent and protects human rights within our Continent and has the right and power to even intervene in certain instances where human rights are violated. And the Constitute Act is very clear in terms of the categorically rejection, let me repeat that, categorically rejection of unconstitutional change of Government and that the AU is very concerned about that, the issue of unconstitutional change of Government which is a problem in our Continent and that has to be accepted. Now, this informs the background to the Charter.The third point Mr. President on the background is that in 2003, at the AU Summit in MaputoMozambique, the Executive Council took a deliberate decision that the Continent now needs a Charter on Democracy. That was followed up again by another decision of the Executive Council of the AU in Addis Ababa-Ethiopia, the following year in 2004. So the first decision of the Executive Council was in July 2003 in Maputo this was followed by another decision on the urgency to develop the Charter in May, 2004, in Addis Ababa-Ethiopia. This is the context that then led to a motion to develop the Charter over a period of three years between 2004 and 2006, working on the Charter and the Charter ultimately being presented at the AU summit in Banjul, Gambia in 2006 and now finally adopted in Addis Ababa-Ethiopia on the 30th of January 2007. That is the background Mr. President.Mr. President, the second segment is the main objective of the Charter. Having grasps the back ground now the next step is, what are the main objectives of this Charter. I will isolate Mr. President just ten of this because it has quite a number Honorable Members can go through, the documents it is available in different languages. Just ten to highlight the significant of the Charter.1.Promote adherence to universal values and principles of democracy and respect for human rights, it is fundamental. So, it is commitment to human right and democracy, it is uppermost, it is central value or significance;2.Promote rule of law, supremacy of the Constitution and culture of Constitutionalism. The emphasis here on Constitution and Constitutionalism is deliberate Mr. President, is deliberate to indicate that there can be instances where you can have a fantastic Constitution, excellent, well class Constitution in terms of democratic principles, but if that Constitution is just a document that is there, then you will fail as a state or a country to have a Constitutionalism that embraces democracy. So, the Constitution and Constitutionalism therefore are different even if are interrelated, a Constitution is a document while Constitutionalism is how the document becomes a living experience of the citizens of the country;3.Promote a culture of transfer power through democratic, credible and transparency elections because today we live in an era of democracy, an era where transfer of power is mediated through ballots no longer bullets. So, the era of transfer of power through bullets is the thing of the past that is what the Charter is saying that we promote transfer of power through elections;4.Prohibit the schedule of unconstitutional changes of Government which threatens stability, peace and security. The AU is very, very clear on this. And is very explicit even in the Constitutive Act that unconstitutional changes of governments have become a normal, as a culture, it is no longer an embraced culture in our Continent. All forms of unconstitutional change of Governments are no longer accepted. The Charter reinforces that commitment;5.Promote effectiveness of the state or public institutions in governance especially in relation to service delivery. And here Mr. President the idea is that democracies must deliver services to our people, democracies must strengthen institutions so that Governments are able to deliver services that people are able to appreciate the value of democracies beyond elections. People must be in a position to say after I have voted; ooh yes, now I know the value of my vote and that can only be through improvement of services delivery at the very very local level not only in urban areas; in urban areas yes but more important Mr. President at the local level where our poor people lives in large numbers;6.Promotes sustainable human development and human security. That is self explanatory. Democracy must promote human development and human security;7.Another clear one, combat corruption in all its forms and manifestations. This is clear combat corruption and all forms of impurity in our Continent;8.Force the people participation in governance and development. So democratic governance is not only confined to the leadership, the leadership provides the leadership, you steer the ship but people must be able to participate in the governance processes and appreciate the outcomes of the governance processes. So it emphasis on popular participation by our people in their own lives;9.Promotes gender balances, very important, gender balance and equality in governance. So, governance and development also emphasis the equality between man and women. Development and governance it is not only confined to men, it should be a men and women affair that the equality is expressed in both the benefits that emanate from a democratic governance and development; and10.Finally, promote best practices in the management of elections. I think that it is a quite a self evident that the election have to be managed in a credible, transparent and in accountable manner so that at the end of the day all contestants accepts the results because the process was transparency, was legitimate and accountable to all.Mr. President, let me move to a scope and coverage of the Charter, with the permission Sir. The Charter is a pocket size document, Honorable Members may have seen this, 40 pages, 11 Chapters, 53 Articles within the Charter. The language is very user friendly, easy to read and understand from Chapter one to last Chapter. It is now available in English, French, Portuguese and I think Arabic, you can confirm that, I think Arabic as well. So, in all the official languages of the AU, the Charter is now available for all of us to read and understand what it intends.It has 53 Articles as I have said but I am not going to dwell with the details of this because I think Honorable Members can go through this at their own leisure. Let me just highlight a few aspects, and those aspects will rotate around Mr. President, there are about six elements. The first will be on democracy, rule of law and human rights. The second will be on the culture of democracy and peace. The third will be on democratic institutions. The fourth on democratic elections. The fifth Mr. President and most importantly, sanctions in case of unconstitutional changes of Governments and final political and economic and social governance. Very briefly I will deal on those because the document already exists and we can go through each of those at our own leisure.Firstly on the democracy, rule of law and human rights, the emphasis in this Chapter is that, democracy is important and it must be promoted. By so saying then the AU very expressively is saying today in our Continent there is no other alternative to democracy, so democracy is a must according to the Charter. There is no other alternative governance arrangement besides democracy that is a starting point. And then to move forward to say in order to anchor democracy on a same foundation then you need rule of law, there is need for rule of law in order to protect and promote human rights. That is the main message on that Chapter. Democracy is only game in town, if I may use an American expression, is only game in town. And that being the case then we need to anchor it on same foundations and those foundations include among other things respect for rule of law and promotion and protection of human rights.Mr. President, then second Chapter, culture of democracy and peace, here Mr. President the point is been made very eloquently and without any equivocation that democracy requires stability, peace and security. Democracy in our Continent requires stability, peace and security and vis-à-vis. Peace and security to be sustainable in long term perspectives requires democratic regimes. So, the two are interwoven, democracy, peace and security. So, therefore, it behest on a new member states, that is what the Charter is saying, Mr. President to promote democracy and peace simultaneously because they are two sides of the same coin. Mr. President, that is the main message. And that also when we promote democracy, we must also simultaneously promote peace and this calls for civic education, this calls for peace education in our countries, this calls for promotion of national dialogue, when there are differences our people must be able to talk and resolve differences through dialogue not through the bullett.Mr. President, third Chapter is democratic institutions. On democratic institutions the emphasis is on strengthening institutional capacity of governance, that we have to strengthen deliberately the three key arms of government meaning the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary but as we strengthen the institutional capacities also be mindful deliberately that we need to inculcate a culture of separation of powers and checks and balances. So, the three arms operate optimally.Professionalized the Public Service is very important and professionalized security forces so that the Public Service and the Security Forces deliver services to our people in a nonpartisan manner, in impartial manner without them being politicized in one way or the other. Then the professionalism can be compromised. That is the message Mr. President, and which therefore, also leads to another important message that we need to ensure civilian control of security forces in our countries. That is the main message under that Chapter.The forth Charter that I would like to go through quick is democratic election. The Charter is very, very explicit Mr. President that Member States of the African Union have to commit themselves to regular transparent and credible elections in our Continent in conformity with 2002 African Union Declaration on Principles governing Democratic Elections through the following measures:1.Establishing Independent and Impartial Election Management Bodies, in other countries they are called Electoral Commissions;2.Timely and constructive management of elections related disputes. We know how election disputes in some of our countries have caused serious troubles, serious instability, mere civil wars if I put in that way. In some instances the AU had to intervene to mediate so that countries come back on track into anarchy, if I may put in that way Mr. President;3.Access to public resources by Contestants including the public media, resources for elections;4.Building a code of conduct for Electoral Contestants or Electoral Stakeholders; and finally5.Acceptance of election results and use of legal means to challenge contested outcomes. Acceptance of elections results where they are done according to the law of the country but if there is contestation of the outcomes that be done through legal means provided for within the country through its judicial system.Mr. President, the Charter also reminds AU Member States that the AU through the Democracy and Electoral Assistance Unit and Democracy Assistance Fund provides assistance to those countries that are holding elections. The AU is bound to provide assistance upon request from its Member States where such assistance is required with regard to elections. That assistance takes four main forms. Special advisory services on request, pre-election assessment missions, elections observation also upon request, post election, good offices and mediation. Those are the services that are provided for by the AU to its Member States ensure that elections are credible, transparent and legitimate and that the outcomes are accepted by all contestants in such elections.Mr. President, on unconstitutional changes of Governments, with your permission, in fact it emphasis that this Chapter on unconstitutional changes of Governments, if all the other Chapters in the Charter are the body of the Charter, this in fact is a very heart of the Charter. I am saying so because when the Charter was developed, that was the main concern because a number of countries while we were happy, what we had achieved in term of democratic transitions and advancement in our Continent but by late 2000, 2004-2005, we began to see the resurgence of unconstitutional changes military coups and in some instances changes of Constitutions to prolong tenure. So, Mr. President, this was one of the concerns and it was a major concern that is why I am calling it the heart beat of the Charter.By the way Mr. President, the Charter defines unconstitutional changes in very interesting ways. It defines unconstitutional changes in five many ways:1.A coup d'état against a democratically reelected government;2.Any intervention by mercenaries to replace a democratically elected government;3.Any replacement of a democratically elected government by armed dissidents or rebels;4.Any refusal by any incumbent government to relinquish power to the winning party or candidate after free, fair and regular elections; and5.Any amendment or revision of Constitution which is an infringement on the principle of democratic change of government.Mr. President, so, it is five definitions very comprehensive definition of how we can define unconstitutional change of government. And if any of those five instances happen, the AU through its Peace and Security Council shall intervene diplomatically. And the concerned state part in this regard is suspended immediately if diplomatic interventions do not exceed. The AU in the mean time still maintains diplomatic contract Mr. President and Member State is also expected to fulfill its AU obligations. The perpetrators of unconstitutional change of Government are not allowed to contest elections held to restore democratic order or hold any positions of responsibility in that country. That is as far as unconstitutional changes of governments is treated in the Charter and it is a very serious issue that the Charter takes with seriousness that it deserves.Mr. President, another Chapter I want to deal with is the political, economic and social governance. This Chapter is also important because it emphasizes the point that democracies must deliver services. Democracies must deliver human development, must deliver human security and must also help in eradicating poverty. So our people appreciate the value of democracy. Democracies must help us combat corruption, democracy must help us to combat social illnesses and diseases such as Malaria, TB and HIV and Aids. So that people are able to appreciate that democracies can also have a social value.And finally is achieving key objectives of NEPAD, APRM and Millennium Development Goals, should be promoted in our countries.Mr. President, let me go back now to the issue of ratification. And I will repeat some of the important message that Honorable Gumbo shared with the Honorable House. The Charter was adopted on 30th January 2007 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia as I have said, and now that the Charter has been adopted, the challenge is signing, ratification, domestication and its application by Member States. And the AU is self concern with slow pace of ratification of AU Treaties and Charters. In 2010 there was an Executive Council meeting and took a clear decision on this matter. In that decision the Executive Council appeals to the Pan African Parliament to assist with the advocacy and sensitization of the AU Member States to expedite ratification. And on this point I think it is worth noting that within the Charter, the Charter itself under mechanisms of application indicates that the Pan African Parliament will be responsible for monitoring and evaluation of implementation of the Charter and therefore this Executive Council decision of 2010 or 2009 therefore reinforces that aspect of the Charter.Honorable Gumbo has already indicated to us that there are 36 AU Member States all in all we have 53 AU Member States by the way. Of the 53 Member States, only 36 have signed up to the Charter but we require 15 ratifications before the Charter comes into force. So far only 7 countries have ratified, he listed those countries to us, Mauritania, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso, Lesotho, Rwanda and Ghana. If we look at regional record, this is what we find in terms of ratification so far, in West Africa 3 has ratified, East Africa 2 has ratified, Southern Africa 1 has ratified, Central Africa, no country has ratified, North Africa 1 has ratified. That is the record and if I were to be frank, in a diplomatic way, I would say the record is not encouraging and therefore, there is need to accelerate ratification.But in order for us to locate the problem, I think there is need for me to first highlight that I see too many challenges towards ratification. One, political will on the part of AU Members State to ratify because they adopted the Charter anyway, they have adopted and some of them has signed. So, the political will to ratify the Charter is still a challenge. Second, in certain instances it is not only the political will but also prolonged procedures for ratification of the Charter. So, I think as we accelerate the process of ratification we need to be mindful of those two major challenges.Although our Constitutions differ, in some countries, ratification is the prerogative of the Executive alone and then the Executive can just inform Parliament. In other instances, the Executive has to also consult Parliament and Parliament passes the relevant legislation, so you have two processes. But all in all the process follows a similar kind of pattern. There could be slight variations, the issues is handled by the Minister of Foreign Affairs who then works with the relevant Ministries and then a Technical Committee is established to review the relevance of the Treaty to the country and then it goes to the relevant authority either the Executive or Parliament and then it passes. And then the instrument of ratification is prepared by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and submitted to the AU. When you look at it is so simple, it is straight forward but there are a lot of challenges that our countries face in this regard.Mr. President, I would like just to share with you Your Excellency my thoughts on the way forward. The AU has taken a positive step in adopting the Charter in 2007, however, it has proved that it is easier to adopt the Charter and much harder to ratify and apply it at national level. So far only 7 AU Member States have ratified the Charter. It is a serious indictment on the level of political commitment for its domestication and application. Fifteen ratification by 2011 should form a minimum programme for Pan African Parliament before 2011 campaign. The ultimate goal should be that all 53 countries should ratify the Charter beyond ratification itself the PAP should develop a programme for monitoring and evaluation of the domestication application of the Charter with this same Charter because under the Chapter on Application Mechanisms, the PAP has been dealing given those powers, to monitor and evaluate its implementation and application.The PAP Mr. President has already taken both steps in promoting the ratification of the Charter. This has taken the form of before 2011 campaign which is a very interesting campaign that we from the UNDP will support whole heartily. The campaign is aimed at securing 11 ratification before the end of 2011. This will ensure that the Charter comes into force Mr. President in 2011 in earnest. This campaign started off in Kampala as Honorable Gumbo has indicated, for East African Region in July this year and the Central African it will take place early in September in N’djamena- Chad, the Southern African Region took place in Victoria Falls-Zimbabwe, it is anticipated that the next stage of the campaign will take place in Dakar-Senegal and Alger-Algeria before end of this year. From all these regional consultations Mr. President, Members of the PAP have taken firm positions regarding the urgency for ratifications of the Charter. This includes the following:1.That all Members of the PAP implore their Government to sign, ratify, domesticate and apply the Charter;2.That PAP Regional Committees, Regional Parliamentary Bodies, popularized the Charter for African Citizens to own the process. There is need for the popularization of the Charter so that citizens themselves know the Charter not just the political leadership alone;3.That PAP to adopt a resolution imploring African Governments to speed up or expedite ratifications of the Charter;4.That PAP should identify champions in all the 5 Regions of Africa to propel the 11 before the 2011 campaign;5.That PAP should target African countries that have acceded to APRM to ratify the Charter and show leadership in African Government advancement; and6.That Members of PAP should appoint relevant National Parliamentary Committees to bring to the attention of their Parliaments the need to expedite ratification of the Charter.In conclusion Mr. President, on behalf of the UNDP, we would like to thank you heartily and I would like too also pass thank to my superior from New York in particular Dr. Getu who is the head of Regional Bureau of Africa at the UNDP.Mr. President, with those few remarks, I would like to thank you heartily, thank you very much. (Applause)THE PRESIDENT:Thank you very much Dr. Khabele Matlosa. I shall now allow debate on the promotion of the ratification of the African Charter on Democracy, Election and Governance. I have a list of two speakers; the first one is Honorable Ilimi Farida.HON. ILIMI FARIDA [ALGERIE]:Je vous remercie, Monsieur le Président.Monsieur le Président,Honorable assistance,Je saisis cette grande opportunité pour vous féliciter et féliciter l’Exécutif pour les efforts déployés dans l’amélioration du fonctionnement du Parlement panafricain, en si peu de temps, malgré les insuffisances déjà signalées par les collègues, hier. Je suis sûre que, avec votre engagement et votre dévouement, tous ces problèmes relevés trouveront une solution au bénéfice de notre chère institution. Soyez rassuré, Monsieur le Président, que nous relèverons ensemble, avec tous les collègues ici présents, les défis.Permettez-moi de renouveler ma confiance et ma gratitude pour l’intérêt particulier que vous accordez aux thèmes majeurs de notre auguste assemblée, à savoir:1.La transformation du Parlement panafricain consultatif en un organe législatif, et2.la ratification de la Charte africaine de la démocratie, des élections et de la gouvernance.Dans ce cadre, je félicite l’organisation et le bon déroulement des rencontres régionales organisées par notre Parlement à Kampala, à Ndjamena et à Victoria Falls, dont l’objet vient de faire sujet à débat à l’ordre du jour de nos travaux.Mes félicitations sont d’autant plus motivées, du fait de l’excellent déroulement de ces rencontres régionales au sujet de thèmes si importants, dans le cadre de la concrétisation de l’intégration politique et économique de notre continent.Il s’agit de fructueux débats et de propositions constructives en faveur de l’instauration d’une réelle démocratie dans notre continent, aboutissant sans aucun doute à une gestion régie par une bonne gouvernance, à travers l’adoption et l’application des dispositions de la Charte africaine de la démocratie, des élections et de la gouvernance.Monsieur le Président,Pour achever le cycle de ces rencontres, comme prévues avant la fin de l’année en cours, je félicite la programmation de la tenue des deux rencontres dans les deux régions restantes, à savoir l’Afrique du Nord et l’Afrique de l’Ouest.Dans ce cadre, et en tant que députée venant du parlement algérien, je tiens à signaler que notre pays a été à l’avant-garde dans le domaine de la démocratie, des élections et de la gouvernance. A cet égard, je rappelle que notre pays a dépassé la crise politique depuis 1995 avec des élections présidentielles plurielles, et depuis 1997, date à partir de laquelle une importante loi cadre régit le déroulement des élections démocratiques et transparentes.En effet, depuis cette date, et à ce jour, dans le strict respect des dispositions contenues dans notre Constitution et inscrites dans ladite loi électorale, la Charte africaine de la démocratie, des élections et de la gouvernance, soumise à débat aujourd’hui, est venue réconforter notre option anticipée dans ce domaine; ainsi, et depuis cette date, il a été mis fin à toute crise politique inhérent aux élections transparentes dans le domaine de la bonne gouvernance et de la gestion des institutions à tous les niveaux, à savoir les élections locales et législatives en 1997, l’élection présidentielle en 1999 et, depuis, le processus démocratique continue jusqu’à ce jour.De ce fait, Monsieur le Président, l’on peut constater, dans ce cadre, l’excellent rapport fait par le MAEP en guise d’évaluation de la gestion politique et administrative de l’Algérie qui a été soumise à un débat général dans cet hémicycle et en présence du ministre représentant l’Etat Algérien.Je vous réitère, Monsieur le Président, mon soutien pour toutes les actions que vous entreprenez dans le sens de rehausser le prestige de notre institution.Je vous remercie de votre attention.HON. MASEBO TEMBO SYLVIA [ZAMBIA]:Thank you Mr. President. Mr. President, I just want first of all to commend the presenter on the promotion for the ratification of the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance, and also to say that as a Member of the SADC, the Southern African Region, we had the privilege of getting more information on this subject matter at the Victoria falls workshop. And also to say Mr. President that this presentation has really opened us up as Members of Parliament and also just to commend the UNDP Representative who has made this presentation and to say that after the SADC workshop, a number of us who returned home did try to get in touch with our governments, in particular, our Ministers of Justice and Ministers of Foreign Affairs to begin to advocate for the ratification of this important Charter. I would like to say that Zambia is currently in the process of ratifying this Charter.Your Excellency, I also wanted to mention that whilst most of our countries in the continent and indeed in the region, have in their current laws, and are implementing some of the issues that are articulated in the Charter, I can safely say that there is still much more that needs to be done. The process of ratification is not in itself an end, but domesticating and ensuring that the application of this Charter gets down to the grassroots level is also important. I really feel that as Members of Parliament and Members of this PAP, we have a big role to ensure that the people on the ground begin to understand and appreciate what this Charter all about. To that extent, I would like to thank the presenter because he has equipped us with that knowledge, by giving us the background objectives and the scope of this Charter, so that when we get back to our countries, we can begin to articulate the issues that are in this Charter.Just as the presenter Mr. President has said that for the AU, democracy is a must. I think for us as PAP, this Charter must be a must - in terms of ensuring that it is ratified and applied in our various countries, and indeed in the whole continent. As I earlier said Mr. President, whilst in agreement that most of our countries are trying to live up to the expectations of this Charter, it would still be fair and right for me to say that we still have problems even in countries where we have Electoral Commissions that have been established, and are seen to be independent. There are still problems in terms of accepting the results of the elections that normally take place in our continent. We still have a problem in terms of gender imbalances in our continent. We still have situations where when a women is being appointed, you have phrases like; we are looking for quality women to appoint or we don’t have enough quality women to appoint, and yet when appointments are being done to our male counterparts, those adjectives are not put in place. And we see many of our countries, men in positions but cannot perform, and women being left behind. And even here at PAP sometimes we hear that it is difficult to find women, that women did not participate. I think that there is need for affirmative action to ensure that women become equal partners in national development.The issue of popular participation is still an issue, it is still a challenge and I think that there is need for us to ensure that power is decentralized or is devolved to the grassroots so that our people fully participate. There is cosmetic citizen participation in many of our countries today Mr. President; and I think that we need to learn best practices from our colleagues or from within our continent in areas of how best our people can fully participate. Not the cosmetic participation that we see, especially in the area of gender participation and of the vulnerable people.Mr. President, lastly, I just want to say that this issue is a big challenge for us and for your leadership and the Bureau. But I have confidence that with you at the helm of PAP, we shall indeed get all the necessary or the number of the countries that are required in order for the Charter to become enforceable. Because without the full ratification of the required number, then it means that we will be going many, many years backwards in our endeavour to ensure that there is equal participation, fair elections and that democracy is entrenched.I thank you Mr. President.HON. VIEYRA SOGLO ROSINE [BENIN]:Je vous remercie, Monsieur le Président. Vous voyez, je tâtonne. Heureusement qu’il y a le viceprésident qui est à mes côtés et qui m’aide.Je constate, Monsieur le Président, que c’est la journée des femmes, car ce matin, il y a déjà trois femmes qui ont pris la parole. C’est une véritable joie, pour moi.Monsieur le Président,J’ai écouté religieusement notre présentateur, parce qu’il a parlé d’or. Il n’a fait que confirmer, en ce qui me concerne, nos certitudes et nos croyances, à savoir que les prix des bottes des militaires doivent s’arracher dans les casernes. Ils doivent rester au camp. Et, les mercenaires, non plus, ne doivent plus venir s’immiscer dans les affaires d’un Gouvernement qui a été légalement et démocratiquement élu.Je voudrais dire ici, ce qu’il en est, Monsieur le Président, d’un Gouvernement ou d’un Président qui a été démocratiquement élu et qui passe son temps à menacer sa population, à la bousiller, à cogner sur les parlementaires et à vouloir mettre son pays à feu et à sang. Par rapport à cette situation, que dit la Charte? Est-ce qu’elle ne parle pas de cela? Car, mon Président qui a été élu lors du changement, à qui j’ai donné mes voix et les voix de mon parti qui est la Renaissance du Bénin, au premier tour, a eu 35%, et au second tour, 75%. C’était du jamais vu, parce que même le Président SOGLO, ni le Président Mathieu KEREKOU n’ont pas atteint ce score. Il l’a eu, parce que lors du changement, nous y avons effectivement cru. Mais, au bout de 5 ans, nous n’avons rien vu, pas de changement, nous sommes tombés de Charybde en Scylla.Monsieur le Président,Quand le monsieur a parlé de démocratie, j’ai compris que la démocratie, c’est le fait de rechercher le bien-être de sa population. Notre Président, lui, passe son temps en hélicoptère. Comme disent les militaires, « le terrain commande ». Comment peut-il savoir ce qui se passe dans le pays, Monsieur le Président, mes chers collègues, s’il ne descend pas pour voir dans quel état sont les routes, dans quel état sont les populations? Et, au Bénin aujourd’hui, il y a des gens qui n’ont plus qu’un repas par jour. Monsieur le Président, c’est la réalité et je n’invente rien, car Madame Rosine VIEYRA SOGLO est peut-être pire que la femme de Socrate, mais elle ne raconte jamais d’histoires et ne ment jamais.Si j’ai dit cela, c’est parce que le Président YAYI BONI a dit, chez moi, dans mon salon, qu’il allait tous nous bousiller, cogner sur les parlementaires et mettre le pays à feu et à sang, parce que nous parlons d’un gigantesque scandale qui s’appelle UCC qui a mis un milliard de gens par terre. ‘Les petites gens de l’économie’, voilà ce qu’il m’a répondu.Alors, est-ce que notre Charte parle de cela? Moi, si je suis venue au PAP, aujourd’hui, dans l’état où je suis, c’est pour parler de cela, pour que vous l’appreniez, pour que chacun d’entre vous, en rentrant chez lui, puisse dire: « Voilà ce qui se passe au Bénin; le Bénin, le Dahomey, le magnifique Dahomey, voilà ce qui s’y passe, aujourd’hui!Je crois qu’il faut déjà que je m’arrête, parce que je commence à m’énerver, et comme disent mes petits-enfants: « Grand-mère, tu dois pouvoir te calmer!». Alors, je vous remercie, mes chers collègues. Monsieur le Président, je vous remercie pour m’avoir donné la parole.(Applaudissements)HON. ALI BAHARI [KENYA]:Thank you Mr. President for giving me this opportunity. I want to start by appreciating the presenter, Dr. Khabele, for his very well educative presentation. I also want to thank the Bureau of the PAP and the President for allowing Dr. Khabele to come and present to the Pan-African Parliament, which is a continental institution.Mr. President, I think the topic of today is very vital. It is also good that the Pan-African Parliament has been given the responsibility to popularize this Charter, which African countries are very reluctant to ratify as it has been confirmed. Mr. President, I think it is time that we held these countries accountable as part of our role to ensure that the role of oversight is carried out.Mr. President, if you look at any of the Republics in Africa, they are all "democratic" as it were. You will hear the Democratic Republic of A to Z, yet Mr. President, the democratic culture is absent. So the issue is not about democracy; everybody claims to be democratic. The issue is about the practice and the democratic culture that ought to be enshrined in our Constitutions and in our day to day activities.Mr. President, I am happy that the presenter mentioned the issue of professionalism in the Civil Service and in the military. We should be asking ourselves, in the first instance; at is the basis of democratic practice? And one of the strong foundations of democratic practice is the Constitution of a country when the Constitution of a country fails you, then you can be rest assured that the country has failed.I want to give an example of my own country, Kenya, where we went through an election that was not independent, and I must say that it was not independent and it actually derailed us from the democratic process that we had enjoyed for a long time. It is only recently that Kenya went through a constitutional amendment or reconstruction of a Constitution through popular participation because we inherited the Constitution that we have used until July last year from the colonial masters. It was negotiated in Lancaster and the participation of our people was hardly there. It is only through this Constitution where people participated from the grassroots - the common person - that we can now feel that actually, we now have a Constitution. Because I now do realize and most Kenyans wonder, "How did we even survive all a long, yet we comforted ourselves that we had a good Constitution?" I can assure you that 99 percent of the countries in Africa are still in that deceptive zone. We better get out of it; we better move out, involve our people in the Constitution making process and do so in a democratic manner that is not dictated by the elite. We do not want to see the Constitutions crafted by the elite of a country for themselves in order to continue staying in power. It is high time- (Applause) - that the people themselves are involved to the end. Mr. President, those are some of the signs that we need to review the constitutional dispensation before it fails us.The next one is the issue of "presidentialism", and I want to note that perhaps the presenter did not mention this and I want him to dwell on it. Where the president is ‘god-given’ that he is always referred to, where all the universities are named after the President, all the streets are named after the President, everything is the President. He is the one who gives and takes it away. Where does that kind of power come from? It is high time we got out of that and diffused these powers to the grassroots, to the regions, to the institutions.Mr. President, as Members, let us look at our own countries and then evaluate our countries along these lines? How strong is the President’s power? If everybody has to pledge loyalty to the President to survive and that is where we were, then you are in trouble, I can assure you.I remember a time when every Friday, Members of Parliament had to visit State House to be facilitated. Today in Kenya, even if you get a card to go to State House, you do not go. Nobody goes even when the cards are available because you do not need it. You have to set up your structure in such a manner that do not need that institution for life to go on.Mr. President, one of the indicators of "presidentialism" is where the term of the president is unlimited. Why should the term of anybody be unlimited? Are there no good people? And it creates a crisis where either military coups come in, detentions, and all sorts of unconstitutional seizure of power. Mr. President, I believe that in a democratic set-up, there must be a limit to the terms of the President.Mr. President, the other issue is the issue of Independent Electoral Commissions, which the presenter mentioned. How independent are the independent electoral commissions? In Kenya it is Parliament which interviews the commissioners. It is Parliament, representing its different shades of opinion which approves the Commissioners.I know in 2006, I was on a parliamentary mission in Namibia and we were discussing our Electoral Commission. I remember having a heated debate with some of our colleagues and that debate ended up where we were when we had the electoral violence because it was the President who unilaterally appointed the Electoral Commission then. We have now moved from that situation and we have an Electoral Commission affirmed by Parliament. It is properly vetted and everybody has confidence in it. You cannot expect to have a referee who is also biased and appointed by one person in the name of the President, who is also a competitor.Mr. President, I want to come to the issue of-THE PRESIDENT:Can you conclude Honorable Bahari.HON. ALI BAHARI [KENYA]:Mr. President, I want to conclude by saying that ultimately, service delivery is a must so that people can have the right to change governments at any time when services are not delivered to them. Thank you Mr. President.HON. NJIKELANA SISA JAMES [SOUTH AFRICA]:Thank you, Mr. President. Today is an inspiring day because I regard the fact that we are discussing and debating the African Charter as a test case for the Pan-African Parliament, the extent to which it can be effective in realizing its mandate as it has been given by the African Union Assembly. I trust and hope all of us here will ensure that we share that with our colleagues back in our various countries, this challenge of a test case, as to the effectiveness of this august House in ensuring that instruments that have been adopted by the African Union to ensure a better Africa, are truly realized.Mr. President, can I just share a few things with this august House regarding this Charter? The first one is that whilst I applaud Mr. Matlosa’s presentation, I feel strongly that he should have emphasized the cardinal importance of promoting and domestication of the Charter. Maybe because he is not an Honourable Member of Parliament, he appeared to be a bit diplomatic on that. But it is very important for us to understand that the world at large is littered with similar instruments, but the extent to which they have been implemented and realized in each country, not only in Africa, but all over, is one that is highly questionable. Yes, at times some of these instruments, the charters, treaties and protocols etc, have been implemented, but at times partially implemented and at times, as hon. Bahari has just said, have been undermined.Hence, also, it is important that I make this appeal to all Members here. If they commit themselves to take the Charter back to their countries, promote and domesticate it, it is equally important that down the line there is feedback to this August House, Mr. President. We need to share experiences in future as to the extent to which we have been able to go beyond mere ratification of the Charter, but also share to what extent have you been able to domesticate the Charter in our various countries.The same applies to the linkage with the APRM, the African Peer Review Mechanism. I maintain strongly that in our induction with the other organs of the African Union, we should make sure that the implementation, monitoring of domestication of this Charter should form, amongst other things, the link with the APRM. I think that will help a lot as well.Lastly, Chair, the significance of the role of Parliaments as well as civil society organizations has to be emphasized once again. I am aware Mr. Matlosa had raised this, but I feel that let me reemphasize it. If we want to deepen democracy and ensure that our people whom we represent are a part of the determination of their own destinies amongst other things, we should make sure that we mobilize them together with all our member parliamentarians back at home, to be part of the drive to promote this Charter. I thank you, Mr. President.HON. DERY AMBROSE [GHANA]:Thank you Mr. President. Although 3 minutes is rather tight, I would like to thank the Fourth Vice President for the good presentation, and also thank the Representative from UNDP.First of all, on ratification, I want to acknowledge the good work of PAP under your leadership for organizing those seminars. But before you even get to West Africa, I want to inform you of the impact of PAP in the ratification of this Charter by Ghana.The leader of Ghana’s delegation to this Parliament is the First Deputy Speaker and when he went back to Ghana, he advocated. He was in the chair on the day when Parliament was approving and the rest of us Members of PAP helped from the Chamber. So, I want to congratulate you and say that the ratification for Ghana, part of the credit comes to your advocacy and the impact from PAP. I also want to tell you that whilst we welcome the Executive Council’s mandate that we should ensure that this Charter becomes a reality, we should send it back to the AU in respect of countries where the Executive has the exclusive power to ratify. It is our duty, to let the Heads of those countries know that we are depending on them to get the Charter ratified.It is only in the cases of those countries where Parliament should ratify that we will continue with the seminars. But let them understand that for those countries where the Executive has a control, we wish to send a message to them that they should ratify.I agree with Dr. Matlosa that there was a paradigm shift from OAU to AU in that we now look inside the countries, we don’t overemphasize sovereignty. But there was another paradigm shift which we should take note of. And that is the paradigm shift of what democracy is. What are the elements of that? You would recall that the founding fathers of OAU, most of them had one party Governments, and in fact it became the fashion after 1963. But now political pluralism is one of the paradigm shifts in this whole Charter. Indeed we have now come to what Winston Churchill once said; that multiparty democracy is the worst form of government except all forms of government which have been tried. In other words, it is the best form of government. What is democracy? What are the elements? First of all, Executive power must have limits. (Laughter) Don’t ordain presidents for life; that cannot be part of a democracy. There must be multiparty, there must be independent Judiciary, there must be an independent Electoral Commission. Sometimes I hear people talk of Electoral Commissioners as weak and easily manipulated, I wonder. In Ghana the Electoral Commissioner, you need to know him, he is as hard as rock and he doesn’t listen to anybody. So, these are the elements that we should take. What is democracy?Now, I come to a point that we are all running away from. He says that unconstitutional change is the heart. I want to say that in our representation of the majority of Africa is the heart. Now, what do I mean? Over 51 percent of the population of Africa is women. Are they represented? They are not represented. And if we don’t take care of that, you cannot have representative governments that represent less than 50 percent of the population, simple! You don’t even have to go to gender. It has to do with statistics. So, if you go ahead and say, let’s change by a free and fair election. As long as over 51 percent are not represented, there is no representation. Yes, there was 100 percent representation in the Greek city states of Athens and Sparta, but since here we have come to representive government, women must be represented. (Applause) Because of your 3 minutes, I have to wind up. (Laughter)Finally, let’s deal with unconstitutional changes of government. Yes, coups we know, but what is more dangerous is the manipulation by people in power. We saw what happened in Niger, where they organized a referendum to get approval to dissolve Parliament. Straight away, it is an illegal referendum because parliament, to represent the people is part of the essential composition of a democratic government. And that is what we should take note of. We want to take precedence, they don’t want to hand over power and they are finding ways of staying in power. So, Mr. President, well we obey your instructions and to say that Pan African Parliament has role to play and we are already showing it and that is why I want to remind you of the fact that we think that we cannot do things jointly with the Executive, the Assembly. So, we should do it independently.Thank you Mr. President. (Applause)LE PRÉSIDENT:Dans le cadre de la promotion du genre et pour donner la place qu’il faut à la femme, nous devons saluer la République du Sénégal qui a pris une loi qui impose la parité à l’ensemble des élections aussi bien législatives que locales. Cela mérite des applaudissements.(Applaudissements).HON. SUAD EL FATEH EL BADAOUI [SUDAN]:بسم هللا الرحمن الرحيمThank you very much Mr. President. I thank all the speakers for their valuable talks.I have five points to make very quickly. The first point is about Constitutionalism. I think this is a very important way of combating corruption in Africa because corruption is the cancer that is eating up the rights of people.My second point is that the prevalence of democracy results in equality and we need equality between people. And the criteria of equality are qualifications. May be I will be different a bit from people who are selling gender. I think qualifications are the most important criteria in putting people in important places, important responsibilities, not only the gender. So, our work and our task are to go on very zealously to train women to become qualified to take any position. Although this is my opinion, back in Sudan, they have passed a law giving women 25 percent of the seats of the Parliament, now 1/4 of the Parliament of the Sudan are women.Third, the Civil Service is one of the main problems of our Continent. So, good governance is the only practical way to establish a transparent, clean, professional service to the masses of the people. Nobody cares about the people and nobody care about the masses. People care about positions and about securing places and chairs in the Governments and in the Civil Service. I think this Charter will help us a lot to correct ourselves.My forth point is what the Minister of Foreign Affairs of South Africa earlier was talking about arranged and holding elections. And here I must point something very important and that is some of the states of Africa carry an elections under arms, if you dare to disturb their arrangements they arrest you, imprison you and even kill you backed by strong media and big powers behind them, they get away with it. What are we going to do about this? I am putting this question to the Honorable Members, to the gentlemen who are talking to us now about governance and good elections and democracy in Africa. I say this because I feel we Africans are very good planners but when it comes to implementation and action, we find ourselves powerless. We just talk and talk, plan and plan but when it comes to implementation we are very weak.My last point Mr. President is the ratification of this Charter. It is very important that this Charter should be ratified, domesticated and applied. And we must find practical and applicable ways to make it work. This is not the task of PAP and its Bureau; it is the task of PAP to arrange and to plan ways and means through its Members to go out to their Parliaments and to advocate and popularized the ratification of this Charter. Thank you.HON. ABDUL-RASHID PELPUO [GHANA]:Thank you Mr. Speaker, I also rise to contribute on this very important presentation made by Dr Matlosa and wish to say that this is a very critical moment for Africa; to define herself and prove to the whole world that when we are talking about uniting ourselves and defining for ourselves the principles that bind us, we are serious about it.Mr. President, the presenter started by talking about migration from the OAU to the AU, from the culture of non interference to the culture of non-indifference, which he called a paradigm shift. This paradigm shift he has talked about cannot be said only with our minds but without our hearts as well. Mr. President the world is looking at us. I am scandalized to think that we have set ourselves the target of uniting ourselves, the target of defining for ourselves principles and ideas that will enable Africa to move herself from one point to the other without adhering to the same principles we have set ourselves. To think that only seven countries have agreed to ratify this treaty is scandalous, it is important for us all in PAP and elsewhere to advocate and ensure that our countries do adhere to these principles and do ratify this Charter.Mr. President, in order to run a successful statecraft, we must ensure that we stay united and abide with the principles that will unite us. A successful state craft can only be successful in a community of nations if Africa is serious with herself. I sometimes wonder whether in the course of history all the pain we have come through to find unity in ourselves; from the OAU right up to the AU, from the struggle against slavery to the struggle against colonialism until we find ourselves free to work together, whether we are serious with everything we do; whether the democracy we are now practicing, we are serious with it. Because if we are serious about democracy and we advocate it as the only course of action in governance, why on earth are we not ratifying the very basic principles that define our democracy? Mr. Speaker, I want to deplore the attitudes of African people and say that we must never go back to find ourselves using coup d’états to solve our problems, when famine, civil wars and destruction define our various countries. We have to move forward and we must as a people, stop the God-like reverence to our leaders and pretend that they are people who cannot be taken away from leadership, even if it is glaringly clear that other people can do exactly what they are doing.Mr. Speaker, in order to conclude, I want to say that we have a duty, and the duty is very straight forward and simple. It is that we have to recognize and know ourselves. We have to soul search ourselves and know that Africa has one way open to her, to unite and forge ahead and to find unity in our development.Thank you very much.HON. MABILETSA ISAAC STEPHEN [BOTSWANA]:Thank you Mr. President. I think this is my second privilege to listen to a presentation by Dr. Matlosa, who is so eloquent and very thought provoking. But I want to say to him, Dr. Matlosa, the context and the principles of the Charter are clear and unambiguous and are very attractive to one’s mind. But what I really wish you to take note of is that, when you speak to Members of PAP, you are speaking to the converted. If the requirement to ratify the Charter was through PAP, I can tell you by now, the ratification could have been over-subscribed. But the problem basically is really with men at the top, the men who acceded to the Charter. Sometimes I doubt if all or some of them understood what they were acceding to, because if they did, we wouldn’t be talking about undersubscribed ratification in the way that it has been articulated to us. Therefore, I think the real challenge is with our Heads of State.The reason why I am saying you are speaking to the converted is that; really the people that understand democracy most are Members of Parliament. I think in this House there may be so many of us who have tested both sides of being a Parliamentarian. But there is first of all some who will be in the House like me, I have lost, I know the pain of losing the elections. Some in this House have won. They know the beauty of winning the elections. You know, this is really where the problem stands, and in our history, we have never heard at any stage where a Member of Parliament has staged a coup d’état or a Member of Parliament refusing to vacate his or her seat. This is very important. (Laughter)Mr. President, you know we really have a big challenge; in particular I want to acquaint my remarks with those of the Member from Kenya on the ‘presidentialism’. This is where basically the problem lies. What I have observed is that democracy and elections are just used by some leaders as a license to become oppressors and dictators themselves. We have to check on this Mr. President.I know my time is running up, but if you allow me to continue with this please. First of all the manipulation start from the political party level, where Members hope to be rewarded because they are supporting one and the same President, through and through. Now we have some Presidents in African who are life Presidents without declaring themselves as such. I thank you.HON. KANDEH MAMMA [GAMBIA]:Thank you very much, hon. President for giving me this opportunity. I also want to join my colleagues in thanking the presenter for a well presented document this morning. Anyway, many of the issues I want to raise have already been said by colleagues, and I do not want to repeat them, but, my contribution is going to be in the form of questions.The first thing is, we are talking about democracy, and the presenter mentioned that we cannot have democracy in the absence of peace and stability. But how do we achieve peace and stability in our continent?The AU position on the unconstitutional change of government, the coup d’états that are taking place in Africa; many of the times it is the very people, the AU people, who will end up negotiating with those rebels or those who launch the coup d’état. So, automatically you are encouraging somebody that you can make a coup d’état and then we will end up negotiating with you. You even go for elections and that is what the foreign minister meant when she said that there is going to be an organized election and this is happening still. What is the AU position? Are we really serious? That is number 1.Number 2, the unconstitutional change of Government and he mentioned five points. But my question is; how do we call a government that is changing their Constitution to suit their needs because they do not want to hand over power? How do we call that? What is the AU position on that?The third one is, how are we going to achieve peace and stability in our continent? When people go to elections, they make long queues to vote for their candidate of choice and at the end of the day this candidate or the winner is not known, so they end up negotiating between the two candidates? For example what happened in Kenya when hundreds of people were killed and thousands were displaced? Who won the election?Mr. President, I have a last question, please. The other issue is; we should do as much as possible to do away with the interference of the outside world when it comes to our peace and stability. The most confusing factor during the elections in Zimbabwe was the media. The media started announcing the results when the Independent Electoral Commission had not announced their results. They were giving different results from 63 percent, then 51 percent YOU name it. Where did they get those results? And these are issues that cannot bring peace and stability in our continent. I thank you Mr. President.HON. KANE BOCAR SADIKH [SENEGAL]:Je vous remercie, Monsieur le Président.Monsieur le Président,Je joins ma voix à celles de mes prédécesseurs pour féliciter le représentant du PNUD et sa hiérarchie, ainsi que le 4e Vice-président, pour leurs interventions à la fois claires et brillantes.Monsieur le Président,Je vais axer mon intervention sur le chapitre 9 de la Charte. Le chapitre 9 parle de la gouvernance économique et sociale. Il y a une de mes collègues qui a évoqué tout à l’heure ce chapitre, pour parler de la décentralisation, de la lutte contre la pauvreté, pour ne pas seulement se focaliser sur les élections. On peut avoir de très beaux textes qui organisent les élections et gagner démocratiquement des élections mais, si à la pratique, on se rend compte que les pays ne décentralisent pas cette démocratie au plan économique et social, il y aura toujours des problèmes, dans les pays.L’Assemblée générale des Nations unies s’est terminée le 22 septembre. Elle a travaillé sur les OMD et force est de reconnaître aujourd’hui que l’OMD1 qui lutte contre la pauvreté est loin d’être atteint dans nos pays. Je pense que, fondamentalement, cette Charte est très bonne. Si on peut parler de valeurs partagées au niveau universel, c’est bien cette Charte-là. Mais, nous, pays africains, ne nous laissons pas entraîner par des élections tout simplement. Regardons dans la Charte les dispositions qui lutteront effectivement contre la pauvreté, des dispositions qui décentraliseront le pouvoir, des dispositions qui amèneront à décentraliser les richesses, pour qu’il y ait un partage équitable de celles-ci dans tous les pays!Fondamentalement, dans les pays africains, les peuples souffrent. Je ne suis pas d’accord avec mon collègue qui a parlé, tout à l’heure, pour faire l’éloge des députés. Les députés sont l’émanation du peuple et la plupart des députés ne s’occupent que de leurs poches et de leur réélection. En général, il y a une complicité non dite entre les chefs d’Etat qui veulent s’installer ad vitam aeternam au pouvoir et les parlements, puisque le changement des dispositions dans les Constitutions amène le pouvoir à s’éterniser. Qui les vote? Ce sont nos parlements nationaux. C’est nous qui les votons!Qu’est-ce qui se passe? Même si, au fond de nous-mêmes, nous ne sommes pas partisans de ces changements mais, la dynamique de groupe et la hantise de perdre son poste nous amène à voter! Disons les choses telles quelles!C’est la raison pour laquelle j’ai dit que, pour changer les choses, il faut qu’on soit réaliste; il ne faut pas rêver. Travaillons sur les conditions, qui feront que les Africains changent de niveau de vie!Aujourd’hui, il y a des chiffres au niveau international qui prouvent - ce sont les chiffres de 2006 - que l’Afrique transfert 501 milliards de dollars, par année, dans les banques et les multinationales du nord, alors que l’aide publique au développement n’est que de 81 milliards de dollars. Faites la différence et vous vous rendrez compte que l’Afrique travaille pour l’Europe, pour le nord et que nous ne pourrons pas nous développer, si nous ne réfléchissons pas par rapport à ces situations qui sont là et qui appauvrissent davantage l’Afrique. C’est cela la réalité.Nos matières premières ont été dévaluées et cela nous revient avec des valeurs ajoutées inqualifiable! Ce qui fait que nous plongeons toujours dans la pauvreté. Aujourd’hui, qu’on le veuille ou non, l’Afrique, globalement, a sombré davantage dans la pauvreté et c’est là où se situe le débat. Le débat ne se situe pas seulement au niveau des élections. On peut avoir des élections très bonnes, parfaites, transparentes mais qu’en est-il du Sénégalais lambda qui souffre de la pauvreté, qui ne peut même pas avoir un dollar par jour, qui ne peut pas se soigner, qui ne peut pas s’éduquer?Je vous remercie.HON. MATAMISA ERIMENZIAH EDITOR [ZIMBABWE]:Thank you Mr. President, let me congratulate you and the PAP bureau on the move to popularize the African Charter on democracy elections and governance. Also I would like to congratulate Dr Matlosa on his eloquent presentation. Mr. President, the popularization of the protocol on democracy elections and governance has been done and it is continuing in the remaining regions. To those that have been lobbied by PAP, PAP expects speedy ratification followed by domestication. Worth of note is the lack of urgency to ratify in some of our African nations. Ratification, Mr. President means committing oneself to the declaration. Article 4 states clearly that: "state parties shall commit themselves to promote democracy, the principle of rule of law and human rights".Mr. President, this is the core and phrase that affects the undemocratic governments so much that they cannot ratify in time. Yes, Mr. President, Africa is independent from colonization, yet some African Nations still yearn for peace. The promotion of best practices in the conduct of elections will ensure smooth transfer of power, but Mr. President, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. I note with concern that both AU and SADC have failed to deal with the Zimbabwean situation decisively. It is my only hope that ratification of the Charter will ensure true democracy in all African countries and ultimate peace in Zimbabwe. The issue of comradeship amongst African leaders poses challenges to the democratic changes that the Charter is trying to usher in. There has been quiet diplomacy from member states towards Zimbabwe’s situation resulting in total collapse of the institutions and systems of governance.Mr. President, the Constitution making process that is underway in Zimbabwe now is marred with victimization and intimidation. A few people move from one centre to another to speak on behalf of the people of that place, and giving the information that they want included in the Constitution. The resultant document will be a compromise between the main political parties and it is heavily politicized. Is that democracy? Where is the democracy Mr. President?May I say that there is need now than ever before for AU member states to ratify the Charter after which a quick implementation will be expected.I thank you Mr President.HON MBAH NDAM JOSEPH [CAMEROON]:Thank you Mr. President. I come from Cameroon and from the Central African Sub Region.Mr. President, I want to start by lauding your efforts to see to it that this Charter is ratified and I thank whole-heartedly the presenters.I will dwell on three issues because they concern my sub-region, which was quoted as one of the very few from which no country has yet ratified the Charter.Mr. President, first and foremost it is the lack of political will. I say there is lack of political will in ratifying this Charter because 36 of the 53 countries have signed and in all the methods of ratification, be it by the administration of government or by Parliament, one thing stands clear. It is the Executive that either ratifies or sends the Act to Parliament for ratification. So, whichever way the onus is on the Heads of State to cause these Acts to be ratified. Let us be clear. And most of the Heads of States do not want the Act to be ratified.The excuse by my learned, Dr. Khabele Matlosa, who presented, that there were procedural complexities. It is not true. If there is a political will, they will be ratified either by the government itself or it is actually sent to Parliament, the Parliaments, which are in the majority government oriented. The ratifications will come through because we Parliamentarians here are ready to ratify and so too in every country. So, there is lack of political will.Secondly, Mr. President, we can understand why for most of our countries in the central region, the ratification is not forthcoming. It is a fact today that most of our countries have manipulated the Constitutions in violation of the content of this Act, in order for the Heads of State to remain in the saddles. I can prove my own country as a very critical and a very recent example. Yours too, and elections are around the corner. So what do we do as Parliamentarians when we discover that towards the end of the mandate, the last mandate of a Head of State, forces through Parliament, an amendment which now gives him room to stand for the election again?Now if the Pan African Parliament was to have the powers, which we are talking about, we would perhaps be able to refuse even to send election observers. Now, we have no power even to send election observers.Well, now I jump to the AU itself, which is of course exclusively made up of the very Heads of States, I guess who were complaining. So, what do we do in that circumstance? In Chad where the elections are around the corner, the constitution has been manipulated.In the 1990’s when we surged into multipartyism, there were these very last clauses in all the Constitutions limiting the terms. And as the time went by, we have gradually wound back the clock and every President does that when his last mandate is about to come to an end. So, what are we talking about? Why are we deceiving ourselves and asking for corridor lobbying, lobbying for the Charter to be ratified when we know the facts are clear before us? As Parliament, I think we should take a common resolution in PAP Mr. President. And this also goes to those of our membership who are participating in the review of the protocol that these issues must be taken into account, otherwise our wings will be clipped.Thank you very much.HON. NJOBVUYALEMA JOSEPH [MALAWI]:Thank you very much Hon. President for giving me this opportunity to contribute to this important subject matter. In the first place, let me take advantage of this to thank our Vice President for ably organizing the seminar which was held in Victoria Falls. We would like to thank him very much. He has shown that he is one of us and that he is part of us. Our rights and traditions and liberties find their qualities in his presence as our Vice President. So, I want to thank him very much.Hon. President, the issue of the Charter, I am looking at it as a document which grants rights, privileges and ownership to citizens of the country in terms of governance or democratic elections and so forth. But, once those rights are granted what happens in times of abuse? That is my main concern? What happens if the rights are wrongfully used? What is the redress methodology? What would be the remedy? How can that be put right? For example, if someone has formed an unconstitutional government, how can that be put right? What does the Charter say, in other words?The Charter says; that particular country will be suspended as a member of AU. But what does that put right? Is that an adequate remedy in terms of governance? What this means is that, that particular person or that particular group of people who have formed an unconstitutional government will continue running their affairs in their own country much as they are not members of AU. That will not change anything at the member state level. They will continue running the country. They will continue forming a cabinet. They will continue running their parliament. They will continue exercising authority in terms of their territorial borders. So, what does that change? How does that help the people of the country? As a matter of fact, hon. President, it is the people of that country who suffer. I mean merely suspending a country from being a member of AU is not an adequate solution.My view is, why don’t we say, "Alright here is a government which has been unconstitutionally formed. What should we do?" Let the government cease operating so that AU should intervene and start all over, forming a government, giving a second chance to the people who are interested - who are aspiring to become a government in that country. Let everything else stop; let AU start everything from a scratch so that- (Interruption)- hon. President let me just finish this particular issueso that that particular country should be given an opportunity to form a constitutional government. Because issues like, as the Charter provides that, "Countries should ensure fair and equitable access to public resources by parties and candidates contesting in elections." This is not happening in our countries and the fact that it is not happening, means that most Governments have been unconstitutionally formed and that is because there is no appropriate punishment. There is no appropriate remedy.So, my view is that the punishment must be revisited. Thank you Hon. President.MHE. MUNGARO GEDEON [KENYA]:Ahsante Mheshimiwa Rais. Kwanza, napenda kuchukua fursa hii kumshukuru Dkt. Matlosa kwa hotuba yake ambayo ametoa. Hotuba yake imekuwa ni mwongozo...THE PRESIDENT:Interpretation?MHE. MUNGARO GEDEON [KENYA]:Nitapata dakika yangu moja Mheshimiwa Rais?THE PRESIDENT:Wait.MHE. MUNGARO GEDEON [KENYA]:Nashukuru kwamba kila nikiongea Bunge hili husimama, nashukuru sana. (Kicheko)THE PRESIDENT:Wait. Now it is okay, Gedeon continues.MHE. MUNGARO GEDEON [KENYA]:Mheshimiwa Rais, ahsante. Nashukuru kwamba kila tukiongea Kiswahili lazima tusimamishe Bunge hili, nasikia raha sana.Mheshimiwa Rais, kwanza, napenda kumpongeza Dkt. Matlosa. Pili, napenda kusema kwamba kitu ambacho kimebaki kwa Afrika ni kuanza kufanya kazi kwa vitendo. Kila mara naona tunapongeza mikutano tuliyofanya na umuhimu wake lakini vitendo hakuna.Mheshimiwa Rais, kwa mfano katika Bunge hili nimeona bado sisi kama Bunge la Afrika tunategemea sana Jumuiya za Ulaya kutusaidia kifedha. Afrika haitaweza kubadilika kama hatutachukua jukumu kama viongozi, hatutachukua jukumu kama Afrika la kuondoa utegemezi. Afrika tuna rasilimali ya madini na watu ambayo inatuweza sisi kuweza kujitegemea. Hatuwezi kwenda kuomba pesa katika Jumuiya ya Ulaya halafu kesho tuseme Afrika hatutaki kuingiliwa na Jumuiya za Ulaya. Kwa hiyo, katika Itifaki hii au katika taratibu hizi za kubadilisha Afrika ni lazima kuwe na kipengele cha nchi kulazimishwa kutoa ushuru katika Bunge hili la Afrika ili liweze kujisimamia na kujiendesha bila kuombaomba katika nchi za nje.Mheshimiwa Rais, vilevile kama walivyotangulia kusema wenzangu, kuna umuhimu wa kuweka mikakati ya Kikatiba ili tuwe na mwelekeo katika uchaguzi, katika kudumisha haki za binadamu na mfano mkubwa sasa ni suala la Somalia. Nchi ya Somalia imekuwa na vita toka miaka ya tisini na bado tuna Jumuiya ya Afrika, je, Jumuiya ya Afrika imeshindwa kutatua tatizo la Somalia?Mheshimiwa Rais, kwa mfano juzi juzi, Rais wa Sudan Al-Bashir alipokuja Kenya, nchi zote duniani zilikuwa zinasema akamatwe. Nchi ya Sudan leo inataka kwenda kwenye uchaguzi wa Katiba, kielelezo cha Katiba, nafikiri ni wakati mzuri waungwe mkono, walazimishwe kwamba waweke Katiba ambayo itakuwa na mikakati ya kufanya uchaguzi huru na wenye amani kuliko kulazimisha Rais huyu akamatwe kwa sababu hiyo italeta vita katika nchi ya Sudan.Mheshimiwa Rais, je, ni mpaka lini Afrika tutakuwa tukipewa amri na nchi za nje? Nafikiri wakati sasa umefika tuweze kujitegemea. Nchi za Afrika zina rasilimali nyingi, zina pesa na uwezo wa kuweza kujitawala, lakini kama hatutatoka katika mfumo wa kila siku wa kuombaomba, tatukuwa hatuna amri na na uwezo wa kujitawala.Mheshimiwa Rais, kwa hiyo, ninapenda kuhimiza Wabunge katika Mabunge yao, wahakikishe kwamba wanahimiza nchi zao kuona umuhimu wa sisi kuweza kujisimamia kama jamii ya Afrika ili tuweze kuwa na uwezo wa kujitawala bila kupewa amri kutoka nchi nyingine.Mheshimiwa Rais, nashukuru kwa nafasi hii.THE PRESIDENT:Ahsante sana.HON. TAMBOURA ASCOFARE OULÉMATOU [MALI]:Je vous remercie, M. le Président. Je voudrais dire que, véritablement, le PAP est dans son rôle en initiant le plaidoyer pour accélérer la ratification de la Charte africaine de la démocratie, des élections et de la gouvernance.Je voudrais, à l’instar de mes prédécesseurs, féliciter le Président et les membres du Bureau pour les actes posés sur ce chantier combien important et les encourage à poursuivre. Cela a été dit également par ceux qui m’ont précédé, nos pays sont de vrais champions de la ratification mais, ce qui pose problème, c’est la mise en œuvre.Nous avons des instruments juridiques internationaux très importants qui ont été ratifiés par nos pays mais, qui sont restés sans application, je veux parler de la CEDEF (Convention pour l’Elimination des formes de Discrimination à l’Egard des Femmes) et du Protocole de Maputo entre autres. Et, ces textes, s’ils avaient été vraiment mis en œuvre, allaient apporter beaucoup de changements non seulement au plan démocratique, mais particulièrement, dans la situation de la femme, son implication dans la vie politique, économique, sociale et culturelle de nos pays.Je voudrais donc inviter notre Parlement, c'est-à- dire nous tous, particulièrement le Bureau du PAP, à s’impliquer davantage dans la mise en œuvre des instruments juridiques qui ont été ratifiés pour apporter plus de bonheur à nos populations.J’ai une question qui va peut- être déranger, mais des voix s’élèvent de plus en plus pour dire que la limitation des mandats est aussi antidémocratique. La question, je la pose au représentant du PNUD. Que pense-t-il de cette affirmation? On estime que la démocratie doit être vue à l’aune de nos cultures et que le mimétisme peut, peut-être nous conduire sur des chantiers dangereux.Je vous remercie.HON. HAJAIG FATIMA [SOUTH AFRICA]:Thank you Mr. President. First of all I would like to emphasize the fact that I think the African Charter is a very important tool for Africa. In order to report back to this august House, my colleague has already stated that this Charter has been tabled to our Parliament on the 28th of September and by year end it will be ratified.Sir, I would like to tell this House that we do not foresee a problem to implement all the provisions of the Charter because all the provisions that are in this Charter exist and are already implemented according to our Constitution, our Bill of Rights and other legislation that we enjoy in South Africa.Sir, I would also like to emphasize the importance, I think Dr. Khabele Matlosa mentioned it, but I would like to emphasize the very important aspect of governments. It says very clearly in the Charter, government theme consists of three sub themes, which are political, economic and social governments. It further says that in order to advance those themes, state parties have to commit themselves to strengthening their capacity and legally recognize political parties to perform the core functions. That means in each Parliament, all political parties must be given an equal right, not always the ruling party. By the way I belong to the ruling party in my governmentSecondly, popular participation and partnership with Civil Society Organizations and of course a number of people mentioned amongst them Honourable Dery from Ghana, the full and active participation of women. You cannot exclude the majority, 51 to 52 percent of Africa’s human resources. It further says, decentralizing power to democratically elected local authorities as provided in National Laws. I think this is an important provision, Sir, because service delivery happens at the local level. And unless our structures at local level are strong and democratic, service delivery does not happen. And further on, we talk about the strong legal and justice systems. Improving the efficiency and effectiveness of public services and combating corruption. We have that one.And then we are talking about harnessing the democratic values of traditional institutions. In Africa we have very strong traditional institutions. Some of their practices are very good and others are not very good. And I think it is about time that we look at our traditional institutions, accept and propagate the ones that are good and discard those that are not good. Further on it says, we have to implement the principles and values of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development, NEPAD. The declaration on democracy, political, economic and corporate governance and where applicable and not only where applicable, but I think in all respects support the African peer review mechanism. It’s a very important mechanism to actually democratize and good governance in Africa. Then of course it goes on to promote peace, security and stability in all the countries and it goes on and on.Sir, I would like to just conclude by saying that member states have the responsibilities, we member states who are in Pan African Parliament; Parliamentarians have a responsibility that has been outlined. And also the responsibility of the AU itself; it has to develop benchmarks for implementation of the Charter. It must promote favourable conditions for democratic governments. It must ensure that all AU decisions on constitutional change are implemented and therefore, other organs of the AU must play their part in making this Charter a living document.Thank you, Sir.HON. MOHSNI TAÏEB [TUNISIA]:Je vous remercie, Monsieur le Président.Je remercie les deux orateurs pour leur présentation. La plupart des points ont été soulevés par mes collègues. Cependant, j’ai quelques observations à faire.Nous sommes en train de dire de la plupart des chefs d’Etats qui doivent décider de la transformation du PAP, de consultatif à législatif, qu’ils sont mal élus, ou qu’ils ont pris le pouvoir et s’en sont accaparé. Posons-nous la question: est-il temps de parler de cela?Je m’étonne de voir certains pays, considérés comme ayant fait beaucoup de pas dans la démocratie, ne pas ratifier, jusqu’à présent, la Charte. Je pense notamment au Sénégal, à la République Sud-africaine, à l’Algérie et la Tunisie, pour ne citer que ceux-là.La démocratie n’est pas seulement politique, elle est aussi sociale et économique. Si j’étais pauvre, je ne voudrais pour rien au monde vivre aux Etats- Unis d’Amérique, par exemple.L’Afrique est le continent du 3e millénaire avec ses richesses humaines et ses matières premières. Méfions-nous de la mainmise des pays développés sur nos ressources, et n’essayons pas d’éviter nos traditionnels ex-colonisateurs pour tomber dans les bras de la Chine. Il y a actuellement une bataille qui se profile entre la Chine et l’Occident concernant l’Afrique.Enfin, je demande à tous nos collègues d’essayer de faire ratifier cette Charte, le plus rapidement possible et nous aurons, après, tous les loisirs de débattre sur les moyens de faire respecter l’application de ses dispositions.THE PRESIDENT:Thank you very much. Hon. Members, I have finished my list. You made very important contributions; very important proposals for the promotion of the Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance. However, there are very few questions and I call upon Dr. Khabele Matlosa briefly to respond to the questions.DR. KHABELE MATLOSA [UNDP]:Your Excellency, most of the inputs from the Honourable Members were very useful to the discussions. There are just a few questions that I need to clarify. Your Excellency, I should have started by indicating during my presentation, and I probably forgot to tell the august House that I am an African citizen and I come from Lesotho, a SADC country that has so far ratified the Charter. I have worked in Zimbabwe; I have worked in South Africa and now I am working in Ethiopia. So, I am from Ethiopia as it is.I was the lead author of the Charter, so that is why I am passionate about the Charter. Your Excellency the President, I am really very honoured to have been part of this interesting discussion and I am going to just react briefly to some of the questions that have been posed. There was a question posed by one of the Honourable Members on democracy being a culture. Therefore, it follows that if we are to succeed to bring democracy as a culture, we should link with other countries, it is true. Democracy is not an import; it is not and imported good that you can import from one country to use in another country. It is a process that is dependent on the context of each African country. So I agree with that. So, African culture must inform African democracy and I think that this also links to the last contribution from the Honourable Member from South Africa. That being the case therefore, our own African traditional institutions must find a role to play in democracy, so that our own democratic institutions are not left out of the democratization process.Mr. President, a very interesting point was raised by Honourable Joseph. Hon Joseph presented a critic of how the Charter hopes to deal with violations, whether in fact suspension is enough, while peoples of that country suffer under conditions of an unconstitutional change of government. Is it not possible, he suggest that an AU can form an interim government in such a country and then restore democracy and then through elections, a new government can come into being? Here, I think Mr. President we need to be a little carefully because, much as we talk about a paradigm shift from non interference to non indifference, the AU still respects fully the principle of sovereignty of the member states. So sovereignty is still a big issue in our countries. The only measures that are applied in case of unconstitutional change: the first one is suspension. That will be followed by sanctions or all forms of diplomatic embargo. So those are the only forms of sanctions. There has not been a situation where the AU actually takes over the reins of government in a given country primarily Mr. President, because of the principle of sovereignty. So that it is still an issue that we need to take notice of.Mr. President there were other questions as follows; the issue of post election violence in some of our countries, where the outcome is not known and then we have a power sharing arrangement. What does the AU do in such circumstances? I think an example was made of Kenya. Mr. President, under those circumstances, the AU simply assists with the mediation where circumstances allow. Mr. President, like in Kenya, a mediation team, which was led by the former Secretary General of the UN, Mr. Koffi Anaan was an AU sanctioned mediation. If parties in those countries agree on power sharing and they are convinced that this is the best route for the country, the AU does not have any other power, but to accept what the parties agree on and support power sharing arrangements as we know for sure in the case of Kenya and Zimbabwe, for example.Now the AU stance on changes of Constitution to prolong tenure; this is the most difficult part because the Charter was adopted in 2007 and Mr. President you will not believe me if I can tell you now that I can count beyond my five fingers on my one hand of countries that have already changed the Constitution to prolong tenure even after the Charter was adopted. I do not have to mention names, you know them. So, that is a problem that is still with us, yes it is easy to deal with them, but it is still proving difficult for AU to tackle the problem of manipulations of Constitutions to prolong tenure of a sitting head of state and government.On the stance to fraud elections, I think I have answered this in part to say that the AU does intervene on instances of elections causing violence and in fact right now, the AU has established through the Peace and Security Council the panel of the wise. That is the one now that is mandated to handle post election conflicts in our countries. There was a question from honouble Budau from Sudan regarding the gape - the point he was making was that Africans seemed to be good planners and bad implementers. All that I can say is to agree with him basically. It shows why there is a gap between the number of protocols and treaties that the AU has adopted up to now compared with their applications. That is why we are talking today about the ratification of the Charter because the Charter was adopted in 2007 and it is now signed by 36 AU member states and only 7 have ratified. This goes to show that we are good at signing up treaties and conventions, but very poor in implementing.The problem of ‘presidentialism’, Hon Bali from Kenya; in fact, I would even strengthen your point further to say it is not even ‘presidentialism’. We have a problem of ‘hyper-presidentialism’, where power is too centralized in the President and the President becomes the institution and the institutions of state become the President. Everything that happens inside and outside Parliament and in the public service, the President has to rubberstamp. Now, Mr. President, the only way to answer this is that the institutions of the state should be democratized. The institutions of the state, the executive and the legislature should be democratized to avoid a problem of strong men and weak states, which is an issue that Barak Obama raised during his state visit to Accra Ghana. In Africa, we still have two strong personalities, but very weak institutions. That is the problem, and if we do not rectify the problem Mr. President our democracy still remains in parallel.I think I agree with all the points that Hon. Silvia from Zambia raised and the other Honourable members of Parliament that raised those issues. With those remarks, Mr. President, I would like to thank you and the august House for this opportunity. Thank you very much.LE PRÉSIDENT:Nous avons reçu de l’honorable Taïeb Mohsni une contribution écrite qui sera introduite dans les minutes de notre plénière.Je vous remercie.Je voudrais féliciter le docteur Matlosa Khabele, l’honorable Gumbo, mais également l’ensemble des intervenants pour la qualité de leurs propositions. Les ateliers vont se poursuivre en Afrique du Nord et en Afrique de l’Ouest. Nous allons également nous inspirer de la démarche de l’honorable Vinita pour que, au niveau de nos parlements, on interpelle l’exécutif. Je voudrais qu’on applaudisse nos deux intervenants et tous les honorables qui ont contribué ainsi que le dernier qui l’a fait par écrit.(Applaudissements)Monsieur le Secrétaire général, je vous invite à donner lecture du deuxième point inscrit à notre ordre du jour.THE CLERK:Thank you Mr. President, presentations and debates on the progress on the review of the Protocol of the Pan -African Parliament.LE PRÉSIDENT:Je vous remercie. J’invite l’honorable Tidjani- Serpos Ismaël, Président de la Commission permanente des règlements, des privilèges et de la discipline, à présenter son rapport.
3.0 – RAPPORT D’ÉTAPE SUR LE PROGRÈS REALISÉS DANS LE PROCESSUS DE RÉVISION DU PROTOCOLE ET DE LA TRANSFORMATION DU PARLEMENT PANAFRICAIN EN UN ORGANE LEGISLATIF
HON. TIDJANI-SERPOS ISMAËL [BENIN]:Monsieur le Président,Chers collègues,Comme inscrit à l’ordre du jour de notre session, je vais vous présenter un rapport d’étape sur les progrès réalisés dans le processus de révision du Protocole et de transformation de notre Parlement.Comme vous le savez, notre Chambre a eu à adopter deux documents, il y a de cela un certain nombre de mois. Le premier document est un document d’auto- évaluation du PAP, exercice que nous avons effectué, et qui a montré les points faibles et les faiblesses. Et, fondant notre analyse sur ce document, il s’est agi de mettre en application l’article 25 du Protocole relatif au Parlement panafricain, qui dispose que, au bout de 5 ans de mise en œuvre de ce Protocole, une évaluation doit intervenir et permettre d’apprécier l’opportunité de procéder à la révision ou non de notre Protocole.La conclusion à laquelle nous sommes arrivés tient compte de la jeunesse de l’institution et aussi des parcours que nous avons effectués. Nous pensons que nous sommes, aujourd’hui, outillés pour prétendre à la transformation et à l’acquisition du pouvoir législatif au profit du Parlement panafricain.Le deuxième document, c’est, précisément, notre contribution à l’exercice de révision du Protocole.Depuis l’adoption du rapport d’autoévaluation du PAP et du document portant sa contribution à la révision du Protocole relatif au Parlement panafricain, réalisés suite à la décision, Assemblée/AU/DEC. 223(XII), adoptée au 12e sommet de janvier 2009 par la Conférence des chefs d’Etats, la Commission des Règlements de notre Parlement a établi un contact-suivi avec la Commission de l’Union africaine et, plus particulièrement, avec sa Direction du Conseil juridique.Ce contact a abouti le 10 mai 2010, suite à la tenue d’une réunion de consultation au siège de la Commission de l’Union africaine à Addis-Abeba, entre une délégation du Parlement panafricain, le Bureau du Conseiller juridique et la Commission de l’Union africaine.Lors de cette rencontre, la Commission des Règlements a recueilli des informations sur la mise en œuvre de la décision précitée des Chefs d’Etats.La délégation du PAP a été informée que les actions de la Commission de l’Union africaine ont porté, entre autres, sur l’élaboration des termes de référence de l’étude sur la révision du Protocole, et le recrutement d’un consultant en la personne du Pr KOFI KUMADO du Ghana.La réunion a alors convenu de la feuille de route suivante, dans la perspective de la révision du Protocole relatif au PAP:Le 25 août 2010, au plus tard, le consultant devrait avoir finalisé son étude et soumis un rapport à la Commission de l’Union africaine. Dans l’intervalle, le PAP devrait transmettre officiellement à la CUA sa contribution au processus de révision du Protocole en vue de sa mise à la disposition du Consultant pour exploitation.Du 10 au 13 août 2010, devrait se tenir la réunion de consultation sur le projet de Protocole révisé proposé par le Consultant.En septembre/octobre 2010, réunion des Experts gouvernementaux des Etats membres (Ministres de la Justice-Gardes des Sceaux) du COREP et des autres organes de l'Union.Enfin, janvier/février 2011, soumission du projet de révision du Protocole relatif au PAP et aux Organes délibérants de l’UA, ainsi que l’inscription, à l’ordre du jour du Conseil exécutif et de la Conférence, du point relatif à l’examen du projet de révision du Protocole relatif au PAP.La mise en œuvre de cette feuille de route a conduit, après la transmission du rapport du consultant à la Commission de l’Union africaine, à la tenue à Midrand au siège du PAP, du 10 au 13 août dernier, d’un atelier de validation du projet de Protocole révisé du Traité instituant la Communauté économique africaine relatif au PAP.Ont pris part aux travaux de cet atelier, outre la Commission de l’Union africaine et le PAP, des personnes ressources provenant des diverses communautés régionales d’Afrique et autres experts. La délégation du PAP à cet atelier comprenait les membres du Bureau de la Commission des Règlements appuyés par l’honorable Mahlangu Mnimwa de l’Afrique du Sud, lui-même membre de la Commission des Règlements, et du consultant de la Commission des Règlements, le Pr Larba Yarga. Ont pris également part aux travaux des membres du staff du PAP.A l’issue des travaux de cet atelier, les principales orientations suivantes peuvent être retenues:Sur le nombre des membres du PAP, leur mode de désignation, la durée de leur mandat.Le consultant, allant dans le même sens que la contribution du PAP, a proposé que les parlementaires provenant de chaque pays soient au nombre de cinq (05) et soient élus par les parlements nationaux érigés en collèges électoraux.La formule proposée par le PAP pour assurer un meilleur équilibre du genre, a été entérinée, à savoir « au moins deux de l’un ou l’autre sexe ». La délégation du PAP a toutefois émis des réserves sur les modalités proposées par le Consultant pour la mise en œuvre de cette formule. En effet, il a énoncé - c’est-à-dire le consultant - que « les cinq candidats qui ont obtenu le plus grand nombre de voix soient considérés comme élus ». La délégation du PAP a fait observer que les 5 premiers, sur la base des élections, pouvant ne pas refléter l’équilibre genre souhaité, une formulation plus appropriée devrait être alors recherchée par le consultant.En effet, les cinq premiers, s’il y a élection, peuvent être des femmes ou des hommes uniquement. Donc, il faut trouver une formule pour faire en sorte que les élections permettent d’assurer au moins deux (02) de chaque sexe dans la délégation.Par ailleurs, la délégation du PAP a insisté sur la diversité des opinions politiques (majorité/opposition) ou là où il n’y a pas d’opposition, et qu’il y a diversité d’opinions, que cette diversité des opinions politiques soit assurée parmi les élus de chaque pays devant siéger au PAP.Nous avons donc demandé au consultant de faire en sorte que ce paramètre entre en ligne de compte dans le choix des députés de chaque pays qui auront à siéger dans le futur PAP.L’accord est établi pour que les parlementaires du PAP ne soient plus, nécessairement, des parlementaires nationaux et s’ils l’étaient, qu’ils démissionnent de leurs parlements nationaux avant de prendre fonction au PAP, parce que les parlementaires panafricains doivent, dans le cadre d’un Parlement doté de pouvoirs législatifs, pouvoir se consacrer exclusivement à cette tâche.En outre, un consensus est établi, pour que la durée du mandat des parlementaires panafricains soit de cinq ans renouvelable.Enfin, la question de la diaspora africaine, considérée par l’UA comme la sixième région, a été abordée lors des travaux en atelier, et devrait faire l’objet de proposition dans la nouvelle version du Protocole révisé, à élaborer par le consultant.Sur la durée d’une législature du PAP et la durée du mandat de ses organesLe Consultant, suivant les propositions contenues dans la contribution du PAP, a proposé que la durée d’une législature du PAP soit de cinq (05) ans, et celle du bureau du parlement et des bureaux des autres organes soient de deux ans et demi renouvelable une fois.Sur les attributions et les pouvoirs du PAPSi, sur le principe d’accorder des pouvoirs législatifs au PAP, l’accord semble établi, il demeure que l’étendue des domaines de ces pouvoirs n’est pas également partagée, alors que la contribution du PAP a identifié 17 domaines de législation qui peuvent être conférés au PAP. Avec la révision actuelle du Protocole, le consultant a proposé la formule suivante visant quatre domaines:al’harmonisation des législations en Afrique;bla citoyenneté de l'UA et la libre circulation des personnes;cl'adoption des traités et accords de l'UA;dle Règlement intérieur.Ces domaines législatifs proposés par le Consultant, nous sont apparus à la fois restrictifs et imprécis. En effet, l’harmonisation tout azimut des législations africaines implique que les domaines législatifs sont illimités. L’harmonisation des législations ne peut être en réalité considérée comme un domaine de législation, mais plutôt comme un objectif ou une technique. Les études antérieurement effectuées par la Commission des Règlements en rapport avec l’Université de Pretoria, ont indiqué trois techniques d’harmonisation des législations: les lois-types, les traités et les lois supranationales. Et, dans cette étude qui a été effectuée par la Commission des Règlements avec l’Université de Pretoria, l’harmonisation passe par ces trois techniques. Donc, l’harmonisation, en réalité, n’est qu’une technique pour permettre d’atteindre seulement un objectif de législation en Afrique.S’agissant du Règlement intérieur que la proposition du consultant a visé, il n’est pas à proprement parler, un domaine de législation, puisque le PAP, dans ses limites actuelles, en matière de législation, est habilité à se doter d’un Règlement intérieur. La Conférence des Chefs d’Etat a également un Règlement intérieur, le COREP a un Règlement intérieur, le Conseil a un Règlement intérieur, pourtant ils ne disposent pas d’un pouvoir législatif. Donc, on ne peut pas considérer en soi le Règlement intérieur comme faisant partie d’un domaine législatif.En ce qui concerne les traités et accords, le consultant a proposé la formulation suivante comme rôle devant être joué par le PAP, je cite:« Adoption des traités et des accords de l’Union africaine1- Le projet d'un Traité ou d’un Accord, après approbation par la Conférence, doit être soumis au Parlement pour examen et adoption.2- Le Parlement n’a pas le pouvoir de modifier le texte du projet tel qu'approuvé par la Conférence, mais peut renvoyer le projet à la Conférence avec les motifs de réexamen.3- Lorsque, à la suite d’un réexamen, le projet est soumis à nouveau, qu’il soit modifié ou pas, le Parlement doit l’adopter.4- Un Traité ou un Accord adopté par le Parlement doit être transmis au Président de la Commission. Le Président informe la Conférence et le Traité ou l’Accord sera ouvert à la signature et à la ratification, conformément aux procéduresconstitutionnelles en vigueur dans les États membres.5- L'instrument de ratification ou d'adhésion est déposé auprès du Président de la Commission qui informe les États membres ».Le rôle du PAP dans les Traités et les Accords de l’UA, exprimé en termes d’adoption de ces instruments juridiques par le PAP, ne peut de toute évidence pas résoudre les problèmes cruciaux qui se posent dans ce domaine, puisque, selon cette approche, la ratification par les Etats demeure toujours. Les discussions au cours de l’Atelier ont été dans le sens qu’il y aurait peu de chance de voir l’approche du PAP tendant à lui conférer un véritable pouvoir de ratification prospérer, en raison du fait que la ratification serait le domaine par excellence de la souveraineté des Etats.Enfin, la délégation du PAP a noté qu’aucun progrès notable n’a été enregistré dans la procédure d’adoption du budget de l’Union africaine.Sur l’initiative législativeL’initiative législative dans la proposition du consultant a été étendue à plusieurs entités, allant jusqu’aux comités techniques de l’UA, en passant par le COREP. La délégation du PAP a demandé si on ne devrait pas plutôt la limiter au niveau de l’Exécutif, au Conseil exécutif et à la Conférence qui doivent saisir le PAP par la Commission qui en assure le suivi. Nous attendons la réponse du consultant par rapport à ces observations.ConclusionEn conclusion du présent rapport intérimaire, nous pouvons retenir que, sur un certain nombre de points, le consultant a suivi la contribution du PAP à la révision du Protocole. Toutefois, il demeure des aspects importants de divergence sur lesquels la délégation du PAP a produit, sur le champ, un document mis à la disposition des participants à l’atelier afin que le consultant puisse parfaire son étude et ses propositions.Conformément à la feuille de route arrêtée le 10 mai 2010 à Addis-Abeba, une réunion des experts gouvernementaux des Etats membres (Ministres de la Justice-Gardes des Sceaux et du COREP et des autres organes de l'UA) est prévue, en début novembre, pour l’adoption du dernier état du Protocole révisé, avant sa soumission à la Conférence des chefs d’Etats.Voilà, chers collègues, les points que la Commission et moi, en tant que président de la Commission des Règlements, ont l’honneur de vous présenter en ce qui concerne les progrès connus par le processus de révision du protocole relatif au PAP.Je vous remercie.(Applaudissements)LE PRÉSIDENT:Je vous remercie, honorable TIDJANI-SERPOS Ismaël, président de la Commission permanente des Règlements, des privilèges et de la discipline pour la qualité de votre rapport intérimaire sur les progrès réalisés par le processus de révision du Protocole.Ce sujet est un des thèmes phares de notre Parlement continental. C’est pourquoi j’ai un bon nombre d’inscrits qui vont apporter leur contribution.Les débats sont actuellement ouverts sur le rapport relatif à l’avancement de la révision du Protocole du Parlement panafricain.HON. OBAMA NVE JUSTINO [GUINÉE ÉQUATORIALE]:Muchas gracias Señor Presidente,Desafortunadamente yo estaba preparado para intervenir...creí que iban a presentar las dos ponencias a la vez.Sí, decía que yo pretendía intervenir para la segunda ponencia pero que yo.THE PRESIDENT:English are you ready? They are ready. French? Portuguese?-HON. OBAMA NVE JUSTINO [GUINÉE ÉQUATORIALE]:Muchas gracias Señor Presidente,Yo tenía un comentario que realizar que no sé si es el...THE PRESIDENT:English are you ready? No feedback? English are you ready?HON. OBAMA NVE JUSTINO [GUINÉE ÉQUATORIALE]:S’il y a des difficultés en espagnol, je peux parler en français.LE PRÉSIDENT:Si vous pouvez parler en français, cela peut nous faire gagner du temps, ne serait-ce que pour aujourd’hui.HON. OBAMA NVE JUSTINO [GUINÉE ÉQUATORIALE]:Je vous remercie, Monsieur le Président.Je ne sais pas si c’est le moment opportun, mais mon commentaire a rapport à l’examen des amendements qui devaient être présentés, parce que j’ai compris qu’il allait y avoir deux présentations. Je ne sais pas si cela a été résolu.De toute façon, je vais avancer pour gagner du temps. Le 19 avril 2010, j’ai envoyé une lettre au Président, avec comme objectif une proposition d’introduction d’amendement à l’article 20 du Règlement intérieur. J’ai eu l’opportunité de contacter les membres de la Commission des règlements qui m’ont confirmé qu’ils n’ont eu aucune communication par rapport à la lettre envoyée ce jour-là. C’est pour cela que je voulais soulever ce point, parce que je sais qu’ils vont présenter les amendements déjà. Je ne vois aucun amendement qui fait référence à la lettre envoyée le 19 avril 2010. C’est la question que je voulais poser. Je ne sais pas si c’est le moment opportun, ou s’il faut attendre le deuxième exposé de ce sujet.Je vous remercie.HON. ABDUL-RASHID PELPUO [GHANA]:Thank you Mr. President. Mr. President the protocol is a very important part of the definition of PAP and what we want it to look like and so the participation of PAP in trying to help give it a face. It is so critical and important that we all encourage the Committee to keep working hard with the Consultant to ensure that eventually they come out with something very concrete and acceptable to all of us.In particular, it is going to spell out the procedure in which business is going to be conducted here. Again this is something we need to be very anxious about because I have talked to a number of people, and the impression I get is that we are short of some procedure, some basic etiquette and procedures of this House, which are yet to be concretized. I believe that it is important that we take that seriously and work on it because as we know, everywhere Parliament is often the master of its own business, so it is always the master of its own procedures. Our inclusion in getting PAP to contribute to the final definition of the protocol is very important. But I do not agree fully with the report on page 4 where we talk about harmonization.Mr. President, the Consultants proposed as one of the functions and powers of PAP, the harmonization of laws in Africa. The committee looked at it differently and they eventually came to a conclusion that harmonization, even though it is one of the basic concepts in law making, they see it not to be a crucial part of it and downplay it by saying that it is something that is objective and only a technique. Yes, but law making is a technique, it has an objective, and so it is the basic part of law making to harmonize laws. I think that, that is something we need not to downplay at all, but to take it very seriously because as we know, one of the very fundamental functions of PAP will be finally to be making laws. To have that legislative power, you need to understand laws of various Parliaments and various countries so as to bring them together to give the face of Africa.Finally Mr. Chairman, I think that Treaties and Agreements are legal instruments and being so, you need a legal body like Parliaments such as PAP to work on them. So, I believe very strongly that we need to re-look at that conclusion and come to agree that, that point is a fundamental part in our law making.Thank you very much.HON. KHEMAKHEM JAMELEDDINE[TUNISIA]:شكرا سيدي الرئيس. العفو لقد طلبت الكلمة بالنسبة للتقرير المتعلق بتنقيح القانون الداخلي للبرلمان. شكرا والعفو.HON. MABILETSA ISAAC STEPHEN [BOTSWANA]:Thank you Mr. President, I have looked at the report presented by the Chairman on the Committee of Rules. While I agree with a number of points, on the report, I only have problems with two areas, that is page 3, third paragraph from the bottom in the English version which says and I wish to quote with your permission, "it was agreed that the PAP Parliamentarians would not necessary have to be members in their own countries and if they were, they should resign from their national Parliaments before taking up duties at PAP". It says that PAP Parliamentarians should be able to dedicate their time explicitly to this assignment, a PAP with legislative powers.Mr. President Sir, when people elect you as an MP, at a national level, they are expressing confidence in you and when immediately after you are elected you resign, those peoples’ confidence is doomed because you have not even started rendering any service to them. That is the first point. The second point Mr. Speaker is, when you are an MP, you are not a freelance MP, you are an MP because people elected you and you are accountable to them. When you resign and you start becoming - you get elected through an Electoral College of Members of MP, those are a group of people with too many positions whose interest is more than anything else to look after the affairs of their electorate and not so much of one person elected here. Therefore, Mr. President, I disagree totally with this provision. I think the status quo suffices. This is the first point that I disagree with.The second point is on page 4, at the top of the page where it says "following proposals contained in contribution of PAP, the consultant proposed the duration of Parliament of PAP should be five years", agreed on that one, while that of the bureaux of the other organs should be two and half years. This is where I disagree because after two and half years that is when you are beginning to gain experience and become productive to PAP. I believe the status quo when you are elected for the duration of your five years, whatever capacity in the PAP organs you get elected into, you should continue to carry on along those lines without trying to water down your position. I think it is good that we should retain the status quo otherwise you will not be doing any justice to the Parliament. II thank you.HON. DERY AMBROSE [GHANA]:Thank you Mr. President. First of all let me thank brother Serpos for his good report. A few comments. I would, Mr. President, restrict myself to this report even where I disagree, if I want to, three minutes is not enough.First has to do with the membership, to ensure that the gender issue is handled. If we are going to have an election within Parliament there should be two lists: there should be a list of women as candidates alone to be voted on and a list of men alone to be voted on. Then you can make the combinations. But if we go by what he has said that let the first five with the highest votes- I mean you are not going to be sure of what you are doing.The other point you need to take into consideration is that you also want various shades of opinion represented. So, in Parliament you can say each sidemajority side and minority sideshould present a list of men and a list of women exclusively. You vote on them and then you permute. You make sure that the combination is such that you have sufficientat least two women elected. That is the first comment I want to make on that.Secondly, talking about legislation, Mr. President, I agree with what Serpos said for PAP that we should restrict the areas, we should consider is model laws. We have just dealt with the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance. We need to work on model laws which are going to make us realize the targets that we set in this so that we can have standards by which we judge domestic legislation. They can then internalize that.And let us face it. We cannot do all the legislation. Let us restrict ourselves to areas such as environmental issues and issues like the Chemical Weapons Convention; issues that we know that national governments are not likely to have time for. They are dealing with the economy and dealing with poverty and the rest of them. So, let us start and we can add to that toxic waste issues where we have no problem.Also in the presentation, I am afraid I am not in favour of people being elected outside Parliament because what level of delegation are you talking about? You are elected in Parliament to go, so to elect people among yourselves yes, but when you now go outside your domain to elect others, I think that we are losing touch with the grass roots and it becomes superficial.Finally- (Interruption) - I have heard my warning. Finally I think that we should make sure that we own the review that is coming up. So, in November when we meet, only what we think is in consonance with our philosophy and the spirit and the vision behind PAP is what we should take. We should not just take any theoretical position that is being imposed on us by a consultant. We should be very careful on that.Mr. President, I am constrained to stop at this stage. Thank you.HON. ADJAHO EDWARD KORBLY DOE [GHANA]:Mr. President I support the report presented by the Chair of the Committee on Rules. There is this issue that crop up right from the beginning of the protocol which is the subject matter of the current review ten years ago. I had the privilege of sitting in that meeting in Addis Ababa, in April 2000, before the protocol was signed in May of the same year. And that is with regards to the number of people each country should present. The number of five that was agreed was a compromised figure at that time because smaller countries were not there, but Mr. President, Parliament is about people, the executives of our countries. So when we bring the concept of sovereignty again into the representation of Parliament, then there is a problem.Mr President, if you look at Article 2 of the protocol itself, it says that the Pan African Parliamentarians shall represent all the people of Africa. It is disturbing me, ten years down the line you still want Ghana five MPS, Ghana with about 20 million people, and Nigeria with over 100 million people represented by the same number of 5 MPs. I think that the time has come. The same argument you made for women, the same principle should apply here. The majority ought to be represented. I think it is a controversial issue. That is the matter that we should take a second look at again and move away - if you want to make a Pan African Parliament representing the people of Africa. Otherwise the concept of sovereignty and of five people each is business as usual. I am raising this point so that we think seriously about it, if we really want to represent the peoples’ of Africa and we want to make PAP relevant to the peoples’ of Africa. Then I think that we may have to take a second look at the number of people that represent their countries. ECOWAS, I am told has a principle where Africans were given the basic minimum and then depending on your population, additional representation is given to you. If ECOWAS has that principle and it has not caused problems, I don’t see the reason why we should not do it also. I think the number of people representing a country should take into consideration the population of that country. I am raising this issue so that we re-examine it again. Mr. Speaker, this is my only point I want to make towards this contribution. Thank very much.HON. SIRMA MUSA [KENYA]:Thank you Mr. President. First and foremost, is to congratulate the Committee for having done a good work. The only part, Mr. President, is where it talks about the highest number of votes should be deemed elected. First, you should know that in every country there is political parties representation and therefore we cannot go by the number elected by the House because you may find that they will bring, if there is a party which is minority and it is the opposition, they might not get a chance. So, the principle of equitable distribution of those seats to the Members who have been sent here must apply.Secondly, is where it is said it was agreed that PAP Parliamentarians did not necessarily have to be MPs in their own countries. I think it should say, "...must not be MPs..." because if you look at the East African Legislative Assembly as an example, we in Parliament do elect from the various political parties based on the strength of the parties within Parliament and those people have really given all their energies and time to do legislative work in the East African Legislative Assembly. We should take a cue from that because it is one of the success stories of the Regional Parliaments.I also want to say I think my earlier friend who was speaking, talked about that we should base our numbers in the House based on the population. I do not agree because even with a very big numbers you still have one President sitting in AUC; you do not have two Presidents. So, just go and change first to have two Presidents or more based on regulation so that you come. We have to respect the sovereignty of even the small states because they have a right and have only one seat in AUC. When they will have two seats we shall consider that.I also want to say the issue of relegating this Parliament to be a stamping authority, I will not agree with it because it says in the adoption of African Union Treaties there was an agreements that Parliament does not have the powers to modify the text of the draft as approved by Assembly but may send a draft back to the Assembly explaining why it should be reconsidered. And if it is brought back without being reconsidered we come here and approve. We are not a stamping authority; we represent the peoples of the countries we come from. That area must be amended, Mr. President, (applause) so that we have teeth to bite or we have legislative power and authority over all the African nations because they have sent us here on their behalf.Thank you, Mr. President. (Applause)HON. MOISERAELE MASTER GOYA [BOTSWANA]:Thank you very much, Mr. President for giving me the Floor. I would like to firstly thank the Chairperson of the Rules Committee and the entire committee indeed for the good work that they have done. And I also want to encourage them to continue doing the good work. Indeed they have embarked on a journey that is full of obstacles. There are still some insurmountable tasks that lie ahead and I think they should continue what they have started and make sure that at the end of the day, we achieve what we want to achieve as Pan-African Parliament.But Mr. President, I am diametrically opposed to the idea that whenever there is something that needs to be accomplished, a consultant has to be engaged to do that accomplishment. Our governments have abundant experts that could have been brought together to work on the review of the Protocol. This Parliament is pregnant with diversity. There are so many professors around here. There are doctorates and experts here; economists to name but a few and these people could have been used to look into the review of the Protocol rather than engaging a consultant.Mr. President, I am saying so because consultants charge exorbitant prices and I want to believe that the money that they have charged, the same amount if it could have been sent to PAP to perform the activities of the committees, that money could have been enough. We could have utilized that money for something else.The same consultants that we engage, Mr. President, do not use their brains only. They also use the brains of the very people that have employed them. For instance if we go to page 2 of this report under (a) it says, "In the meantime, Pan-African Parliament should officially transmit its contribution to the Protocol Review Process to the AUC for the benefit of the consultant." Look at this, "...for the benefit of the consultant." This consultant is going to use the same information that has been provided by the person who has engaged him and put it in a report and submit it to the person who has employed him, and the employer is going to pay him for his brains; for his contributions as well. This is one thing that Mr. President does not augur well with me: for us to keep hiring consultants when we have our own people here who are experts in various fields that we could be using to work on some of these things.I think, Mr. President, these are some of the things that once we fully become a legislative organ, we need to play an oversight role on.And Mr. President, a Member of Parliament is a representative of the people and Parliament is an institution which expresses the will of the people. But I have failed to understand why in some of these pages it is mentioned that those people who come to Parliament do not necessarily have to be Members of Parliament. Who will they be representing? We need to send parliamentarians here who are elected by people. I am totally against the agreement that it is not necessary for these people to be Members of Parliament. Thank you MR President.HON. HAKAYE HAIKELLA [NAMIBIA]:Thank you very much Mr. President. I also rise to make my contribution and congratulate the Committee that has come up with a very important report and also to register my observation on certain elements raised in this report. Mr. President, Honourable Members, the Member who has spoken before me has indicated what will happen to this august House if we came at the ticket of our national Parliaments and when we become members of PAP we ceased to be members of our national Parliaments back home. This will make Honourable Members create vacancies and lose touch with the electorates they represent. And there is the word ‘One Africa, One Voice’ how will be the voice of the African people be heard if we do not represent them at national Parliament? How are we going to speak their voice? That question is hanging above our heads and it will not be workable if we employ it here.Mr. President, equally the vacancy that we are creating in our own national Parliaments, one has a constituency. There will be a by-election to come to our national Parliament and a new member from the same constituency will be elected to represent those people at national Parliament or those people will not be represented since I would have picked up a position at PAP.Another serious concern Mr. President is that we have to take a second look on the representation of equal members from given member African states. Mr. President, this is not going to work at all. If we can see practically, what are we doing right now in Parliament? What will become of this Parliament if a given country with the majority or more millions will be over-represented? You will end up having one country constituting even a Committee. A permanent Committee is represented by one country because of the majority that the country is commanding in this august House and that will not augur well and will not be practical democracy.So, let each and every country have equal members before the Pan African Parliament. Whatever the number it may come up with, if then we are going to work towards the unification and creation of the united states of Africa, I think will make us to believe that at the end of the day we will be one African and One Voice and one united states of Africa. With this observationHonourable President, I thank the Honourable Members who proposed some of these recommendations and proposed that this report will be honoured by every one of us with all those changes. I thank you.SR. DEPUTADO LUÍS REIS PAULO CUANGA (ANGOLA):Muito obrigado, Senhor Presidente. Depois da discussao que tivemos no ponto anterior, reforgou-me a ideia de que devemos avangar tao devagar quanto a prudencia aconselha. Ou seja, quer dizer que os países africanos nao tem todos a mesma base de partida; uns estao mais avangados que outros e, acho que devemos ter todos uma mesma base de partida para podermos avangar seguramente.Quanto à questao do número de membros do Parlamento Pan-Africano e o seu modo de designagao, eu queria propor que, de facto, se respeitasse a representagao proporcional, tendo como base o número de assentos no Parlamento. Significa dizer que, estou de acordo com dois para um ou outro sexo, e, para que os partidos possam estar representados no Parlamento Pan-Africano, que se respeite o princípio da representagao proporcional.Quanto à questao da renúncia dos assentos nos Parlamentos nacionais nao estou de acordo porque, senhor Presidente, a nossa permanencia aqui no Parlamento Pan-Africano depende dos nossos parlamentos nacionais. E nós sabemos que a Uniao Africana tem problemas de recursos, para financiar quer a Comissao, quer o próprio Parlamento Pan-Africano. Portanto, ao desvincularmo-nos dos nossos assentos nos nossos parlamentos, teremos o problema da nao representado, porque todos representamos um círculo eleitoral, e teremos também o problema do financiamento da nossa permanencia ou nao na África do Sul, já que estaremos em exclusividade de fungoes no Parlamento Pan-Africano.Mas permita-me, Senhor Presidente, dizer o seguinte: Se o Parlamento Pan-Africano, de acordo com as áreas que poderao ter atribuigoes para os seus poderes, sao áreas ínfimas, e também o Parlamento Pan-Africano nao tem iniciativa legislativa, valerá a pena, de facto, profissionalizar os deputados? Creio que a nossa fungao nao justifica que os deputados estejam em efectividade de fungoes no Parlamento PanAfricano.Senhor Presidente, para concluir, queria dizer que nao sei se o roteiro definido será cumprido na íntegra, tendo em conta que a reuniao de peritos devia acontecer em Setembro e Outubro e, nós estamos a prever para Novembro. Significa dizer que este processo vai levar ainda muito tempo para que possamos de facto, concluir o mesmo.Senhor Presidente, com estas palavras, termino a minha intervengao. Muito obrigado.HON. MATAMISA ERIMENZIAH EDITOR [ZIMBABWE]:Thank you Mr. President. I will be very brief. Let me first thank the Rules Committee for their presentation.Mr. President, after looking at the report, I really get concerned by the method that will be used to ensure gender balance. Ideally, proportional representation should be considered otherwise one gender will dominate.Secondly, the fact that Pan-African Parliamentarians do not have to be MPs in their own countries; if they are, they should resign from their National Parliaments; I really fear this will create more problems than solutions. Where does a Pan-African Parliamentarian report to and how do they become part of their National Parliaments? We are bemoaning visibility of PAP and yet we are trying to take away PAP from the people. This issue also entails constitutional changes in our National Parliaments without which it will be impossible. Mr. President, I feel this is a divorce from the grassroots. We are voted in by the electorate and as such we owe everything to them and our Governments.Mr. President, what platform will be created for the PAP Parliamentarians to communicate both effectively and efficiently with National Parliaments? Currently, I see none. The existing financial problems at PAP as I see it will have no solution as Governments will prioritize budgets towards National Parliaments than towards an independent PAP which may create challenges to National Governments.One would also like to know what happens to a PAP Member after five years. According to the statement, it says, "It will be renewable." By who? And renewable for how many times? This scenario, Mr. President, removes the Honorable Members permanently from their country politics and we cannot encourage this because we are here because we are politicians in our own countries.On No. 4 on legislative initiative, Mr. President, I was thinking extending this to AU Technical Committees through the PRC who are Political appointees- (Interruption by the House bell), Mr. President just allow me to finish this one, who are simply political appointees would be stripping PAP of its relevance and will add confusion and chaos to PAP’s activities.I thank you, Mr. President. (Applause)HON. MASEBO TEMBO SYLVIA [ZAMBIA]:Thank you very much Sir. I have few comments to make. Firstly I would like to commend the Committee for the good work. I know that it is a very difficult exercise, but very important. So I just want to say that I support the idea of the duration of PAP and its membership, but also that I agree with the Committees view that the mode of electing members in terms of the gender component should not be accepted as proposed by the consultant. I think the proposal by one of the members earlier here who said that it is better to have a female list and the male list would actually guarantee at least two from either gender. Then of course, the issue of the component of the opposition is also important, but let me say this Mr. President; the issue as to whether we should be from within Parliament or outside really should not be an issue because in the final analysis my understanding is that PAP members will be elected by the citizens at large. At that stage, then we can talk about members coming from outside as they will also be politicians because they will be elected through adult suffrage. As such, they will be representing the communities that we are representing as Members of Parliament. But, I think that in the interim, we need to take into account the fact that our governments do not have enough resources and we should not therefore come up with ideas like; Members be elected to Parliament and then from within Parliament, and after they are elected to come to PAP there must be by-elections. We have enough problems as Africans in terms of finances, so let us not come up with issues that complicate our lives by costing our Governments monies that are not available.The other point is on the issue of functions and powers of PAP. I want to say that yes, it is important for us to have a lot of powers, but I think that we need to trade very carefully. We should not complicate our process of becoming a legislative body because we know that even now we have difficulties. So, if we start asking for too much at the beginning, this process may take long in terms of ratifications by our member states. The best way is to start slowly and I would like to support the proposal by the consultant that we have few legislative powers. The first one on harmonization of laws in Africa, in my humble understanding, is a very important function because we are different. Even when we talk about elections by Parliament, some of our nations do not even have Parliamentary democratic systems to talk about. We are very different as a Continent in many ways. So this aspect of harmonization is very important. The adoption of the AU Treaties as a function is also important. Even now, currently in some of our countries Parliaments are not adopting the Treaties - it is a function of the Executive. There is a saying in some African languages, which says when you want something, move slowly and then once you are inside there, that is when you can start asking for too much. Let’s adopt that principle if we really want quickly to become a legislative body. I thank you.AN HONORABLE:Thank you Mr. President. I want to add something concerning the Mission Observer. That was my request, Sir.THE PRESIDENT:That will be the next item, thank you Honorable.HON. NJIKELANA SISA JAMES [SOUTH AFRICA]:Thank you, Mr. President. My input in this regard is that once addressing the Protocol, which obviously will embody the character and form of a transformed Pan-African Parliament, what I would like us to consider quite seriously is that there is more to just rearranging or amending or bringing new things to the Protocol per se. When transforming an institution, we have to look at organizational culture as well, and it is on that basis that we will be able to measure our effectiveness as a legislative power ideally. Of course I do support very strongly the gradual approach and obviously we need to tread carefully as the hon. from Zambia has just said. It would even be helpful that as we move along, we also look at or rearrange benchmarks whereby we could be able to assess our effectiveness for any legislative powers that we attain and be able to move to more legislative powers on the basis of successes and challenges that we face for each and every level of power that we attain.That is my humble input. I thank you.شكرا سيدي الرئيس. اريد ان الفت نظركم الى اننا تجاوزنا الوقت القانوني وعشرين دقيقة. شكرا.LE PRÉSIDENT:Je vous remercie, pour ce rappel. J’ai encore sur ma liste douze (12) inscrits. Nous allons suspendre la séance jusqu’à demain vendredi, 08 octobre 2010, à 09 heures. Les 12 inscrits passeront en premier; ensuite, le président de la Commission apportera ses réponses.Allez-y!HON VIEYRA SOGLO ROSINE [BENIN]:Monsieur le Président, vous voyez, comme je suis aveugle, je n’arrive même pas à me servir correctement de mon micro. Alors, je suis obligée de hurler pour me faire entendre.Monsieur le Président,Tout à l’heure, vous avez appelé mon nom, je me suis levée, comme on le dit chez moi, pendant la révolution; mais, je ne suis pas allée très loin, Monsieur le Président. Alors, je voudrais que vous remettiez mon nom avec les douze (12), c’est-à- dire que vous aurez treize (13) intervenants demain matin. Je vous remercie.LE PRÉSIDENT:C’est entendu.
4.0 – ANNONCES
THE CLERK:Thank you Honourable President, we have to make the following announcements to make Honourable Members Committee meetings. Committee on Rural Economic, Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environment, Half past Two in Room No. 1. Committee on Health. Labour and Social Affairs, Half past Two, Room No. 2, Committee on Transport, Industry, Communications, Energy and Technology, Half past Two, Room No. 3, Committee on Justice and Human Rights, Half past Two, Room No. 4. Committee on Trade, Customs and Immigration, Half past -two in Room No 5, Committe on Education, Culture, Tourism and Human Resources, Half past Two, Room No 6. Women’s Caucus in the Chamber between 1 o’clock and 2 o’clck. Thank you.LE PRÉSIDENT:Je vous remercie.La séance est suspendue jusqu’à demain vendredi, neuf heures.La séance est levée à 12 h 50 mn.
Friday, 8th October 2010
1.0 – SUITE DU DÉBAT RELATIF AU RAPPORT D’ÉTAPE SUR LES PROGRÈS REALISÉS DANS LE PROCESSUS DE RÉVISION DU PROTOCOLE ET DE LA TRANSFORMATION DU PARLEMENT PANAFRICAIN EN UN ORGANE LEGISLATIF
THE PRESIDENT:Honourable Members, today we continue with debate on the Review of the Protocol, and I have 13 more names. Mr. Clerk, will you please read the first order of the day!THE CLERK:Adjourned debate on the progress made on the Review of the Protocol of the Pan African Parliament.THE PRESIDENT:Honourable Members, I have a list of 15 more names. This is a continuation of yesterday’s debate. After the 15 names, and as agreed yesterday, there will not be any more additions. Hopefully, the subject matter will have been exhaustively dealt with. The first speaker on my list is Honourable Catarina Domingos of Angola. You may take the floor.DEPUTADA CATARINA PEDRO DOMINGOS [ANGOLA]:Muito obrigada, Senhora Vice-Presidente e Presidente do Plenário.Gostaria de juntar a minha voz aos Colegas que já ontem, intervieram, sobretudo, no relatório apresentado pelo Presidente da Comissao de Regras, Privilégios e Disciplina, no parágrafo 4 da página 3, sobre a renúncia dos assentos nos Parlamentos Nacionais.Senhora Presidente, devemos reflectir com muita frieza esta questao, porquanto nao estou de acordo com este procedimento ou com estas linhas de pensamento. Porque a voz de África tem como ligagao os círculos eleitorais que nós representamos e, porquanto, nós fomos eleitos para o Parlamento Pan-Africano. Nao podemos desvincularmo-nos assim de ànimo leve porque ao agirmos em contrário pergunto: que África representaremos ao procedermos dessa maneira? E também fago a seguinte pergunta: será que estamos cientes que, se procedermos assim, que o Parlamento Pan-Africano terá capacidade e autonomia financeira para custear todas as despesas, incluindo os encargos salariais dos Deputados?Estou plenamente de acordo que no futuro, possamos ter um Parlamento com o poder legislativo, mas tenhamos em conta que os nossos parlamentos nacionais assumem-nos de maneiras diferentes, ao estarmos aqui representados, e acredito que com as dificuldades financeiras que a nossa organizagao atravessa, nao será tao fácil termos a nossa autonomia financeira.Outro aspecto: findo o mandato no Parlamento Pan-Africano, qual será o futuro reservado para a acomodagao dentro ou fora do Parlamento, dos Deputados do Parlamento Pan-Africano?Por fim, gostaria de propor, uma vez que se preve a reuniao dos peritos em Novembro - conforme consta das conclusoes na página 6 - que seja levado em consideragao que o número de membros do Parlamento Pan-Africano, o seu modelo de designagao e a duragao do seu mandato, nao devam ser motivos de renúncia dos assentos nos Parlamentos Nacionais.Muito Obrigada.HON. SUAD EL FATEH AL BADAWI [SUDAN]:Thank you Madam President. Actually I have a proposal to make about the subject. We all know that we have very competent, very experienced and very learned Members of PAP who left us since 2005 to date. My proposal and this I need to share with the Committees and with my colleagues whether it will be feasible and useful for PAP to make use of some of these Members whom we lost through elections by the plenary here. May be we need to limit these Members to two or three, men and women. In this case, I think we will not lose track of the efficiency and competence of the Members of our Parliament. This is one point.The other point is as raised by the last speaker, the Honourable friend; I think she is right that we should not be detached from our Parliaments when we came here to become members of PAP. Number two, we will lose track of the contacts between PAP and the National Parliaments and this is very important. If we are not Members in our National Parliaments, we will not be effective in carrying all the problems of Africa to our states and to our national Parliaments.Number three, how are we going to conduct elections for the PAP if we do not do this through our National Parliaments how are we going to do it? The proposal was silent about it. If we are going to make it generally in the whole country, it is going to be a very expensive task. May be we are going to lose a lot of people who are able, who can serve PAP more than the people who come for the elections. I think it is not a good idea and I am against it. I think we should go on with our previous policy of electing Members to PAP from our national Parliaments. We should include women and we should have diversity of ideas, and parties, what we said previously about...THE PRESIDENT:Hon El Badaoui, half a minute.HON. SUAF EL FATEH EL BADAOUI [SUDAN]I am closing now, this is the end. I am not for this, and I move that Members of PAP should be members of their National Parliaments. Thank you.THE PRESIDENT:Thank you very much. I now give the opportunity to Honourable Steven Obeegadoo of Mauritius, and this will be his maiden speech. We welcome you.HON. STEVEN OBEEGADOO [ILE MAURICE]:Je vous remercie, Madame la Présidente de me donner la parole. Je remercie aussi, Monsieur Tidjani Serpos, pour le rapport excellent qu’il nous a présenté hier.Madame la Présidente,Comme vous le disiez, je suis nouveau dans cette auguste assemblée. Je n’ai, donc, pas la prétention de formuler des critiques à l’encontre de ce rapport. Mon propos consiste, plutôt, à rechercher un certain éclairage par rapport à quelques éléments mentionnés dans le rapport.Je m’excuse, donc, en avance, auprès de mes pairs, au cas où les éclaircissements recherchés seraient déjà du domaine public, c'est-à-dire, connus des honorables députés ici, d’autant plus que je crois comprendre que les propositions du PAP ont été discutées au sein de la Chambre, ici, avant d’être soumises au consultant.Bref, Madame la Présidente, j’ai trois questions. La première concerne la procédure. Je me posais la question de savoir quelle est la marge de manœuvre dont nous disposons toujours. Il y a eu des remarques justes de la part de nos collègues, des propositions très pertinentes. Mais, quelle sera l’importance accordée, au cours de cette réunion des experts, aux représentants du PAP? Est-ce que nos représentants vont se cantonner aux propositions déjà soumises au consultant, ou pourront-ils bénéficier d’une synthèse des débats présentement menés au sein de la Chambre?J’ouvrirai ici, Madame la Présidente, une parenthèse pour faire référence au fait que les nouveaux membres du Parlement - nous sommes une bonne douzaine; donc, il semblerait qu’à chaque session, il y ait 5% du Parlement qui se renouvellent - n’ont pas eu accès à ces propositions du PAP. Je vous demanderai, donc, d’intervenir auprès du Secrétariat, afin que désormais les documents clés de la session précédente soient mis à la disposition des nouveaux membres arrivant pour la première fois au PAP. Ainsi, je serais intéressé de savoir, par rapport au pouvoir législatif, quelles ont été les propositions du PAP quant aux pouvoirs législatifs à être accordé au parlement dans le cadre de la révision du Protocole.Deuxième point: le mode de désignation des membres de cette Chambre. Je suis très inquiet par rapport à la proposition que les parlements nationaux se constituent en collèges électoraux et que les cinq candidats arrivés en premier soient désignés. Je rappellerai que - si je ne me trompe - les concepteurs, les pères du PAP avaient envisagé qu’il viendrait un jour où les représentants seraient désignés au suffrage direct et, dès lors, le PAP aurait des pouvoirs décisionnels.En attendant d’arriver à ce stade, Madame la Présidente, pourquoi ne pas maintenir tout simplement le mécanisme existant qui a donné satisfaction et qui n’est nulle part critiqué, plutôt que de s’aventurer sur de nouveaux terrains, très dangereux, où l’équilibre genre, l’équilibre hommes/femmes risque de ne pas être respecté, mais, plus encore, la représentativité des délégations nationales qui, actuellement, fait la part à l’opposition, que cela ne soit plus garantie? Ce serait là quelque chose d’extrêmement grave, et qui remettrait en cause la légitimité même de cette instance comme représentant des peuples africains.Voilà, Madame la Présidente, j’en ai terminé.Je vous remercie.(Applaudissements)THE PRESIDENT:Thank you very much. I also realize that this summary does not give the full detail, I think it would have been better if the document was circulated that reflects Article by Article in terms of what we intend to do. But I leave that to the Chair of the Rules Committee to respond.I now give the opportunity to Honorable Isaac Stephen Mabiletsa of Botswana.HON. MABILETSA ISAAC STEPHEN [BOTSWANA]:Madame President, thank you very much. I think I had an opportunity to speak yesterday. Can I let the opportunity pass to the next Member? Thank you.HON. MATLALI NTEBALENG MAVIS [SOUTH AFRICA]:Thank you hon. Deputy President. I also looked into the protocol revision and considered the following, after looking into the amendment. I am in agreement with most of the issues that are presented. Nevertheless, this point on page 3 that most of the Members of Parliament have talked about, the one that says, "Members of Parliament at PAP do not necessarily have to be MPs in their own countries and if they were, they should resign from their national Parliaments before taking up their duties in order to perform their legislative powers of PAP in a very good manner," is the one that is a thorn in the shoe.I have got the following reasons why I do not agree with it: one, if they are not Members of Parliament in their countries, where will they report to? I believe whatever issues and the laws that they would have debated and adopted in PAP have to go back to their member state parliaments in order that they go through the right procedure before the countries can implement them. So, if these Members are not Members of Parliament, I would like to find out from the report, where they will be reporting and then the procedure that would be followed in order to adopt the laws that have to be implemented.The second point that convinces me that this matter is not going to serve us well is about the finances themselves. Who will foot the bill looking into the meager budget that we are given as PAP? This pertains to the salaries of those Members, their travelling costs, and per diems. Presently, it is our national parliaments that are responsible for most of the finances of Members when they are working at PAP.My third reason is to look into the issue of gender. How will we make sure that women will be fully represented at PAP, instead of only men that are normally voted by the majority of the communities or citizens in every country? The men would be the ones that would take the top five and come to Parliament, leaving the women behind.The fourth one is about minority parties. If minority parties get very limited votes in their constituencies, obviously only members of the governing party will be those that will come and represent the country at PAP.So, if these issues could be looked into, I believe that the answer that is positive would be the one that would convince me.I would like to also say, when Members are sworn in and later on they are expected to resign, it is going to be cumbersome to member states. It will also be very chaotic that in every five years they come, they swear in and they are lost to PAP, and then new Members have to come in whereby the process has to go back to the constituencies to vote for the other five Members. I felt that this is a matter that we really need not burden our member states’ with. With these remarks Honourable Deputy President, I believe that this matter should be revisited, and PAP should look into an alternative of this agreement. I thank you, Madam.HON. HYACINTA CHIKAONDA [MALAWI]:Thank you very much Madame President for giving me this opportunity to speak in this August House. In fact I have got two issues on the report. But firstly, let me commend the Chairperson for the Rules Committee for presenting this report to this House.I had two issues, but most of these issues have already been discussed or said by previous speakers. The first one was or is on the composition of those that will be coming to PAP. It has been said in the report that they will be five people. I just wanted to emphasize, as a woman myself, as some people have already spoken that they should consider the gender issue. Because in most cases people do forget that women also need a big representation. And if I were to suggest, I would say, may be amongst those five, three should be women and two men, because we have got a lot of issues as women in Africa that we need to tackle and previously we have been left behind.So, if I were to suggest Madam President, I would say three to two, that would do us good.Then the second one was on the same paragraph that my previous speaker has already said on the fact that, once you are elected to PAP, you shouldn’t be MP’s in your own countries. I will just add my voice on two things; one, somebody already said it yesterday that it will be expensive on the part of our Governments because in the first place you have been elected by your people, they have trusted you then after that they say, you are no longer an MP there. So, that means you have created a gap where they have to do by-elections and you know how expensive these by-elections are.Secondly, the people that trusted you with that responsibility in your Constituency, I don’t think they can be ready within that short period of time to vote for somebody else again, especially maybe considering the parties from which we are coming from. So, the trust is lost in that party because they will think, once they also vote somebody from that party, he or she will also be elected somewhere, she or he will be taken away from them again. So, I feel that is also a problem.Again on the reporting thing, what mechanism is PAP going to put in place to make sure that these people report whatever matters transpire here at PAP. Because as we are also MPs there, it’s really easy for us to pass on the messages to our different countries through the National Assembly.There is also an issue that has been put here in the report that the tenure of office is renewable. I wonder how you can be renewed because, one, you are no longer a Member of Parliament in the National Assembly and the way they choose these people is from the National Assembly. So, how are they going to renew their tenure in that way, because they are going to choose somebody else! That means you lose out.Those are my contributions that I wanted to make and you should know Madame President that this is my maiden speech. Thank you. (Applause)THE PRESIDENT:Yes, thank you so much. That was a very literate maiden speech, congratulations.HON. LASSANE SAVADOGO [BURKINA FASO]:Je vous remercie, Madame la présidente.Comme ceux qui m’ont précédé, je voudrais d’abord adresser mes félicitations au Bureau du PAP pour l’efficacité avec laquelle il conduit ce dossier et remercier aussi la Commission des règlements pour la qualité du travail et la qualité de la présentation faite par son président, hier.Mon intervention porte sur quelques points. D’abord, pour ce qui concerne le mode de choix des représentants, je pense que c’est une bonne chose, parce que nous nous inscrivons dans une approche Sénat. Donc, ce sont les Etats qui sont représentés; il faut respecter, alors, l’égalité entre les Etats. Plus tard, cela peut évoluer comme c’est le cas en Europe. On peut également créer une Chambre des représentants où ce sont les peuples qui vont désigner directement leurs représentants. Donc, je ne vais pas trop insister, compte tenu du fait que je n’ai pas beaucoup de temps.Deuxième point ce sont les domaines. Je partage à ce niveau la proposition du consultant parce qu’elle est plus dynamique. Cela veut dire que le Parlement aurait une compétence de principe. Et, cette compétence peut couvrir de nombreux domaines, donc la formulation me paraît très appropriée.Troisièmement, je voudrais dire, pour ce qui concerne le Traité, que la proposition faite par le consultant me paraît inutile, dans la mesure où elle ne fait qu’allonger la procédure. Et, je ne vois pas l’utilité que le traité soit adopté pour, par la suite, être soumis à la ratification des Etats. L’argument qui est avancé, comme quoi, la ratification est l’expression de la souveraineté des Etats, me semble inopérant, dans la mesure où ce sont les Etats qui ont procédé à un transfert de leur souveraineté au profit des institutions panafricaines.Donc, à défaut de pouvoir conférer un pouvoir de ratification au Parlement panafricain, il ne me semble pas utile qu’on accepte le rôle qu’on lui confie dans la procédure d’adoption des Conventions. Mais, je crois qu’il y a une incompréhension, parce que le Parlement panafricain ne serait pas compétent pour l’ensemble des traités mais uniquement, pour un certain nombre de traités. Et, il appartient à la Conférence des chefs d’Etat et de gouvernement, au Conseil des ministres, à la Commission, aux autorités investies de pouvoirs d’initiative en matière législative, de déterminer quelles sont les conventions qui vont être soumises à la ratification du Parlement panafricain. Cela ne remet pas en cause le principe de souveraineté des Etats, comme cela a été évoqué par le consultant.Au total, je voudrais proposer que la Commission recense les différents points de divergences qui existent entre nous et le consultant et que ces points de divergences soient mis en relief à l’occasion de la rencontre avec le COREP, parce que quand il y a des plaidoyers, il faut que nous arrivions à convaincre nos différents partenaires dans le processus d’adoption de ce Protocole. Il faut que nous arrivions à les convaincre par rapport à nos positions et que nous arrivions à aboutir vraiment à l’adoption d’un document efficace et consensuel capable, vraiment, de permettre au PAP de jouer son rôle en matière d’intégration de notre continent.Je vous remercie, Madame la Présidente.HON. TEMBO RAISI FORRIE [ZAMBIA]:Thank you Madame President for giving me this rare opportunity to add my word on the debate on the floor.Madame President, from the onset, I fully support the report on the progress of the review process of the protocol and of the transformation of the PAP.Madame President, I do not agree with a Committee with their proposal that the elected PAP Members from our Parliaments should relinquish their seats in their Parliaments. This is a retrogressive idea to me in the sense that it will create unnecessary by-elections.Madame President, if you look at the House right now, you will see that there are a lot of vacancy seats within. This simply shows that our states now, they are facing a lot of problems in terms of financial constraints. Now, if we agree to take up this proposal on board it will simply create unnecessary by-elections.Madame President, I will give you one example, in my country, for last hold one by-election, it costs us more than two billion Kwacha. If you multiply by five by-elections, you go up to twelve or thirteen billion Kwacha of which this sum of money can be returned back into the community.Madame President, we have been struggling in this Parliament that we have to meet certain achievements in the health sector. We advocating that we have to contribute about fifteen percent of our national budgets to the health sector. But how do we come with such ideas when we are struggling with resources in our own states? This will also have the Constitutional repercussions in our states.Madame President, also we have to bear in mind that our Parliaments consist of different political parties. If at all, we have to carry this decision on board that means we have to look at the Electoral College in our Parliaments. I will give you an example in our Parliament we use the arrogance of numbers meaning that the political parties represented in Parliament will not have any chance to have their representatives at PAP.Madam President, I just wanted to shade light on this. Thank you.HON. KANDEH MAMMA [GAMBIA]:Thank you very much Madame President for giving me this opportunity.First, I want to congratulate the Committee on Rules for this important interim report on the progress of the review process of the Protocol and transformation of the Pan-African Parliament.Madame President, I am in support of this document except in page five, where it says; Madame President I quote, "The Parliament does not have the powers to modify the text of draft as approved by the Assembly but may send the draft back to the Assembly explaining why it should be reconsidered". After doing that, number three: "When following a reconsideration the draft is once submitted to the Parliament, the Parliament must adopt it whether it is modified or not". So with this portion, I am not in support of that because what is the essence of the partnership? What is the importance of having the Parliament as a Legislative Body?On the other side Madame President, I believe I have a different view of Members who are to be elected or to come and represent the African Continent in this Parliament. I am in support that Members to come from outside National Parliaments. If you look at the Chambers now, how many Members if you want to pass or move anything that need to be adopted? Do we have a quorum? It is not that the Members they don’t want come but they have other businesses back home to their National Parliaments. But if you have Members attached only to the Pan-African Parliament, the election of the Members of the Pan-African Parliament, we can do that at our National level that is at the National Assembly level because they are no funds now to conduct election countrywide for five Members but we can use our National Parliaments. Candidates will be applying to our National Parliaments and it is National Parliament that should vote for those candidates that will make them to report back to those National Parliaments. But if we want to link with the National Parliaments and the PanAfrican Parliament, I don’t think if that will work.Madame President, we are here laying the foundation of this Pan-African Parliament. With this number of Members here in this Chamber, I don’t think if we continue like that we will achieve our goals and at the end of the day we are talking about representing the people of Africa.Thank you Madame President.HON. VIEYRA SOGLO ROSINE [BENIN]:Je vous remercie, Madame la Présidente.Si vous permettez, je voudrais que vous ajoutiez que je m’appelle Rosine VIEYRA SOGLO. Je tiens absolument à VIEYRA car c’est le nom de mon père, et SOGLO c’est le nom de mon mari. Vous savez tous qu’un mari, on peut le perdre, comme il peut s’en aller, mais votre père jamais, Madame la Présidente. Et avocate de métier, je m’appelle Rosine VIEYRA SOGLO. Je vous remercie beaucoup, Madame la Présidente.Madame la Présidente,Je voudrais si vous permettez, remercier également le président TIDJANI SERPOS et toute sa Commission pour le travail précis, concis et clair qu’il nous a présenté, comme d’habitude. Nous avons l’habitude de ce genre de travail de la Commission du règlement dirigé par le président TIDJANI SERPOS.Alors, Monsieur le président, vous savez, quelqu’un a dit ingratement que la vieillesse était un naufrage, et comme je suis très vieille, je crois que je suis en train de me noyer totalement.Cela dit, Madame la Présidente, je crois que tout a été dit, et bien dit, et je ne voudrais pas enfoncer des portes ouvertes. Je constate simplement que c’est un gigantesque panier à crabes et que Dieu seul trouvera les siens.J’ajoute, pour terminer, Madame la Présidente, que nous voulons avoir le beurre et l’argent du beurre, et nous voulons être dotés du don d’ubiquité. Je ne sais pas où nous allons aller avec cela. Alors, je ne veux pas être plus royaliste que le roi. Je vous souhaite bon vent et bonne chance.J’en ai terminé, Madame la Présidente. Je vous remercie infiniment.HON. TIDJANI-SERPOS ISMAËL [BENIN]:Je vous remercie, Madame la Présidente.Je voudrais, également, remercier tous les collègues qui sont intervenus, d’abord pour féliciter la Commission à travers son président et ensuite pour apporter leur contribution. Je considère que tout ce qui a été dit depuis hier, ce sont des contributions que les collègues ont apportées en ce qui concerne, non pas le rapport en soi, mais le travail que nous devons faire en direction de la Commission de l’Union africaine, et à travers les différentes instances auxquelles nous devons participer.Ceci étant dit, je voudrais, Madame la Présidente, rappeler que c’est un travail décisif que nous faisons au niveau du Parlement panafricain. Nous avons dit, dans le rapport, que ce n’est pas aujourd’hui que le processus a commencé. C’est un processus qui a commencé depuis 2006. Nous avons reçu mandat au niveau de la Commission des règlements de faire, d’abord, une enquête au niveau des parlements régionaux. Ainsi, nous avons été en Afrique du Nord, en Afrique centrale, à la SADC, à l’EALA, à la CEDEAO, à ces différents parlements, pour voir le fruit de leur expérience.Seul le parlement de l’EALA en Afrique de l’Est a des pouvoirs législatifs. Et, tenez-vous bien, au niveau de ce parlement, le collège électoral, c’est le parlement, mais ceux qui sont élus ne sont pas des parlementaires. Parce que, pour faire le travail parlementaire, vous ne pouvez pas être assis entre deux chaises, pris par le travail législatif de votre pays, et courir au Parlement panafricain pour faire un autre travail parlementaire. Il faudrait qu’on soit conséquent vis-à-vis de nous-mêmes. Mais, l’expérience vécue en Afrique et qui marche, c’est l’expérience de l’EALA. Les personnalités qui sont élues, à raison de cinquante par pays, de façon égalitaire, ces députés de l’EALA ne sont pas des parlementaires de leur pays, mais ils sont élus par les parlements nationaux de chez eux.Voilà une expérience que nous avons vécue. Même en Europe, par le passé, il y avait cette double casquette, mais les parlementaires européens sont élus exclusivement pour le parlement européen. Quitte à eux de trouver la formule pour rendre compte non seulement à leurs électeurs qui constituent le collège électoral, ou quand c’est au suffrage universel, rendre compte aussi à leurs électeurs d’une manière globale de ce qu’ils font au niveau de ce parlement.C’est fort de ce travail d’investigation que notre Parlement s’est déjà prononcé sur le fait que, pour le prochain Parlement panafricain, ceux qui vont siéger ici n’auront plus une double casquette. On n’aura pas besoin d’être parlementaire, comme cela se fait à l’EALA, chez soi, pour être élu parlementaire du PAP. C’est déjà un acquis, à notre niveau.L’un des maux dont souffre précisément notre Parlement, c’est qu’il n’y a pas de permanence ici. A toutes les sessions, cela se renouvelle. Ceux qui n’ont pas participé à ces travaux, je les comprends parfaitement, alors que c’est un acquis au niveau du PAP. Par rapport à cela, je suis d’accord avec mon collègue qui a proposé qu’on mette de nouveau à la disposition de tous les nouveaux parlementaires, les documents que nous avons intitulé autoévaluation du Parlement panafricain, le rapport sur l’autoévaluation.J’avais déjà demandé que l’administration envoie, dans toutes les boîtes électroniques des députés du PAP, ce document, accompagné également de notre contribution à la révision du Protocole. Je ne sais pas si cela a été fait. Si cela n’a pas été fait, il est toujours temps de le faire; aussi bien, pour les anciens que pour les nouveaux. Qu’on envoie ce document à tous les parlementaires. Je suppose qu’on a la boîte électronique de tous les parlementaires. Si ce n’est pas le cas, les dispositions doivent être prises pour qu’on puisse l’envoyer à tous les parlementaires dans leurs langues de travail.Madame la Présidente,La question a été posée de savoir pourquoi on va chercher un consultant. Ce n’est pas nous qui avons été chercher un consultant. En janvier/février 2009, la Conférence des chefs d’Etat au 2e Sommet de l’UA a pris la décision, notamment la décision 223, de procéder à une étude. La formule arrêtée au niveau de la Commission de l’UA, c’est de désigner un consultant.De façon proactive, nous avions déjà commencé notre travail ici, et ce travail nous l’avons soumis à la Commission de l’Union africaine. Car, précisément, la décision des chefs d’Etat a dit que, pour arrêter les termes de référence de l’étude, il faut prendre en compte le point de vue du PAP. Et l’étude, elle-même, doit prendre en compte le point de vue du PAP. Si le PAP ne s’est pas prononcé, il est difficile que nous puissions donner son point de vue, aussi bien pour les termes de référence que pour l’étude à proprement parlé. Nous avons répondu à tout cela après avoir fait adopter le rapport d’autoévaluation du PAP et la contribution du PAP à la révision du Protocole.Pour répondre aux collègues qui s’inquiètent du fait qu’on va chercher des compétences en dehors du PAP, je dis que le consultant n’est pas désigné par le PAP. Mais, nous avons contribué, conformément à la décision 223 des chefs d’Etat, en déterminant les termes de référence du travail du consultant.La question nous a été posée de savoir de quelle marge de manœuvre nous disposons. Ce n’est pas le PAP qui a décidé de réviser le Protocole. La question de la révision du Protocole est contenue dans le Protocole lui-même. C’est l’article 25 du Protocole qui dit que, cinq (05) ans après l’entrée en vigueur du Protocole actuellement en vigueur, il sera procédé à une évaluation de l’efficacité du Protocole, ainsi qu’aux modalités de désignation des membres, si besoin était. C’est ce processus qui est en cours. Et, c’est dans le cadre de ce processus que nous n’avons pas voulu nous croiser les bras, pour qu’on nous envoie un bébé tout fait dans les mains. Nous avons voulu donner notre point de vue et être actifs, pour que, une fois les choses réalisées, nous ne récoltions la situation.Ce que nous avons constaté, en ce qui concerne le travail du consultant, c’est que si nous n’avions pas fait le travail d’étude à notre propre niveau de contribution, je pense que les 50 à 60% des points convergents que nous avons retenus, aujourd’hui, ne seraient pas ainsi. C’est une autre situation qu’on nous aurait refilé. Même pour ce qui est des 40% qui posent problème, nous continuons d’appuyer le même point de vue qui a été exprimé par le PAP.L’une des questions essentielles posées par un collègue est la suivante: pourquoi devrait-on déconnecter les membres du Parlement panafricain de leurs parlements d’origine? Je crois que cette option a été faite ici; si nous voulons avoir un pouvoir législatif, il faut que les membres du Parlement panafricain se consacrent exclusivement au travail parlementaire du PAP et ne plus être astreints à courir à droite et à gauche, et à être finalement inefficace.Moi qui suis ici, j’ai le reproche constant de mes électeurs: "On ne te voit plus!", et cela malgré le secrétariat que j’ai mis en place. C’est pareil pour toute la délégation de mon pays. Nous pensons que nous ne pouvons pas continuer à vouloir exercer des pouvoirs législatifs ici et être, à la fois, parlementaires chez nous. C’est peut-être facile pour ceux qui sont en Afrique du sud, puisse que dès que nous finissons ici, ils peuvent retourner chez eux. Mais, je suis à des milliers de kilomètres d’ici. On ne peut pas continuer! Et, cette option a été faite dans cette Chambre, de faire en sorte que ce soit des parlementaires à temps plein.Le Protocole dit que, à terme, nous devons avoir le pouvoir législatif avec des parlementaires élus au suffrage universel. Nous avons retenu, dans cette Chambre, que c’est un processus. Ce n’est pas du jour au lendemain que cela va se réaliser et que, à l’étape actuelle, nous options pour l’élection des membres du Parlement panafricain à travers un collège électoral. Ce serait toujours le parlement; là où il y a bicaméralisme. Ils se réuniraient en congrès pour élire leurs représentants venant de chaque pays, pour venir siéger au Parlement panafricain.Comment assurer l’équilibre Genre? Nous avions fait une proposition dans cette Chambre. Je me souviens que c’était le président Sawadogo qui avait proposé qu’on mette les deux sexes sur le même pied d’égalité. Au lieu que ce soit un seul siège consacré aux femmes, on donne la possibilité aux femmes d’aller plus loin, et de façon légale. Soit les hommes sont deux et les femmes sont trois, soit les femmes sont deux et les hommes sont trois. C’est cette formule qui a été retenue et entérinée par l’étude du consultant. Je crois que c’est important de rappeler tout ce que nous avons échangé au niveau de ce parlement, et que c’est la proposition qui avait été retenue.Sur les cinq (05) à désigner par pays, certains collègues ont dit que leurs pays n’ont pas la même démographie. Nous avons dit oui. Et, c’est vrai que c’est après les explications que cela a été arrêté. Prenez le Nigéria, l’Egypte, l’Algérie et même l’Afrique du Sud, un certain nombre de pays qui sont démographiquement bien dotés! Mais, nous avons rencontré des problèmes.Il y a des pays qui sont moins dotés mais, qui ont dit qu’ils payent 15% de contributions au niveau de l’UA et qu’ils ont à peine deux ou trois millions d’habitants. Nous avons rencontré cette difficulté au niveau des études. Si vous prenez le critère démographique, moi, je mets sur la table le critère du financement des activités.Pour couper la poire en deux, à l’étape actuelle, en attendant de faire le suffrage universel, nous avons dit "On continue avec les statistiques arrêtées: cinq (05) par pays; on verra avec le temps." Nous devons éviter, actuellement, tout ce qui peut diviser au sein même du PAP, afin que nous fassions front par rapport à ceux avec qui nous devons dialoguer. Cette formule nous a amené à maintenir le chiffre cinq (05) et de faire en sorte que l’équilibre genre, la diversité des opinions politiques soient considérés comme des critères irréfragables.Concernant le pouvoir législatif, je vous ai donné, hier, le point de vue de la Commission dans la lecture du rapport. Nous estimons que la stratégie qui a été suivie jusqu’à l’adoption de notre contribution, c’est d’éviter tout ce qui peut toucher, trop fortement, la souveraineté des Etats.A l’étape actuelle, l’objectif primordial est le développement économique de l’Afrique.Plusieurs points ont été soulevées concernant l’environnement, la santé, le transport et autres, vous trouverez la liste dans le document initial. Nous avons été jusqu’à 17 points que nous avons considérés comme des points qui ne devraient pas poser des problèmes.Est-ce qu’il ne serait pas bon de déterminer l’écartement des rails au niveau de l’Afrique une bonne fois pour toutes, que le Parlement arrête l’écartement des rails pour assurer l’interconnexion au niveau de tous nos systèmes ferroviaires? Je ne crois pas que cela puisse porter atteinte à la souveraineté des Etats.Ce qui est proposé ici, et que le président Sawadogo semble appuyer, c’est la notion d’harmonisation de législation. C’est une notion vague; on peut harmoniser dans le domaine sécuritaire; on peut harmoniser dans le domaine militaire; ce sont des domaines qui risquent de toucher à la susceptibilité. Il faudrait qu’on détermine, avec plus de précision, ces domaines. C’est le combat que nous essayons de mener dans la délégation du PAP au niveau de la Commission de l’Union africaine, pour qu’on puisse les identifier. Sinon le flou risque de bloquer le travail du Parlement panafricain. Comme nous l’avons, aujourd’hui, dans le Protocole en vigueur, quand le flou règne, on n’arrive pas à l’appliquer et on risque de mettre sur le dos du futur PAP l’inaction.Madame la Présidente,Je vais finir en disant à notre collègue, Mamma Kandeh que ce qui est dit à la page 5, ce n’est pas la gestion du vote des lois. Non! Ici, il s’agit des traités et, en principe, on ne modifie pas le contenu d’un traité. On peut émettre des réserves, mais on ne peut pas modifier le contenu d’un traité. C’est ce qui est dit ici. Notre divergence, par rapport au consultant, c’est qu’il propose que nous adoptions le traité; ce qui va allonger inutilement la procédure et une fois que nous l’aurons adopté, on l’envoie dans le circuit de la ratification, comme ce que nous vivons aujourd’hui, alors que nous aurions voulu essayer de raccourcir la procédure de mise en œuvre de certains traités sur le continent. Mais, il y a de la résistance. C’est ce que nous avons voulu surtout vous dire. Il y a de la résistance par rapport à cette approche-là.Madame la Présidente,Je présente mes excuses aux collègues, en ce qui concerne les points qu’ils auraient abordés et que je n’aurais pas pris en compte. Mais, nous avons tout recensé et nous allons intégrer cela dans notre approche et le confier à la délégation du PAP qui va continuer à travailler avec la Commission de l’Union africaine.Notre prochaine réunion qui, je crois, doit avoir lieu ici, entre le 8 et le 9 novembre, va prendre en compte toutes ces considérations, d’autant plus que c’est à cette occasion que nous allons examiner article par article, les propositions de révision du Protocole.Madame la Présidente,Chers Collègues,Je vous remercie.(Applaudissement).THE PRESIDENT:Thank you very much Honorable Serpos for that clarity that you have given to the issues that were raised by Members and I want to say that most of the issues that were raised have been covered. So, there is no need of apologizing. I can see a hand up, very quickly, is that point of information or point of order, what is it?AN HONORABLE:Madame President, I know we have to vote for this but I thought that I would seek your indulgence to move an amendment on this report on that particular point of electability of Members of PAP, if you allow me Madame President.THE PRESIDENT:I think that this is not the final version and it is very difficult for you to move any amendment without having a document that deals with Article by Article. I think we will dealt with that in the last session were we went Article by Article and the House adopted a document, now it is just a report, it was a summary of what has been going on rather than giving you an opportunity to move an amendment on a particular Article. But I think that the report should be passed with amendment as given by the views of different Members, right?AN HONORABLE:Madame President, I do not want to see a situation where we do not adopt this report because there is a lot of controversy on the electability. I found that if we move anamendment on one paragraph, the whole report can actually be adopted.THE PRESIDENT:That is an area where you have moved your concerns but there are so many other Members who raised issues on different areas. So, how do we deal with that? I think we should adopt the report having taken into consideration the issues that have been raised, the concerns of the Members?AN HONORABLE:Point of order. I do not think we could adopt this report. I think this House could note the report because the work is in progress as I understand it. So, I would move that the House note the report and leave it like that.THE PRESIDENT:I think that is an acceptable position because this is the end of the work, so we can note the report. Is that agreeable? (Applause)AN HONORABLE:Yes.THE PRESIDENT:Thank you South Africa, that is very good, thank you very much. (Applause)I can still see a hand up.AN HONORABLE:Thank you. Do we have Spanish translation? Can I speak in Spanish? Gracias Señora Presidenta. Ya español.THE PRESIDENT:Excuse me; I do not hear any interpretation. Now it is okay.AN HONORABLE:Si, señora tengo una pregunta antes de que se acabe esta cuestión que ayer expuse.Es una aclaración lo que quisiera, porque el otro día en el orden del día del Miércoles, se nos presentó un orden del día sobre este tema donde iban haber dos exposiciones, uno del informe del presidente del; bueno los haría dos el presidente, pero uno era presentación del progreso de la adhesión del protocolo y otra presentación era sobre el examen de las enmiendas que no se han presentado, yo expuso aquí una cuestión que no se me ha resuelto, no se me ha dado la respuesta, y hoy tampoco aparece; no sé los programas consiguientes; pues, quiero saber ¿ qué es lo que ha pasado? Si se ha tomado en consideración o se ha clausurado, o ya no se va a presentar el documento de examen de las enmiendas, porque yo tengo una enmienda que presente. Muchas.THE PRESIDENT:Honorable Member, for this particular report, there has been a suggestion by South Africa that we note the report because the work is in progress. So, I would like to move on this report but for the amendments that were made before, the Clerk should have the answer, do you want to reply to that because we passed some reports with amendments. So the Honorable Member is concerned about when these amendments are going to be visible by the Members, like other past day they passed with those amendments. Am I getting you clear, is that your concern, yes. So I would like the Clerk to answer to that, when do we get the final version of the report when the amendments are included, do we get that before we leave?Okay, just for the sake of not delaying us in terms of time, we will give you that answer later but let us move on. We have noted this report and because the work is in progress we have not passed the report but we have noted it as presented by the Chair on Rules. Thank you very much. I now want to call the Clerk to read the second order.THE CLERK:Presentation in debate on the report of the Committee on Military and Financial Affairs and the Budget of the Pan-African Parliament for 2011. Thank you.THE PRESIDENT:Honorable Members, I now call upon Honorable Jingum Muusa Mbutoh the Chairperson of theCommittee on Monitoring and Financial Affairs, to present the report of the Committee. Honourable Musa has one leg so we will exercise patients and wait for him to arrive. He actually has three legs, I am reminded, it is right. (Laughter)
2.0 – RAPPORT DE LA COMMISSION PERMANENTE DES AFFAIRES MONÉTAIRES ET FINANCIÈRES SUR LE BUDGET 2011 DU PAP السالم عليكم:
HON. NJINGUM MUSA MBUTOH [CAMEROON]:السالم عليكم:Good morning to Madam President and hon. Members.Madam President, today, the 8th of October 2010, is another day for the budget of the Pan-African Parliament, which I am presenting for the Third Ordinary Session of the Second Parliament.Your Excellency, Madam Vice President of the Pan-African Parliament, honorable colleagues, Members of the Pan-African Parliament, it is of great honour that I stand before you to present to you the PAP budget of 2011. I know we are all inspired by the noble idea which guided the founding fathers of our continental organization and generations of Pan-Africanists.I will first of all wish to thank all the African MPs that make up PAP for their determination to promote unity, solidarity, cohesion and cooperation among the people of Africa and African states. I would particularly wish to thank Members of the Committee on Monetary and Financial Affairs for their intelligent and determined spirit to make the financial affairs of the Pan-African Parliament move smoothly for the good of the African Union, Members of the Pan-African Parliament and African states as a whole.It is thanks to their intelligent debating attitude in the committee that this good piece of work (that is the 2011 budget), is now presented to the whole House for consideration.We took recognition of all the guiding decisions taken by the AU’s Assembly to work on this budget. The operational and program budgets have been well built up to enable the well functioning of Pan-African Parliament, in carrying out its objectives, in accordance with Article 3 of the Protocol of the Treaty Establishing the African Economic Community relating to the Pan-African Parliament, with all the committee activities focusing especially towards the transformation of PAP into a legislative parliament of Africa. As such the PAP will usher as an important instrument to be used to make completely One Africa, One Voice.Hon. Members, the Rules of Procedure of the PanAfrican Parliament stipulate, under Section 26(2) that, the Committee on Monetary and Financial Affairs is mandated to, among others:a)Examine the draft estimate of the parliamentary budget and submit to Parliament;b)Discuss the budget of the Union and make appropriate recommendation;c)Examine and report to Parliament on the problems involved in the implementation of the annual budget; andd)Assist Parliament to execute its role of establishing sound economic, monetary and investment policies.Pursuant to the aforesaid mandate under the Rules of Procedure, therefore, the committee was convened to a statutory meeting held at the precincts of the Pan-African Parliament from 2nd to 6th August 2010, to consider the Pan-African Parliament draft budget for the year 2011, among other statutory activities.In execution of its mandate, the committee was guided by the prevailing statutory and legal regime governing the PAP budget formulation processes as enunciated in the AU Financial Rules and Regulations, the Executive Council decisions (Ex.CL/DEC.98 (v)) as revised by Executive Council No. 407(xii) together with decision No.455 (xiv) and the PAP Protocol and other administrative directives that were brought to the attention of the committee.On the other hand, the committee’s deliberations took into consideration the overall administrative and political needs of the Pan-African Parliament in its bid to transform into an organ of African Union with full legislative powers. This is in tandem with what is stipulated in Article 2(3) of the Pan-African Parliament Protocol, that is:"The ultimate aim of the Pan-African Parliament shall be to evolve into an institution with full legislative powers, whose members are elected by universal adult suffrage."It is further imperative to report that the committee made its projected expenditure considerations based on the PAP 2010 Mid-Term Performance Report as provided by the Secretariat.Having concluded its initial work on the 2011 PAP draft budget, the committee hence reports its findings, observations and recommendations for the hon. Members’ debate, consideration and subsequent adoption.Methodology of WorkThe committee was guided and adopted the following work methodology in the execution of its function during the said five-day statutory sitting:a)The presentation of the budget was officially done by the Bureau, which was represented by the Fourth Vice President, Hon. Joram Macdonald Gumbo, MP from Zimbabwe, who presented the budget with some seriousness.b)Presentation to the PAP was also accompanied by the PAP Secretariat Head of Departments’ presentationsc)Consideration of PAP budget documents and AU financial rules and regulationsd)Examination of the core activities of the Parliament vis-a-vis the transformation of PAP into an AU Organ with full legislative powerse)Examination of the Parliament, Bureau and permanent committees and the Secretariat/institutional operational budgetf)Individual members’ contributions and debate on draft budget items were heavily considered.As a result of the thorough exercise elaborated above, the committee proposes to this august Assembly, a 2011 PAP budget of USD 13,624,851.As Members will recall, upon adoption of the PAP 2010 budget, the PAP Bureau constituted a delegation that proceeded to present the same to the PRC and subsequently to the January AU Summit in Addis Ababa for approval. At the end of the approval process, PAP was granted a total budget of USD 9,249,735, which has been operational for the current financial year.It is the committee’s conviction that the financial proposals for which your consideration and adoption is sought, shall ensure that the PAP achieves resounding success in the following areas:a)Affirmation of the status and visibility of the Pan-African Parliament in Africa and beyond;b)Capacity building of parliamentarians to equip them with necessary skills for appropriate and effective discharge of the roles, functions and objectives assigned to the Parliament;c)Expansion of space of engagement of the people of Africa in their governance and attainment of priorities and critical issues of the continent;d)Creation of strong cooperation among national parliaments, regional economic communities and Regional Parliamentary Fora (RPF);e)Substantive participation of the PAP in the overall fulfillment and accomplishment of the objectives of the African Union;f)Development of capacity to transform PAP from a consultative status into a legislative organ of the African Union; andg)The general implementation of the objectives of PAP.PAP could not go without challenges. The committee wishes to highlight the following challenges that the PAP continues to be faced with, in the execution of its budget and core activities:The committee took note of the challenges that bedeviled the budgetary performance in the financial year 2010. Among others, the committee noted the following:The continuous failure to fund key functions of PAP’s mandate. For example, despite requests in the 2009/10 budget for provision to be made for non statutory activities for PAP committees, this budget line was completely scraped. This has undermined PAP in executing its mandate, a situation that should not be allowed to happen to it.The allocation of budgets for some budget lines was not adequate and hence heavily affected the operation of the Parliament. For example, in the 2010 budget, out of the proposed budget of USD 2,235,890 for Statutory Parliamentary Sessions, only USD 2, 000,000 was allowed by the AfricanUnion. Similarly, out of the initial proposed budget of USD 120,000 for AU support to the PAP program budget, no allocation was approved by the AU. This is the consequence of our reduction of the period of our session and also the period for our Committee meetings which we could not actually give an input of PAP.The continued failure to fundLack of staff, both in terms of numbers and capacity in its key operational areas. For example, to date, despite critical need for the proper staff compliment to augment the proper function of the Pan-African Parliament, no budgetary provisions were allowed for PAP recruitments in the year 2010. Out of 190 requested by the PAP, only 150 were provisionally approved and out of these, only 44 have been brought on board. Currently, the Finance Department lacks critical staff at a senior level and PAP is unable to recruit due to financial limitation and constraints.There is also lack of a compatible financial management system because of no funds to reinforce our new system.Non-provision of budgetary allocations to facilitate an independent PAP Election Observation Mission despite the need and the continual request for the same.Parliamentary Operational Activities, 2011Those are the challenges we faced in 2010. Now, 2011. The 2011 budget has been drafted to facilitate the execution of the core operational activities with the following focus:Statutory meetingsUnder this head, the Parliament plans to hold the two ordinary sessions of PAP, Bureau and statutory sittings for the 10 permanent committees on time and normal duration of the Parliament.Non-statutory sittings of the BureauUnder this head, provision is proposed for the holding of four ordinary meetings of the Bureau and the rotational function of the Bureau’s members.Member’s allowanceThe committee has lamented so much on this particular budget head and continues being worried because of Members’ preoccupation about this according to Article 10 of our Protocol.The committee still recommends that a team be constituted to make a case in support of this allowance so that it could enable us to include it in our budget. Thus for now, a zero provision is recommended as a strategy move pending the outcome of the lobby process because we do not want to be heady first, but when time comes for us to be heady we shall be heady.Other activities of ParliamentIt has been further proposed that the following activities be provided for in accordance with the mandate, objectives and functions of the PanAfrican Parliament, pursuant to the Protocol:(i)Election Observation Missions in member states of the AU;(ii)Fact finding missions to conflict and other areas;(iii)Visit to National Parliaments of member states and Regional Parliamentary fora to enhance working relations and develop joint programmes;(iv)Cooperation, information exchange and advocacy missions to non-African parliaments;(v)Participation of PAP in African Union meetings(vi)Non-statutory activities of PAP Committees must be accepted. PAP cannot function well without non-statutory activities.Parliamentary programsIn addition to the Sessions and Sittings of Committees, provision is made for various activities drawn from the Strategic Plan for the Bureau and the ten Committees as stipulated in their work plans. Some of the activities provided for include: organizing capacity building and exposure programs for MPs and staff; public education and sensitization of the people of Africa; exchange visits to Regional and other Parliaments and each Permanent Committee of the PAP to undertake at least one consultative and planning Session with the relevant Commissioners and Directorate at the African Union Commission.These activities are included in the program budget and will be implemented with support from development partners and are in line with the objectives of PAP as stated in the PAP Protocol.The committee made the following observations in the course of discharging its mandate:The administration of the Secretariat needed to improve performance in terms of management and administration. Issues of budget deadlines and presentations and document production still curtail the proper functioning of the committee. Unless these are addressed, of which I think they are trying to address now; PAP will continue to perform at less than optimal levels.Communication and coordination in the Secretariat’s function still remain a major concern for the Committee. Information vital to the functioning of the Committee in certain cases was not provided in time. An example was with the ceiling on the budgetary increment from the AU and the forwarding of the budget to the AU without prior communication with the Committee. This almost rendered the work of the Committee redundant. So, AU has to blame the African Union Commission for sending us information late. This reminds me of the period in which we have to study the budget before sending it to the AUC.The Pan-African Parliament continues to suffer from staffing and capacity problems. Whereas the office of the Clerk and the Deputy Clerk Legislative Business have been filled, things are moving on well, but other vacancies still remain as such thereby adversely affecting PAP’s effectiveness. In that regard, some proposals have been made for further recruitment as will be noted in the Finance Department budget. A further proposal for recruiting staff from the South African Parliament and EU has been mooted by the Bureau for consideration of the Hon. Members.The committee observes that the Pan-African Parliament organizational structure is yet to be approved by the AU. This has contributed to the staffing problem continuously experienced in PAP. It should be hoped that this will be resolved in time to allow the Parliament transformation process to take off on a sound staffing structure.To conclude and briefly, the committee urges this honorable august Assembly to seriously consider the proposals carried in the 2011 PAP budget and the objectives highlighted therein, in arriving at the decision to adopt the PAP budget.The committee notes with appreciation the PAP Bureau’s commitment to transform PAP into an AU Organ with full legislative powers by 2011. This is a timely undertaking and the proposals included in the 2011 budget will go a long way in ensuring that some concrete strides are made towards that noble objective.And before I move for the House to consider this budget, I would like to give you some bit of analysis on the annex.While we got the guiding from the AU, we gave some analysis and variance on why we cannot go on that. So, the budget of 2010 was 9,249,725 but if you add 5 percent of this amount you will realize that you have 9,712,232 which can do nothing to help PAP.So, we had to make it very clear to the African Union to understand that this variance is major and very important for the Pan-African Parliament. That is why we made some major items of variance as explained here:PAP non-statutory activities from AU, 2,145,000Committee work and Parliamentary Session; of which if we must have our normal session, we must add this amount to that of last year’s figure, which is 1,067,760.Insurance of members is non-disputable.Seconded and transfer staff which must come to strengthen capacity is nondisputable.Installation Allowance is non-disputable. We have just recruited new staff and more staff will be recruited and we must give them Installation Allowance.Staff medical cost is non-disputable.The Media and Communication Department has been a problem for the Pan-African Parliament. Most of our issues are never known or publicized.So, these are variants that we have insisted with the AU that we cannot go only on the 5 percent increase. So, the budget must go up and we have tried to respond to them to get us out of the 5 percent threshold and to make sure that this budget is approved. We need to lobby our ambassadors because these ambassadors are our problems.The committee thus recommends the adoption of this proposed 2011 PAP budget with your kind consideration. I beg to move. Thank you very much for your attention. (Applause)THE PRESIDENT:Thank you very much, Mr. President for that well presented and well written report. And in the same breath I would like to thank the members of the Finance Committee for the commitment that you have shown over time to support the work of the Pan-African Parliament.I now want to open the Floor for debate and I have 14 names on the list. And given the fact that we are lagging behind in terms of time, I will not be able to accept more names to be added. So, the first speaker on the list is hon. AscofareOulematou Tamboura of Mali. Well if a Member is not here, we will miss the contribution but we will gain time. So, we move on. So, I now give the opportunity to the hon. Member from the Saharawi Republic. Hon. Salem. Is he here? He is not here also.HON. MASEPO TEMBO SYLVIA [ZAMBIA]:Thank you Madame President. First I want to join you in commending the Finance Committee for a very well articulated report and from the onset; I want to support the proposals therein. In supporting the budget proposal Madame President, I just want to say that it is unfortunate and sad considering that we are moving towards a Legislative PAP and this is the time at which the budget for 2010 has not been fully funded. I would have expected that since the AU supports the transformation of the PAP into a full Legislative Body, they would have been more supportive in financing the activities of PAP. I want to support the proposal by the Committee to form a special committee that will go and put our case before the African Union Commission, the AUC.Madame President, I also want to just say that what forms the core function of the Parliament is the work of the Committees. But, if the Committees are not seen to be functioning, then it means that the whole Parliament is not functioning. I am surprised that the people that are expected to understand that can under-fund a budget for such an activity, which is the core of a Body like Parliament. Yes, I know that sometimes resources may not be enough, but surely activities of Committee work should never be underfunded. Madame President, I also think that it would be important for the Committee on Finance to also consider - I don’t know whether they did consider - areas for cutting costs. I am sure that in all other activities that have been under taken in the 2010 annual budget, they may be some activities that we could scale down and ensure that core activities like the work of the Bureau and the work of the Committee are not hampered.Another point, Madame President that I think I should indicate is that; sometimes I have a feeling that there is work of some Committees that seem to be more important than other Committees. I am not sure about that, but it is just a feeling that I get because, even as a new member and as a member of trade, when I looked at past papers, there seemed to be a problem of work, the work of the Trade Committee. I got the feeling that may be there are some Committees that are considered more important to the survival of this Parliament than others. I would like to state that in my humble understanding, all Committees of Parliament should get equal support in terms of their work.Yes, I know that there could be some Committees that form the heart of the Parliament e.g. Finance Committee itself, but I think that there should be efforts to ensure that all other Committees are seen to be working. I thank you Madame President.THE PRESIDENT:Thank you very much Honorable Masepo. Now I give the opportunity to Honorable Isaac Steven Mabiletsa of Botswana.HON. ISAAC STEVEN MABILETSA [BOTSWANA]:Madame Speaker, let the opportunity be passed, thank you.THE PRESIDENT:Thank you very much. Thank you. Now I give the opportunity to Honorable Mohamed Farhat of Libya.HON. FARHAT LUTFI MOHAMED [LIBYA]:السيدة الرئيسة،أريد أن أوضح، كعضو في اللجنة المالية، أن ميزانية السنة القادمة قد تم إعدادها وفقا لنص المادة }82 }من قواعد االجراءات في وقت حرج، مع مراعاة الحد األدنى الضروري الحتياجات البرلمان حتى يستطيع القيام بالمهمة التي أوكلت إليه، وحتى يستطيع القيام بدوره وتنفيذ البرامج والنشاطات الضرورية لتحقيق أهدافه، وقد اقترحنا إعادة وضع بعض بنود الميزانية التي رأيناها ضرورية لعمل البرلمان، خاصة فيما يتعلق باالجتماعات غير النظامية التي يصعب تمويلها من قبل الدول األعضاء، ولكن النقطة التي أريد أن أؤكد عليها، خاصة ونحن نتحول تدريجيا إلى برلمان تشريعي، هي ضرورة وضع برنامج محدد العداد ميزانية البرلمان وميزانية االتحاد االفريقي، مع ضرورة مشاركة اللجنة المالية في جميع مراحل إعداد هذه الميزانية حتى نصل إلى مراحلها النهائية واعتمادها من قبل مؤتمر الرؤساء.لقد الحظنا في السابق تغييب البرلمان في كل هذه المراحل، حيث كان دور البرلمان يقتصر على إعداد ميزانيته فقط، وتقديمها عن طريق المفوضية إلى لجنة الممثلين الدائمين {PRC {التي، بدورها، تحدد متى وكيف تناقش هذه الميزانية وحيث يقتصر دور البرلمان على الدفاع عن ميزانيته فقط، والتى تجرى عليها استقطاعات، بطريقة تعسفية، أرى أن يعاد النظر في هذا األاسلوب غير الديمقراطي، وأن تتحول عملية إعداد الميزانية إلى عمل ديمقراطي، ينتهي بمصادقة البرلمان حسب البروتوكول وتقديم توصيته إلى مؤتمر الرؤساء، التخاذ القرار وأقترح، في هذا الصدد، أن يتم التنسيق مع جميع الجهات ذات العالقة، حسب النظام االساسي لالتحاد، لالتفاق على خطة عمل إعداد ميزانية االتحاد، في السنوات القادمة، ووضع جدول زمني لكل المراحل الالزمة العداد ميزانية البرلمان واالتحاد، مع االلتزام بهذا الجدول الزمني، حيث الحظنا في السابق عدم مشاركة البرلمان في وضع هذا الجدول الزمني، كما أن الجدول الزمني الموضوع ال يتم االلتزام به وال يخفى ما فى ذلك من تضييع للوقت وزيادة في النفقات التى نحن أحوج إلى توفيرها فى ظل االمكانيات المالية المتاحة.HON. MUKABARANGA AGNÈS [RWANDA]:Je vous remercie, Madame la Présidente. Je voudrais, aussi, joindre ma voix à celles de ceux qui ont apprécié la présentation du rapport.J’ai quelques commentaires à émettre à propos de ce budget qui, il est vrai, tient compte de la vision et des objectifs du PAP, dans un contexte de contrainte que nous connaissons.Mais, je voudrais néanmoins, Madame la Présidente de séance, attirer l’attention sur le fait que nous ne soyons informés de ce projet de budget qu’en plénière. Ma Commission, en tout cas, n’a pas été informée de ce qu’on envisage de budgétiser comme activités de la Commission. Je trouve, en cela, une lacune, et je voudrais que, Madame la Présidente, l’implication des Commissions dans la préparation du budget ne soit pas abandonnée, parce qu’elle est vraiment importante.Madame la Présidente, pour ce qui concerne le recrutement du personnel, moi j’apprécie la transparence: des noms nous sont donnés, ainsi que les salaires qui vont être alloués au personnel, y compris leurs émoluments, leurs allocations familiales, leurs pensions, etc. Mais, je constate que pour le remplacement du personnel, on ne nous informe qu’en partie seulement. Et, je voudrais émettre une recommandation, Madame la Présidente. Même si cela est lié à des contraintes de budget et qu’on ne peut remplacer que le personnel qui est parti, dans l’objectif, il faut permettre aux Commissions d’être performantes.Il nous a été informé qu’il y a des partenaires qui sont prêts à financer le recrutement de certains employés; donc, qu’il soit donné priorité aux appuis aux Commissions. Comme vous le savez, cela reste vraiment une préoccupation d’assurer le suivi des activités que nous planifions et des fois, il est très amer de constater que le bilan d’une année n’a été vraiment que sous ce qu’on avait planifié.A part cela, Madame la Présidente, je pense qu’on va continuer le lobbying avec la réunion du COREP, afin que notre budget soit dans le cadre de ce qu’on veut atteindre à la fin de ce mandat. Je vous remercie.HON. NJOBVUYALEMA JOSEPH [MALAWI]:Thank you Madam Chair for giving me this opportunity to contribute to the debate on this particular budget.Madam Second Vice President, let me commend the Chairperson of Budget and Finance for ably presenting the budget. I have some specific comments and I will be referring to pages in my English version. I hope the Chairman will be following what I will be saying.For example, on Page 5 of the main budget, the Chairman is talking about challenges for the budget year 2010. And he is citing one of the challenges as lack of zero growth increase in the budget and he says, only certain essentials and Committee meetings were carried out by PAP. This could not help the institution to be more active and visible. What does that mean? By being more active and visible, I thought he would cite a particular activity in that statement, because being more active and visible are too general. We were holding meetings, we were holding Committee meetings, and that is being active. May be he needs to elaborate a little more. What is it that was not done so that PAP is seen to be more active? Probably he should come up with a specific activity so that it is incorporated into the 2011 draft budget.The other thing is on the same page, it is talking about lack of staff, both in terms of numbers and capacity. Capacity is a very serious situation and I was looking at the draft 2011 budget. He doesn’t seem to have captured this. I looked at the details in monetary terms, the details in figures and activities for 2011 budget. He has not shown that he intends to develop the capacity of staff. But in the 2010 budget, he has cited that as a challenge. So, usually when you come across a challenge, you tend to make the necessary measures to meet that challenge.The other thing I want to talk about is on page 9, Madam President, of the English version. There is an activity there which is item 6, it says; Development of Capacity to Transform PAP from consultative status into a legislative organ of the AU. Whose capacity? He is just saying developing capacity. Whose? Is it the members of staff? Is it Members of Parliament? Whose capacity? May be we should come up with a more elaborate language on that particular issue.Madam Chair, I thought I should also talk about, sorry, I will have to go back. In the diagrams, there are no page numbers, so I will treat them as annexes. And in these annexes, there are details of existing vacancies. The vacancies Madam Vice President are: Finance Officer, Procurement Officer, Travel Officer, Interpreter, Senior Finance Officer and 11 Systems Administrators. We are not given a reason why there are these vacancies. I thought he may want to say something on that because I know the position of Finance Officer is a long standing positing, which we should have filled a long time ago. Why were we unable to fill the vacancies?Let me move on to the last item. Madam Chairperson, Article 10 of the Constitutive Act stipulates that, and with your permission I would like to read it; "The Pan African Parliamentarians shall be paid an allowance to meet expenses in the discharge of their duties." This Article has not been amended. This Article has not been quashed. Whatever arrangements, I don’t see any legal documents in Pan African Parliament, which have adjusted, amended or changed the provision of this particular Article. Therefore, the expectation is that any budget, which is formulated, should capture this expense. Pan African Members are expected to receive an allowance in the discharge of their duties. It is not here in the budget, and why? May be the Chairperson will want to explain on this.But let me come back as I finalize, Madam Vice President, to the development of capacity of staff. Pan African Parliament is transforming into a legislative body. What that means is that the culture, the attitude, the capacity and work involvement, the amount of work to be done will be even more. So, the staff has to be more capable. They have to cope with that kind of situation. They need to familiarize themselves to how they shall be dealing with issues of legislation, the Bills, Private Members Motions and so forth. We don’t seem to say something about how we are going to do that. I mean, come January 2011, we could transform into a legislative body, but we are dealing with the same staff who are here, we are dealing with the same people who are here, we are dealing with the same messengers that we have, we are dealing with the same administrative staff that we have, which, as a matter of fact, are not doing very well already. When we want to hold Committee meetings, we have problems in terms of documentation and other services. Now, what are we saying? What we are saying is; the existing staff will not be able to cope up with legislative work. So, I think that in the 2011 budget, we should incorporate the capacity building of staff. Let me stop there Madam Vice President and thank you very much for according me this opportunity. (Applause)HON. HASSABO MOHAMMED ABDUL RAHMAN [SUDAN]:شكرا جزيال سيدتي الرئيسة، أنا حقيقة طلبت الكلمة في موضوع آخر. وعليه أرجو أن أسجل مالحظاتي بأن هناك عدم دقة لدى السكرتارية، في تسجيل طلبات األعضاء، وهذا قد تكرر فأرجو أن يراعى ذلك في المستقبل وشكرا.HON. MOISERAELE MASTER GOYA [BOTSWANA]:Thank you very much Madam President for giving me the floor. Firstly, I would like to congratulate and commend the Chairperson of the Monetary and Financial Affairs Committee on the report and the proposed budget that the Chairperson has presented to this House, this morning. Perhaps Madam President, I should start by making a confession to the fact that I am also a member of this Committee. However, I did not take part in the preparation of the Budget in August 2010 but, nevertheless I think the Committee did a brilliant job, for which they deserve to be commended.Madam President, I would like to draw the attention of this House to page two of the report under introduction on item 1 sub-clause (b), which states that the Committee on Monetary and Financial Affairs is mandated to among others, discuss the Budget of the Union and make appropriate recommendations. Madam President, ever since I became a Member of this Committee in May 2008, there has never been an occasion whereby this Committee had the opportunity to discuss the budget of the Union and make appropriate recommendations on that budget; I have never come across that. Late alone to even see the budget of the African Union with my bare eyes, I have never seen that budget. So, it is rather disturbing that we have this as one of our mandatory responsibilities, but we have never been given the opportunity to act on it.Madam President, if AU does not want this Committee to discuss its Budget, it is better that they say so, so that we can assign the Honourable Chairperson of the Rules Committee and his Committee to remove this item as one of the mandatory responsibilities of this Committee. They should say that they do not want us to discuss their Budget, so that we discard that item from being one of our responsibilities as a Committee.What I want to say Madam President is that we as Members of the Pan African Parliament, we always complain, we cry like a lady called Rachel, we are saying that the African Union does not give this Parliament adequate funding. I want to say it here and now, Madam President that we must understand that the effective operations of all the institutions of the African Union depend on member states subscriptions. If some member states are not paying their dues consistently, and if some member states are still lagging behind in terms of their dues to the African Union, how do we expect the African Union to provide adequate funds to PAP? No, that will never happen! So, member states need to demonstrate more political will to commit resources to the African Union so that African Union can then commit resources to PAP to operate effectively.I know very well that some countries including mine, have been hit by the advent of the economic recession. Madam President, I also want to say that some countries that are lagging behind in terms of arrears; were actually in arrears long before the advent of economic recession. So, that cannot be an excuse for not paying dues to the African Union. I am appealing to all members of the Pan African Parliament that when we go back to our countries, let us talk to our governments and convince them to pay their outstanding arrears so that when we cry here, we cry with the full knowledge and understanding that our countries have paid what is outstanding in terms of the dues to the African Union. Then, and only then can we make a lot of noise saying that AU is not providing enough funds to us to fulfill our mandate. Other than that, we cannot make a lot of noise about AU not giving us enough funds. Finally, let us make sure that our respective countries pay their dues to the African Union. If our countries are still in arrears, do not expect the African Union to provide adequate funds to this institution. Forget it, I bet!Madam President, with those few remarks, I thank you.THE PRESIDENT:Thank you very much Honorable Member, I think your point as been very well made and it is very valid, but if the African Union doesn’t have the money even if we cried and shouted and what and may be the same problem faces other organs of AU, so I think that it is an important issue that you have raised which had not been raised before.AN HONORABLE MEMBER:Deputy President, I am surprised that you have got list of people who are not supposed to be on the list and those that are supposed to are not, yesterday in the morning I presented my request to speak on this budget and am surprised my name has not been called up.AN HONORABLE MEMBER:Point of order, Madame President, along the same lines I had given out my name to be put on the list and it is now missing when others wouldn’t want to be there, their names are on the list.THE PRESIDENT:I think that there seems to be confusion in the lists, people put their names, one of the Members actually did mention that, that names appearing on the same list and lists were not clear, so am going to take it as being true and I will give the two Members an opportunity to contribute and that is the end. Please don’t add more Members because we are going to be here until lunch time and we will not be trough with our business and in the afternoon we have the women’s conference.UN HONORABLE MEMBRE:Madame la Présidente, depuis quelques jours, on nous distribue des feuilles sur lesquelles est mentionné le point à discuter, pour demander la parole. Nous avons tous inscrit nos noms dessus. Malheureusement, vous ne les avez pas. Vous prononcez des noms de gens qui n’ont pas demandé la parole, d’autres qui ont demandé la parole et qui sont absents. Tout cela ne fait, vraiment, pas honneur à notre Parlement.Je demande au Secrétariat de distribuer dorénavant la liste des intervenants, avant la séance, comme cela était le cas durant les anciennes sessions, et chacun de nous pourra voir si son nom y figure ou pas. A ce moment-là, il peut discuter avec le secrétariat, parce que, tel que c’est, on ne peut pas s’en sortir; des gens qui ont demandé la parole n’ont pas été cités, d’autres qui ne l’ont pas demandé sont partis. Cela ne peut pas continuer ainsi, Madame la Présidente.THE PRESIDENT:Your point is well taken, I would imagine that there is a list a the entrance there desk, where Members note their names and there should be a clear indication of which debate you want to contribute too and indeed these lists of names should be circulated to all the Members so that the list that I have here that I am reading reflects the same list that the Members would have, that is the practice that we had in the past and that should continue. So you are point is well taken Honorable Member. So having said that, Honorable Deli is that point of information also? Because unless it is different we really taking more of our useful time, yes.AN HONORABLE MEMBER:Thank you Madam President. Madam President, I would want to make an application in terms of the rules of procedure to make good, part of the report here. Madam President if you may permit me; as part of the report on page 5, there is the bullet before Parliamentary Operational Activities 2011. It is saying; non-provision of budgetary allocation to facilitate that independent PAP Election Observation Mission despite the need and request for same.Madam President, you will realize that this raises very pertinent issues; that we assess pursuant to the decision of the Executive Council the need to be part of a Joint Mission. To support the good work that the Bureau is doing already as reflected in this report, I wanted to make an application pursuant rule 61 and all our Notices of Motions, to say that you will have the backing of the House based on a resolution to today’s matter.THE PRESIDENT:Honourable Member, I have received a motion that you intend to move. So, let’s complete this debate then I will give you an opportunity.AN HONOURABLE MEMBER:Most grateful Madam.THE PRESIDENT:So, I give the opportunity to Honourable Matlali Ntebaleng Mavis of South Africa to make your contribution, after which I will give the opportunity to Honourable Harry of Kenya. Please allow me to close the debate at that point.HON. MATLALI NTEBALENG MAVIS [SOUTH AFRICA]:Thank you Honourable Madam President. Honourable Madam President, I support the budget for 2011 financial year and also congratulate the Chairperson on the good report that was also well presented. I have points to make that PAP has got to take care of. What happened to PAP budget in 2010 should not recur. In order to avoid what happened in 2010 where the budget was US$13.6 million and the African Union cut it to US$9.2 million. We need to look at the following points seriously.1.PAPs internal controls have to be up and doing. I am talking about the internal auditor of PAP. I am talking about the Audit Committee at PAP as well as looking into the financial management systems and policies that have to be followed in expending the budget. Most of the time the report of the Audit Committee comes very positive, and it states that everything is well in the financial management of an institution. But when the Committee looks into the reports that it gets, it finds that the story is totally different. So, we would like the Audit Committee, if it exists, to start being serious with its work.2.Another point is of the external auditors; I believe they should be given all the accounts of PAP to be audited. During the previous financial year that is 2010, PAP’s Trust account could not be availed to auditors, and there was little information regarding its status, including even how much was in that account. We found this to be an anomaly. I believe as I am standing here talking today, the matter is not yet resolved. We have to start looking at value for money, not being only interested in compliance. We start to look into why we used this fund for whatever it is used, and did it benefit PAP and Members of PAP? In presenting the 2011 Budget to African Union, PAP needs to reinforce its representation to include Members who would engage AU in a robust debate, in motivating and supporting the presented budget so that the reduction should not be done as it happened previously.I thank you Honourable President.HON. ALI BAHARI [KENYA]:Thank you Madame President for this opportunity. Madame President, I want to thank the Chairman for the able manner in which he presented the budget and the simple version of it. Madame President, mine will be mainly to reinforce and clarify a few issues that have been raised or have been touched upon by the Chairman. One of these is to clearly spell out that at this particular point in time in the 2010, we faced a situation where there was a lot of hostility from the AU on matters related to PAP because of the poor relations that have been there. So the 2010 budget was approved and implemented within that kind of an environment and therefore, it was not an easy budget, it was a sanction budget of some kind.Secondly, I want to say that a lot of the complaints that we get from MP’s, from the staff in terms of, for example efficiency and effectiveness of PAP, in terms of documents availability, in terms of salaries and positioning of the staff is a matter to do with the structure of PAP. The structural problems are not matters that can be easily overcome given the kind of reporting structures at the same time that this institution is subjected too. And therefore, you see complaints year in and year out, which are along the same lines, and I want to give an example of issues about documentation, interpretation, translation, on time performance, salaries that staff complain about; all these have everything to do with the organogram of the institution visa-a-vis the budget. Our structure as never been approved at any given time, and therefore, we are still awaiting that structure to be approved. Along the process, the problems and the complaints of members continue unabated, and this is a very difficult situation, which is one of the challenges that this institution has faced. In relation to that, I believe that this institution needs to be given a bit of autonomy to enable it to carry out its functions. By subjecting this to processes that are long and consuming, time, where heads of states sometime meet - most of the time they meet only twice a year - then you can imagine how long it takes for you to get any approval. Once resources are not there, you can be rest assured that no institution will function as it is required. For example the issue of non-statutory Committee meetings; I think members have said here that Committee is the back bone of any institution of Parliament and therefore, when we stop the non-statutory activities, then there is less visibility of this Parliament. Presently, there is less activity for the Committees and there is less input into the plenary, and therefore, this has affected our capacity to handle issues. In the past non-statutory meetings we had lots of interactions with professionals, with people who were resourceful and we ended up giving lots of input to the plenary in the past. I must in the same vein say that the issue of the trust fund has given us a lot of problems too, because the trust fund is supposed to complement resources to this institution, especially in cases where we do not find resources easily coming directly from the Member states. So, because of the problems we have had with trust fund, we have not been able to draw from the trust fund to be able to finance some of our activities, which is also a big impediment. I hope in this instance the Bureau will insist and push for the audit report that is with the AUC, so that we will be able to move forward and make better use of the trust fund.I also want to take this opportunity to commend the Republic of South Africa, for giving a lot of support to this Parliament in various ways, including where we have not been able to get funding from the AU, particularly on the area of staff compliments because they have always looked at our needs and made it easy for this Parliament to be able to overcome some of those challenges. I think it is a worthy cause that they have undertaken, they have shown commitment over and above the contributions to the AU that they have been making. I want to agree that for Members of Parliament to be ready for the activities that they undertake in terms of the responsibilities in Parliament, it is some of those structural issues that we really need to take up when we engage the relevant institutions. As they say, if you think for example education is expensive, they say try ignorance/ so if you are going to stickTHE PRESIDENT:Honorable Ali Bahari you have half a minute left.HON. ALI BAHARI [KENYA]:So if you are going to stick, am winding up now. If you are going to stick to some of those structural issues, you don’t fill those positions like the ones in finance, like the one in translation, interpretation, then, the cost is the kind of mood that you see among members. With those few remarks I beg to support.THE PRESIDENT:Okay. Thank you so much Honourable Harry. I also realize that you thanked South Africa for the support that she has given us and indeed, it is worth recognizing. We are very grateful to the Republic of Africa for all the support that we are getting. Thank you.That concludes the debate on the report of the Budget of the 2011 and I would like to call the Chairman of the Committee, Honourable Muosa Mbutoh to respond.HON. NJINGUM MUSA MBUTOH [CAMEROON]:Madam President, I think I will call for your indulgence to sit here and try to look at some of the preoccupations of Members. I want to first of all thank all the Members of Pan African Parliament, those who have intervened to give some observations and those who have not intervened. Those who have not intervened, it means they have understood the report very well and they know why they are quiet. Those who had some doubts have asked for clarification on certain few issues. I want to thank them very much for their observations and their remarks, which will be taken seriously for consideration, so that they will improve our ability and systems in Pan African Parliament. But, I want to remind Members of PAP that the 2010 Budget was a very difficult one for us to achieve because the relationship that was between PAP and African Union was still very fresh, but thank God, we used all possible means to make sure that our budget was not going to be reduced. Most budgets for the Organs of AU were reduced but PAP’s was left at nine point something because we had to use all forms of gymnastics to handle the people. They were saying let us give PAP one twelfth and see what they can do before we can give them a budget. It was a very serious debate and we took a lot of time debating until voting took place for the PAP budget.At least we can congratulate the Committee for doing that because there was a bad relationship. Zambia in fact, we agree that we will increase the vote if we were to have full legislative power. So, I know that when the full legislative power is being given all financial aspects of the full legislative power will be implicated. That one is clear, they cannot give you full legislative power without implicating financial issues into the matter. So for that one, it is very clear that we shall still fight to make sure that our full legislative powers have all finances. If the Committee does not function like my brother has said, PAP will not function because activities of the Committee of PAP have been reduced because of low budget and no funds. That is why we are trying to make sure that the activities of Committees should be awake, made stronger and functioning well. In the analysis of our budget, we took into consideration the core activities of the PAP. If you look at the budget very well, and in detail, you will be see that we have gone through the budget thoroughly, and we made sure that we focus the budget on where it is necessary for PAP to function well. I want to deny this fact, and if that is the case, I do not think it is normal. All Committees of PAP have equal rights to make PAP function. I do not think some Committees should consider themselves as more important than other Committees. It is just that the activities may be more, but that does not mean some Committees are more important to the PAP. If that is the impression with regards the Committee on Finance, I think the Bureau have take note - if at all it exists - because no Committee is indispensable, and no Committee is unimportant for PAP. That is the reason why committees were created. Non statutory meeting - I know this is the key problem of our activities and you see how for all these few years that we have been in power, most of the activities of the Committee have been reduced to less functioning because we only work on statutory meetings.Madam President, when the statutory meeting is being called most Committees do not even get a quorum. This is because our national Parliaments do not have the means to sponsor all of us. I hope I will be given the chance to address this issue to the Speakers of the National Assemblies they will be coming here on the 22 October 2010. So that we can also lobby for you and talk to them about the financial constraints we are facing. And if the PRC does come here, thank God, we must put all your financial problems in a very tactful manner, because we are not presenting a budget to them. We will only use the tact to get them so that we can achieve all these issues. Non Statutory meeting is a preoccupation of the Committee of Finance. No Committee can function well without the non-statutory meeting, it is very impossible.On the time table, as my colleagues have said, the issue of budget to be adopted by plenary when it has already been adopted by African Union, does not make sense. I tell you, we are trying to impress upon the bureau to have negotiations with the Africa Union Commission to make sure that the budget does not go to them before coming to the plenary, because once the budget is passed in Parliament, I do not see why we should debate it anymore. Here, for us it is the reverse. We are now adopting a budget that has already been sent to the African Union Commission. How will they reconcile the amendments? So, this is the problem we are facing. That is how the system has been. It is therefore our duty to make sure that we support the bureau in lobbying and making sure that modalities are changed. Let them know the importance of Parliament. For now I don’t think they know what a parliament is. It is our duty through our ambassadors who are there to educate them and make them know what Parliament is supposed to do. Even if you are there, they do not look at you as an MP. If you do not talk to them, they will neglect you, and they listen more to staff than to the MPs. So this is one of the areas we have to fight for MPs to come out of it. We lobby through our own Ministers that we have in our various countries. It is our duty as five MPs to make sure that we do that in our national Parliament.On the drawing of the budget by the Committees, it is true, that when a budget is to be drawn, all the Committee members must present their own budgets to the Finance Committee so that we elaborate on it, and work together to make sure that we have a good budget for ourselves. But the problem is, you will realize that as we came here for the Committee meetings, some Committees had one day and some Committees had two days because of financial constraints. Holding a meeting for two days and for one day, no Committee can perform. We could not come together to sit down and discuss on the budget.I know partners, partners are a problem. The EU promised to support our capacity building in our Committees. I think the negotiations are still going on. This process is still going on to make sure we have capacity buildings in these Committees. Some partners have already shown interest to come back to us for assistance.Madam President, I think Malawi raised many doubts, but I think that if he had listened to the report very well, he would have got all the answers well clarified in the report. I must try to emphasize that in practice and principles, I have just cited one, if a Committee sits for one day instead of three days, does the capacity of that Committee give an input to Pan African Parliament? It does not. Not that all thoseactivities were not there, but more issues could have come out. For example, we have the national Parliament, the visit to national Parliament, we have no doubt, that is to make PAP visible, and we cannot do that because there is no budget. So those are the issues that I tried to cite in order to inform you that PAP would have been more visible and more active in the Continent if money was given to PAP. National Parliaments would have been visited, Committees would be having normal Committee meetings, many issues would have been raised, and fact finding missions would have been done.Madam President, on development capacity, I think there is a place here, where I fair of capacity of Pan African Parliament. I said the capacity building of Parliamentarians to equip them with the necessary skills for appropriate and effective discharge of the roles, functions and duties assigned to them as Parliamentarians and to Staff. I think that is the capacity building I was talking about.On the vacancies, we have a problem with the vacancies. That is a challenge and as you cited, they need to be occupied because those are very important positions. That is why the EU and the South African Parliament have decided to assist PAP in order to fill this and stop further inconvenience. We are taking that into consideration in the budget. When the recruitment is complete, we can now reassess the budget to make sure that it meets the recruitment requirements. So you understand what we mean when we say we do not have staff. We have been complaining everyday that there is no staff in Pan African Parliament. Instead of 190 members, we are relying on 44 members. That is insufficiency of PAP. All MPS have been complaining that the staff is insufficient, that is why I am talking of lack of staff in terms of numbers and capacity.Madam President, the lack of capacity means that, even those that are there, they need some skills. That is why we are still having a problem. There must be a system to be put in place; we need to train staff that can use the system perfectly for the good of PAP. So that is the reason why we are trying to allocate an allowance to make sure that there is training staff. We have to train them gradually because we cannot train them at the same time. The budget will all be exhausted. So we need to train them gradually so that we build a capable and skilled staff.Botswana, thank you for your complements and the additional advice you gives. South Africa, thank you for the recommendations I think the Bureau have taken note of it. Kenya have given more clarifications. I think Madam President I do not want to repeat myself. My colleagues have already clarified many of the issues.Thank you for giving me this opportunity to clarity MPs on their pre-occupations. I also wish that this opportunity be given me to present the concerns of MPs to PRC and National Parliament Speaker as there will visit us.THE PRESIDENT:Thank you very much, Mr. President.Honorable Members, I now put the question that the Report of the Committee on Financial Affairs and the budget of the Pan-African Parliament for 2011 be adopted as agreed. (Applause)(Report adopted.)THE PRESIDENT:Thank you so much.Honorable Members, I now call the Clerk to read the Third Order of the day. I can see a hand up. Honorable Dery, you may have the Floor.HON. DERY AMBROSE [GHANA]:Thank you Madame President. You have indicated earlier that you had a Notice of Motion that I wanted to give, with your permission, now I would like to do so.THE PRESIDENT:Honorable Members, under Rule 61(1) and (2), the Honorable Dery is allowed to give a Motion and I think because we need three days for it to be debated on the floor of the Parliament, we consider the Motion before the next item on the agenda. So you may have the floor.
3.0 – AVIS DE MOTION PORTANT SUR LES MISSIONS CONJOINTES D’OBSERVATION DES ELECTIONS DU PAP ET AUTRES ORGANES DE L’UNION AFRICAINE
HON. DERY AMBROSE [GHANA]:Thank you Madame President.Madam President I want to start by laying a brief foundation for this Motion. I will do so with your permission by referring to the report that has just been presented and at page five in which the Committee rightly observed the non-provision of budgetary allocation to facilitate an Independent PAP Election Observation Mission.Madame President, you will realize that, since 1st February, 2010, based on a decision of the Executive Council of AU, we are now supposed to be a part of a joint mission with other AU organs. Rightly, the Bureau has engaged constructively with AU organs and I think that on our part we should give the Bureau the support to so engage, so that they could amicably through good advocacy get the decision of the EEC changed.So, pursuant to Rule 61, I want to read the text of the Motion that I want to give notice of.With your permission Madame President, the notice goes as follows: Whereas in the context of the involvement of the people of Africa and grassroots in decision making, the Pan-African Parliament derives its mandate for Election Observer Missions from Articles 3(g) and 3 (h) of the Constitutive Act of the African Union and Article 3 of the Protocol to the Treaty Establishing the African Economic Committee relating to the Pan African Parliament. Aware that as per Article 4(3) and Article 6 respectively of the Protocol to the Treaty Establishing the Economic Committee of African relating to the Pan African Parliament, the composition of PAP reflects diversity of politically opinions of the Member States and voting is based on personal and independent capacities of Members of PAP, convinced that in the circumstances, PAP best reflects the vision of the involvement of the peoples of Africa and grassroots in decision making among all other organs of the African Union, whereas by a decision of the Executive Council of the African Union adopted on 1st February 2010 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia namely Decision on Election Observation Ex.CL/Dec.534(XVI), PAP is to be part of Joint Elections Observation Missions with other AU organs under a centralized budget managed by the Department of the Political Affairs of the AU, concerned that PAP as part of the Joint Commission Election Observer Mission with other AU organs compromises the vision of the involvement of the people of Africa and grassroots in decision making further as exacerbated by operational challenges such as unfavorable terms of participation for Members of PAP and poor communication among others.Now, therefore, Madame President, I humbly move that it is resolved and it is hereby resolved as follows:1.That PAP should engage the relevant organs of the AU to advocate that the decision on the election observation (XVI) of the Executive Council of the AU in respect of Joint Election Observation Missions with PAP and other AU organs be rescinded to enable PAP undertake its independent election observation missions; and2.That the terms of conditions of Honourable Members of PAP on Election Observation Missions as per applicable terms and conditions for AU elected officials.Madame President, I humbly submit that this be the notice pursuant to Rule 61. Rule 61(1) permits the Presiding Officer to fix a date putting the Motion on an Order Paper before the expiry of the three days where it is of public interest. I submit that it is of public interest because the President of this House did state in his report the good job that the Bureau has started in respect of the terms of engagement of Honourable Members and various contributions on the last report that it is within your competence, by your discretion, to put it on the Order Paper either on Monday or Tuesday and I do so humbly submit, Madame President. (Applause)THE PRESIDENT:Thank you very much Honorable Dery, do we have anybody to support the Motion?AN HONORABLE:Here, here.THE PRESIDENT:YesAN HONORABLE:شكرا سيدتي الرئيسة، باعتبار أهمية الموضوع. والحال أنه اآلن المشاركة، بالشكل الحالي، تعتبر إهانة ألعضاء البرلمان؛ إذ يتم اعتبار أعضاء البرلمان في الدرجة الثالثة أو الرابعة، أقل حتى من موظفي اإلتحاد اإلفريقي.وللعلم، فإن مجموعة شمال إفريقيا اتخذت قرارا بمقاطعة المشاركة، في هذه البعثات، حتى تعود الظروف على ما كانت عليه وأن يتم التعامل، باحترام، مع أعضاء البرلمان. لذلك، فإنني أدعم هذا المقترح.THE PRESIDENT:Thank you very much Honorable Member. So, the motion will go on the Order Paper for next week. I believe it has come in on good time, there is no reason why it should not be considered, so it will be debated next week indeed and we thank you for this timely motion that you have moved at the right time.Honorable Members, I would like the Clerk to read the last order of the day.THE CLERK:Presentation and debate on the Report of Election Observer Missions.THE PRESIDENT:Honorable Members, given the fact that the report have been circulated, I want to suggest that we have a summary of the presentations from the Members who are going to present so that it gives an overview of what transpired and may be if we do not get the time to debate the reports today will be able to debate it first thing next week.So, I would like to call upon Honorable Master Goya to present the report on Rwanda. Please do an overview in five minutes.Then I would like to inform Honorable Kebzabo Saleh that he will be presenting the report on Guinea, so that he gets prepared.Are you ready to present it now?HON. KEBZABO SALEH [CHAD]:Yes.THE PRESIDENT:Okay, Honorable Goya, because you look like you are not ready, he can go first.HON. MOISERAELE MASTER GOYA [BOTSWANA]:I am ready.THE PRESIDENT:If you are ready, then present the report on Rwanda.
3.0 – RAPPORTS ET DEBATS RELATIFS AUX MISSIONS D’OBSERVATION DES ÉLECTIONS
3.1 – RWANDA
HON. MOISERAELE MASTER GOYA [BOTSWANA]:Thank you very much Madam President. I am ready as always.I will just go straight to page five of the report. So, I will skip the first four pages and go straight to page five where it is starting with Item 5, which says, "The Rwanda Presidential Elections, 4th to 13th August, 2010".Madam President, introduction, the African Union constituted an Election Observer Mission to Rwanda for the Presidential Elections set for 9th August 2010. The African Union’s deployment of Election Observer Missions is in accordance with its objective of ‘promoting democratic principles and institutions, popular participation and good governance,’ and principle of ‘respectful democratic principles, human rights, the rule of law and good governance’ on the Continent.The Mission Composition, the Mission was composed of representatives from different countries and various institutions. The Observers came from the Civil Society, Electoral Commissions and included other significant persons like Ambassadors and former Government Officials.The Pan African Parliament was represented by myself from Botswana, Honorable Baromi Edoh from Togo, Honorable Alfonso Nsue Mokuy from Equatorial Guinea, Honorable Soueilman El Kaid from Saharawi Republic, and two PAP staff members namely; Mr. N. Simakando and Ms. M. Simui.Arrival of the Mission, a few members of the AU Observer Mission arrived on 1st August, 2010 and announced the arrival of the mission in Kigali, Rwanda. The majority of the members of the Observer Mission arrived on the 4th August.Interaction with stakeholder, the mission met and exchanged views with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Electoral Commission of Rwanda. Efforts were made to contact and meet some political parties such as the Liberal Party, Social Democratic Party, and Rwanda Patriotic Front who were participating in the elections. The mission was also met with Mrs. Victorie Ingabire Umuhoza, the Chairperson of the United Democratic Forces who was under house arrest at the time of elections. The Civil Society Platform represented all member Civil Society Organizations in the meeting with AU Observer Mission. The Mission was able to interact with other Observer Missions such as the Commonwealth, the Great Lakes Conference, the Francophone and COMESA to exchange views.The Mission deployed teams of two members each to all provinces, except for Southern Province and Kigali where two teams of four members were deployed to observe the voting process. The teams sent reports to the Mission Leader while in the field on their impressions on the process.Now, I will skip the Mission Statement and the Mission Report and go to item 6; Challenges of Joint Missions.It has come to our realization that these joint missions have impact on the Pan-African Parliament. The poor representation of the PanAfrican Parliament is due to the conditions of travel, air ticket in economy class and the low rate of per diem paid to observers.It should also be noted that these joint missions face challenges such as:1.Organizational difficulties related to poor coordination of logistics such as the appointment of observers at the PAP, the transmission of invitations and tickets;2.The distribution and deployment of observers regardless of the language of communication makes it difficult for Members to participate effectively in missions; and3.The Pan-African Parliament is not represented adequately in the leadership of Missions.I think I should go back to the report, on page 5. The report was prepared by all the Members of the Observer Mission and was concluded by Tuesday afternoon. The report was not distributed to the Members because the staff from the African Union Commission argued that it had to be presented to the African Union Commission Chairperson. To date Madam President, the Pan African Parliament has not received the main report on the Rwanda Elections. It is our hope that the AU Chairperson will submit the report to the Pan-African Parliament in the near future. (Applause) So what I am just reading to you is just pure administrative issues that we encountered while we were in Rwanda.Now, next page, page 6, item 7, "Tasks of the PanAfrican Parliament Election Observation Desk". We, as Members of the PAP who observed elections in Rwanda, feel that PAP should establish an Election Observation Desk and under item 7, these are the tasks that we recommend should be carried out by this taskforce.It is suggested that the specific tasks performed by the PAP Election Observation Desk should be as follows:1.To ensure that framework of formal collaboration between PAP, AU and other concerned organs for the AU Election Observation Mission is finalized;2.Ensure the availability of essential planning information and logistic of the PAP delegation;3.Ensure technical and administrative support of the AU Election Observer Team;4.Strengthen the capacity of the Election Desk within the Pan-African Parliament to manage effectively election observation related activities;5.To ensure that PAP gets opportunity for a high media visibility (high attendance during press conferences, interviews in major international news channels etc. and to engage stakeholders on main issues;6.Ensure that there is an evaluation of the Election Observation Mission; and lastly7.Receive the preliminary statement and final report for the information of Members.Now, conclusion and recommendations. Apart from establishing a permanent Election Desk at PAP, the following recommendations are made:1.That the PAP should lobby that leadership of successive Election Observer Missions should alternate between Pan-African Parliament Members of Parliament and the AUC appointed eminent Person. In this regard PAP Members must be given capacity building on how to lead missions.2.In addition, the AUC which is the Secretariat of the AU should start to relinquish some of the functions like management of Election Observer Missions to the PAP, which is a relevant organ, whose objectives include among others encouragement of good governance, transparency and accountability in members states under which election observation falls.3.To coordinate the AUC the preliminary assessment of the social, economic, political and constitutional arrangements of the country holding the elections; and4.PAP Members should be given an opportunity to be deployed to all areas in the country.Madame President, on behalf of the delegation, I wish to thank the Bureau of PAP for giving us an opportunity to participate in the Rwanda elections. But as I have mentioned, we don’t have the full report of the elections, it is still with the AU Chairperson but it is our hope that the report will be submitted to PAP in the near future and it will be tabled in this Parliament. I thank you Madame President.THE PRESIDENT:To be clear is that this is not the report on the election because it must be one joint report submitted by AU. So your point is clear and I hope it is well taken. All that the Members are doing is to give us an overview of what transpired. What happened there, rather than a report on the election in those countries.So, I would like to give an opportunity now to Honorable Saleh Kebzabo to present the report on Guinea. Under normal circumstances the presenters should have moved in front but since the Member, Honourable Goya has set the precedent, I will allow you to present from where you are. Five minutes.
3.2 – GUINÉE CONAKRI
HON. KEBZABO SALEH [TCHAD]:Je vous remercie, Madame la Présidente.Je crois que le rapport de mon collègue du Rwanda est complet, et je voudrais dire que, à quelques exceptions près, j’ai lu les autres rapports, toutes les missions d’observations, où nous, membres du PAP, avons été. On nous mettait souvent strictement, dans les mêmes conditions. Donc, je ne voudrais pas me livrer à l’exercice de lire le rapport, parce que je vais répéter exactement les mêmes choses. Je voudrais donc, tirer certaines conclusions, et ces conclusions seraient les bienvenues dans la mesure où il y a une motion qui est relative à l’observation des élections par le PAP.Moi je crois, Madame la Présidente, qu’il faut qu’on remette les pendules à l’heure. Tant que les parlementaires vont être noyautés et noyés dans une délégation de l’Union africaine, ils ne feront aucune observation. Moi en tout cas, je n’ai fait aucune observation, j’ai voyagé, et j’ai même dit la dernière fois, lors de la réunion de restitution, que, pour moi, c’est du tourisme. On perd du temps, on perd de l’énergie, on est stressé et on est décrédibilisé. Au total, c’est de cela qu’il s’agit. On ne fait pas une moindre observation.Et, si l’Union africaine veut vraiment promouvoir la démocratie, la bonne gouvernance, les bonnes élections et autres, il faut que les méthodes changent. On ne peut pas aller à une élection, pendant une semaine et dire qu’on a observé. On n’a absolument rien observé.J’étais content d’entendre, dans son rapport, le Président du PAP dire, l’autre jour, qu’observer une élection, c’est aller avant, c’est rester pendant et après le déroulement des élections. Tant que nous ne ferons pas cela, on ne parlera pas d’observation. Alors, je pense que pour notre crédibilité, et pour le travail de parlementaires que nous avons à faire, nous ne devons plus accepter d’être noyés dans une délégation de l’Union africaine, dans laquelle il y a des gens qui sont respectables par ailleurs, notamment des anciens Ambassadeurs, des anciens Premiers ministres et beaucoup de gens des Droits de l’Homme. Mais, nous n’avons rien en commun avec tous ces genslà, Madame la Présidente.Nous avons autre chose à faire et il faudrait qu’on retienne que le Parlement panafricain est une observation spécifique, parce que nous avons une autre vision, autre chose à apporter, et l’opinion attend de nous autre chose qu’une mission de tourisme qui va juste dire que cela s’est bien passé, applaudir et revenir. Ce n’est pas cela.Je ne vais donc pas revenir sur tous les problèmes de conditions matérielles, de voyage où on nous considère comme des objets, comme des cartons qu’on met dans un avion. Moi, j’ai fait presque 11 heures de vol en classe économique. Chaque fois je paie la différence, mais c’est quand même un prix que je ne devrais pas supporter. Il appartient à l’Union africaine de le faire.Quand, avec cela, je vois qu’il y a parfois des gens qui se battent pour aller à ces missions d’observation, je dis que je ne comprends pas, Madame la Présidente. Il faut qu’on se respecte et il faut qu’on se fasse respecter.Nous avons dit que nous allons obliger nos Etats à nous faire voyager en première classe, à nous donner au moins 500 dollars de perdiems. Pourquoi est-ce qu’on accepte de voyager en classe économique et d’avoir 100 ou 130 dollars par jour de perdiems?Je crois qu’il faut arrêter cette histoire et ne plus continuer à couvrir des inepties de ce genre. Là- dessus, je suis tout à fait d’accord avec nos collègues d’Afrique du Nord, qui ont cessé d’envoyer leurs amis en mission d’observation, parce que cela ne sert absolument à rien du tout.Donc voilà, Madame la Présidente, la contribution que je voulais apporter, parce que le rapport, luimême, ne fait que de la redite. Je vous remercie.(Applaudissements)THE PRESIDENT:Thank you very much. I also realize that for Rwanda, East African was not represented for example and yet Rwanda is in East Africa. That clearly shows how the management of the Observer Missions from PAP is not going very well for us. So, we share your views and we will continue to negotiate with the AU to allow us to have our observer missions once again.There is no time to listen to the report on Ethiopia, but I can see a hand up, Honourable Member, is that point of information or order?AN HONOURABLE MEMBER:نحن استمعنا في الجلسة االولى في Yes, Madam Chair.خطاب السيد/رئيس البرلمان ان البعثة الخاصة بمراقبة االنتخابات في السودان لم تذهب وتم تصحيح ذلك في وقت الحق واالن لم نسمع شيئا عن هذه اللجنة او عن مالحظاتها التى سوف تقدمها للبرلمان، هل لنا ان نعرف مصير ذلك.THE PRESIDENT:Okay. It is not only Sudan that is not going to be presented now, there are a number of other missions, there is Burundi for example, it is not going to be presented today, Ethiopia cannot, although it was on the list. The issue of Sudan was very clearly made and we know now that there are Members of this Parliament who observed the election of Sudan. So, that report will be made next week. The issue was noted very clearly Honourable Member.So Honourable Members, I would like...(Interjection)Yes.UN HONORABLE MEMBRE:Je voudrais préciser, dans le même sillage que notre collègue - et le rapport l’a montré -, qu’il y avait une omission aussi pour ce qui concerne les rapports à l’Ile Maurice. En Ile Maurice, il y avait cinq (05) parlementaires du PAP, intégrés dans la délégation de l’Union africaine; mais, à la différence de l’ensemble de nos collègues, nous, en Ile Maurice, on nous a autorisé de présenter un rapport et ce rapport a été remis au Président. Il l’avait omis; maintenant, la question que je repose est la suivante: est-ce que, la semaine prochaine, comme pour le Soudan qui a été omis, le rapport de l’Ile Maurice sera présenté? Parce que nous, nous avons déposé un rapport complet de toutes les élections. Je vous remercie.THE PRESIDENT:The point is very well taken. The Clerk please take note of that so that those reports are presented also next week. Honourable Members, I would like to suggest that we complete the reports on election observation on Monday because we have the Women’s Conference this afternoon. We cannot go beyond 12 noon as I had suggested at the beginning, otherwise the women parliamentarians of this House will kill me. They need to go for lunch and then be able to attend their conference.There are some announcements by the Clerk.
4.0 – ANNONCES
THE CLERK:Thank you Honourable Chair, I have the following announcements to make to Honourable Members:1.There is a meeting of the Western Caucus in the No. 1 at 1 o’clock;2.The Women Conference is taking place today in this Chamber at 1430 hours; and3.The women MPs are invited to lunch at Gallagher, transport will be available outside in 15 minutes.Thank you.THE PRESIDENT:Thank you so much Mr. Clerk. Now, I can also take the opportunity to make clarification on my invitation to the Caucus of East African Region for lunch on the 10th not 9th as was indicated on the paper, at the residence of the High Commission of Kenya in Pretoria on Sunday, the 10th October, 2010 at 1230 noon. Please do note because there is a mistake on your invitation. Yes, Honourable.AN HONOURABLE MEMBER:Point of clarity Madam President. On the programme for the Women’s Conference, it says that the opening ceremony is at 2 o’clock and I just heard now that it is 02.30 p.m. Now, can we have clarity please.THE PRESIDENT:I personally would suggest that we start at 2 o’clock given the heavy schedule that I saw on the programme. So, if that is acceptable, women Members of Parliament, colleagues, let’s start our conference at 2 o’clock as had been put on the programme. Thank you very much.So, Honourable Members, we have now come to the end of our business for today, therefore, this House stands adjourned until Monday, 11th October, 2010 at 9 o’clock a.m. I thank you and have a good week end.La séance est suspendue à 11heures cinquantesept minutes jusqu’au lundi, 11 octobre 2010 à neuf heures
Monday, 11th October 2010
1.0 – MESSAGE DE LA PRÉSIDENCE
THE PRESIDENT:Good morning Honourable Members and welcome to week two of the Pan African Parliament.I will now allow a minute of silent prayer.(Minute of silence observed)You may sit down, please.Hon Members, first of all I welcome you to week two of our business. I want to congratulate you on the work that we were able to accomplish last week. I also want to welcome our brothers from the European Union who are here with us. Translation, French are you on? No. Spanish are you on? Translators; we do not seem to be benefiting from your service. Portuguese is on, I can hear Portuguese. Spanish! - Spanish is on, okay. French, yes, you are on. Thank you so much.Honourable Members I have the pleasure and honour to welcome the team from the European Union who are here with us this morning. Mr. Michael Ghalagh, my colleague, is the leader of the team. Mr. Ghalagh if you can rise, Mr. Ghalagh is the leader of the European team; you are welcome to be here with us this morning. I also want to invite Members of the Pan African Parliament team that normally meets with the European Union team to meet after our morning session. After lunch there is a meeting with the European Union. I have 24 names with me of the Parliamentarians. The Committee room where the meeting will be held will be announced by the Clerk. I hope that you still remember who you were. All the chairs of the permanent Committees of Pan African Parliament except the Committee on Rules, I think, were part of the team. I would request the Chair of the Committee on Gender also to be present during that meeting. I thank you. Now, I will request the Clerk to read the first order of our business.THE CLERK:Thank you, continuation of presentation and debates on the reports of Election Observer Missions.
2.0 – SUITE DES RAPPORTS ET DÉBATS SUR LES MISSIONS D’OBSERVATION DES ÉLECTIONS
THE PRESIDENT:Honourable Members, on Friday we had debate on the Election Observer Missions that took place during the last session. I think we had finished the presentations, but we also had recognized that there are countries where we did send observers whose presentations we did not receive. I would like to know from the Clerk, whether those presentations are ready now. The report on the mission to Rwanda, the report on the mission to Ethiopia, and there is another mission that is skipping my mind. Mr. Clerk, can you let us know whether those are ready today. I now call upon honourable Musa Mbutoh to present the report of the Observer Mission to Ethiopia. We would prefer that you come to the front so that we can see you in accordance with our rules. I know you have three legs, but since they have brought you here, they will bring you to the front. Then the next one will be the report on Sudan, just to get you prepared. After that we will hear the report on Mauritius, and then the last will be the report on Burundi.
2.1 – ETHIOPIE
HON. NJINGUM MUSA MBUTOH [CAMEROON]:Thank you Madam President for recognizing me and good morning to Honourable Members. I have a different view on the report of elections in Ethiopia and I will be very brief because I don’t want to give a report on elections that we didn’t really observe.I want to skip all these background stories, introductions, objectives and mandate of election. We now know the mandates for Pan African Parliament. The election observation is probably one of the PAP’s most significant, visible and productive activities since its inception. PAP has sent election observers missions among others to Kenya, Zimbabwe, Angola, Swaziland, Ghana, Namibia and have had very good and effective impact in Africa election observation.But the Decision No. Executive Council 534 (xvi) was adopted during the Sixteen Ordinary Session of the Executive Council of the African Union, in February 1, 2010, resolved that election observation by the AU organs must be conducted under a centralized budget. The coordination of the election observation will be jointly organized with AU, Pan African Parliament and other AU concerned organs. Joint Missions so far have been held in Sudan, Mauritius, Ethiopia, Burundi, Guinea and Rwanda, and to these elections, I feel it have been no impact on PAP compared to what we have done in Zimbabwe, Angola, Swaziland, Ghana and Namibia.The African Union constituted an Election Observer Mission to Ethiopia for the General Elections set for May 23, 2010. The African Union’s, deployment of election observer missions is in accordance with its objective of ‘promoting democratic principles and institutions, popular participation and good governance’; and principle of ‘respect for democratic principles, human rights, the rule of law and good governance’, on the continent. There is always PAP’s position in this.The mission composition: The mission was composed of representatives from different countries and various institutions. The observers came from the Civil Society, Electoral Commissions, and included other high profile persons such as Ambassadors and former government officials.Pan African Parliament was represented by the following Members. Out of the 18 Members, only 9 were present, not because they didn’t want to come, but because of reasons I will give you.Hon. Bendir KhatoriHon. Joseph NjobvuyalemaHon. Forrie Raisi TemboHon. Ali Hasna HassanHon. Ibrahim Habeb NurHon. Florentino Mendes PereiraHon. Elizabeth AgyemanHon. Njingum Muosa MbutohHon. Gaston Engohang ObiangThree staff members were added to the delegation, who came as just observers too, to assist MPs because they were not allowed the opportunity.The general report of the Ethiopia mission was drafted by a team set by African Union Commission and undoubtedly, the presentation of the final statement at the end of the election. It is true that PAP is not supposed to give another report on elections because the mission was jointly organized and PAP Members did not cover all the regions. However, we would like to highlight our experience on the field and the shortfalls of the joint mission because PAP Members were completely sidelined in the process of election.Arrival and hospitality of the mission: Most of the members of the African Union Observer Mission arrived in Addis Ababa on May 15 and 16, 2010. The Observers were based at Hilton, under the leadership of His Excellency Quite Ketumile J. Masire, former Head of State of Botswana. The forty percent allocated to PAP was not reached due to:1.Inconvenient to travel in economic class;2.Late reception of tickets for members who accepted the AU travel condition;3.Sponsorship of tickets by Members in order to be reimbursed upon arrival at Addis Ababa;4.Poor coordination on logistics at the airport upon arrival of members. Some members had to contact their Embassies, while others took taxis to reach the hotel; and5.Rudeness and unwelcoming attitude of the staff of the African Union was very bad for the Pan African Parliament MembersThe Pan African Parliament Members were not involved in any formal communication with the African Union Commission. All statements were written by a team set by the African Union Commission excluding PAP. To highlight this, the arrival statement that was initially prepared did not take into consideration the fact that the mission was jointly conducted by African Union, Pan African Parliament and other AU organs as stated by the AU Decision Number 534 of the Executive Council adopted on February 1, 2010.The Observers were composed of 24 teams of 2 or 3 observers each. They were deployed to various constituencies. On deployment, the Pan African Parliament made the following observations: late deployment and arrival at the end of the campaign; discrimination of PAP members, PAP members were sent to the remotest areas; lack of coordination on arrival at the deployment zones. Members were struggling to have a focal point for their settlements; lack of communication with the population in certain areas of deployment; no vehicle available on the arrival at the deployment centres.Evaluation meeting: the language was a serious barrier to Pan African Parliament observers. Documents were not available in the official languages. Documents were only available in the official languages of the host country. Communication was almost impossible, and PAP was not visible during the meeting.Recommendations:1.It has come to our realization that these joint missions have had no impact on the Pan African Parliament. Due to our experience on the field, we recommend that PAP should hold its own election observation mission independently.2.It is vital for Pan African Parliament to put in place the requisite infrastructure that would assist in the conduct of election observation missions.3.The PAP electoral observation desk overall objective will be to ensure that all processes of the election are in line with Article 3 of the African Union Constitutive Act and Article 3 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights, the African Charter on Democracy, Governance and Election, and other human rights instruments in respect of the decision number 534.The AU code of conduct and other rules and procedures guiding AU declarations, but when PAP is not fully involved in election observation, it will not have any impact on the African people we represent. This plea should be forwarded to the AU summit so that the decision of the joint mission could be reviewed. I thank you Honourable Members, I thank you Madam President, and I beg to move. (Applause)THE PRESIDENT:Honorable Members, we thank Honorable Muosa for that report. I just want to remind you that this is not a report on the election of the country that is being presented on; it is just the experience of the Pan-African Parliament because the final report should come from the European Union. So, we are not debating the final report.AN HONORABLE:It is African Union.THE PRESIDENT:African Union, sorry. I am sorry about that. The final report is supposed to be a joint report of the African Union Observer Mission.May I now invite Honorable Edward Adjaho to present the report on Sudan? I do not see Honorable Adjaho here. Ghana is normally present in this Chamber; I do not know what has happened today but let us go to the report on Mauritius, if Honorable Babou Abdoulaye is present to present the report on Mauritius. He is not here also.I do not have a name for Burundi but could a representative of the team of the Pan-African Parliamentarians that went to Burundi, would anybody be able to present the report on Burundi?Okay, since I do not see anybody volunteering to do that, I will now open the debate on the report of the Election Observer Missions that have been presented and I have lists of 24 names with me. And since we seem to be lagging behind time, I will give two minutes to each presenter to make your presentation. Much of it, if you think someone has already said it, probably it is worth not saying it again. This is a continuation from last week. So, the first speaker on the list is Honorable Farhat Mohamed of Libya. Honorable Farhat, please.HON. FARHAT LUTFI MOHAMED [LIBYA]:لسيدة الرئيسة،سوف أتحدث عن نقطتين تتعلق النقطة األولى بمراقبة االنتخابات في القارة اإلفريقية والنقطة الثانية تتعلق بمراقبة االنتخابات خارج القارة االفريقية.أوال فيما يتعلق بمراقبة االنتخابات في القارة االفريقية: تقع مراقبة االنتخابات في القارة اإلفريقية ضمن أهداف البرلمان االفريقي، وفقا لنص المادة }3 }من البروتوكول الخاص بالبرلمان اإلفريقي، وقد كان هذا االختصاص يمارس بشكل مستقل عن بقية أجهزة إلتحاد اإلفريقي. وقد كانت التقارير التي تعرض علينا بالبرلمان تحرص على عرض األمور علينا، بصورة واقعية وموضوعية، وكنا نتخذ بشأنها قرارات في غاية األهمية.إن إلغاء المخصصات الالزمة لتغطية بعثات مراقبة البرلمان، في ميزانيتنا، ووضعها تحت تصرف المفوضية، لم يكن قرارا موفقا حيث وضع البرلمان تحت سلطة المفوصية، ولم يكن التنسيق المطلوب بين البرلمان والمفوضية، من الناحية العملية، مرضيا كما أن معاملة البرلمانيين، من الناحية المالية والمعنوية، لم يكن متناسبا مع وضعهم ومسئوليتهم. ولذلك أرى إعادة الوضع إلى ما كان عليه، وأن توضع المخصصات المالية الالزمة في ميزانية البرلمان، حتى يمكن أن يمارس البرلمان اإلفريقي دوره، بشكل مستقل وفعال.ثانيا فيما يتعلق بمراقبة االنتخابات خارج القارة االفريقية: ورد في نشرة األخبار، في األيام الفائتة، بأن واشنطن تطالب القاهرة بمراقبة االنتخابات داخليا وخارجيا، حتى تتمكن من التأكد من سالمة االنتخابات فيها. وهذا مطلب شرعي، في ظل العالم الذي يتحول إلى قرية صغيرة، ولكننا نطالب أيضأ، وفقا لمبدإ المعاملة بالمثل، أن نراقب االنتخابات في الدول االوروبية والواليات المتحدة، حتى نتأكد من سالمتها، كما يريدون التأكد من سالمة االنتخابات في القارة اإلفريقية.شكرا سيدتي الرئيسة.HON. HAJAIG FATIMA [SOUTH AFRICA]:Thank you President, I have a few points to make.First of all, I would like to agree with Hon. Farhat that PAP delegation must go as an autonomous delegation. We are an autonomous body of the African Union therefore I think the way we look at elections and the way we look at issues in Africa especially in conflict is different from other organs of the African Union.The second point I would like to make, I think that we do need more capacity building for our Members when we observe elections. So, I think the new Members that which are coming in all the time and I think we need to assist them in preparing them for observing elections.The last point but I think is an important point, I think that really to get to understand what is happening in a country, the PAP delegation must go at least a month before the actual elections to see what is actually happening, which the media is free to actually report on what is happening, the preparations for the elections whether it is actually fair to different parties and to the electorate, to see the voter registration is up to date, the register is in place and of course at least two weeks after the elections. I think to observe elections within two days or a couple of days before the elections doesn’t really give us a picture where we can actually say, these elections are free and fair. So I think we need to relook at how we want to actually conduct these observations and the missions. Thank you Madame.THE PRESIDENT:Thank you very much, I know give an opportunity to Honorable Ali Bahari of Kenya. Honorable Bahari is not here, I can see his seat. May I give the opportunity to Honorable Rugara of Zimbabwe. Honorable Bahari you have just missed an opportunity to make your presentation.HON. CONIQUET RADEMBINO RENE [GABON]:Je m’excuse! Mais, je n’ai pas demandé la parole. Maintenant, puisque vous me la donner, je vous remercie, Madame la Présidente.A propos d’observation des élections, je n’ai jamais été désigné, on m’a fait des propositions, mais j’ai dit que, vu ce que je suis et mon âge, je ne veux pas voyager en classe économique et je ne peux pas vivre avec des indemnités qui ne me conviennent pas du tout par rapport à ce que je suis. C’est pour cela que je ne suis jamais parti.Effectivement, j’approuve le fait que le Parlement panafricain puisse observer les élections de manière indépendante, parce qu’à quoi cela sert de soumettre, à notre débat, un rapport fait par la présidence du Conseil de l’Union africaine et d’être sous les ordres. Ce sont des fonctionnaires, nous, nous sommes des élus. Donc, il y a là ce problème. Il faut qu’on y réfléchisse et qu’on puisse arriver à une conclusion, puisque, au début, nous avions commencé à travailler dans ces conditions, à quoi ce changement est dû? Il faut bien qu’on le sache. Voilà ce que je peux dire concernant les élections, je vous remercie.HON. TAMBOURA ASCOFARE OULÉMATOU [MALI]:Je vous remercie, Madame la Présidente.Je voudrais également joindre ma voix à celle de ceux qui m’ont précédée, pour dire que nous devons organiser nos missions d’observation indépendamment de celles de l’Union africaine. J’ai juste une question à poser. Par le passé, et même maintenant, pour que le PAP participe à une mission d’observation, est-ce sur invitation des pays, ou bien on le fait d’office?Je vous remercie.HON. BABOU ABDOULAYE [SENEGAL]:Excusez-moi, Madame la Présidente de prendre la parole, pour refaire une mise au point. Je suis Abdoulaye BABOU; normalement, c’est moi qui devais présenter le rapport sur l’Ile Maurice. Alors, quand j’ai vu dans l’ordre du jour qu’il y avait mon nom, je suis sorti pour voir si le rapport était disponible. Le monsieur qui est dehors m’a dit qu’il n’y avait pas de rapport disponible. J’ai dit que j’étais étonné, dans la mesure où le rapport a été remis entre les mains du Président qui, luimême, à son arrivée à Dakar, m’en a parlé. Et, depuis qu’il m’a dit cela, sachant que le rapport n’est pas disponible, je suis allé dans les services du PAP pour retrouver le rapport. C’est madame Marie BEBEY qui vient de me faire la copie du rapport. C’est pourquoi moi, j’ai fait un rapport, qui est là, sur les élections de Maurice, et pas comme les autres. Donc, c’est à cause de ces inconvénients dus au fonctionnement intérieur du PAP que je n’étais pas là, Madame la Présidente. Mais, voici maintenant le rapport, il est disponible, et nous y avons traité, tous les 5 membres du PAP, des questions législatives au niveau de Maurice. C’est la précision que je voulais faire. Le rapport est là, mais il n’était pas disponible ici. Ce n’est pas de ma faute, c’est avec l’administration du PAP que nous avons eu ces problèmes, et c’est regrettable. Je vous remercie.THE PRESIDENT:Thank you very much Honourable Babou, we note your concerns. I suggest that the report gets circulated to the Members so that Members can read it, since we have passed the presentation of that report. It will be at the front, at the entrance, and Members should note that the report on Mauritius is now available and will be circulated. So, we note your concern. Thank you.HON. HASSAN ALI HASNA [DJIBOUTI]:Je vous remercie, Madame la Présidente de me donner l’opportunité d’apporter ma modeste contribution dans ce débat important sur le déroulement des missions d’observation électorale auxquelles des membres de notre Parlement ont pris part.Je voudrais d’abord féliciter les différents exposants qui sont intervenus, depuis vendredi matin, pour la qualité de leurs présentations respectives.Cela étant, nombre de réflexions que j’avais l’intention de partager avec les membres de notre auguste Assemblée ont déjà été largement développées par les précédents orateurs. Il reste, cependant, un point sur lequel je souhaite vraiment m’appesantir. Ce point, c’est celui relatif au traitement réservé aux parlementaires panafricains appelés à faire partie des missions d’observation électorale formées par la Commission de l’Union africaine et dépêchées dans les différents pays du continent.Madame la Présidente,Chers collègues, membres du PAP,Nous sommes tous d’accord, aujourd’hui, pour dire que ce traitement est très humiliant et indigne de notre statut. C’est pourquoi, pour ma part, maintenant que des efforts considérables ont été déployés depuis l’avènement du nouveau Bureau de notre Parlement pour essayer d’aplanir toutes les difficultés relationnelles que nous avions auparavant avec les différents organes de l’Union africaine et en particulier avec la Commission africaine, je propose personnellement que l’on puisse revenir au strict respect de l’esprit et de la lettre du Protocole instituant le PAP qui dit, en son article 11.1 que l’observation des élections entre dans le cadre des attributions et des pouvoirs du Parlement panafricain.Par conséquent, je pense et je crois que c’est ce qui a été préconisé dans la motion qui a été introduite par un de nos collègues, vendredi dernier. Je pense que la conduite des missions d’observation des élections doit revenir au Parlement panafricain. Nous devons travailler en parfaite symbiose et synergie avec la Commission de l’Union africaine. Il y a un partage de compétences pour ce qui est de la conduite des missions d’observation électorale. Je pense que cela revient de plein droit à notre Parlement.Par conséquent, la Commission de l’Union africaine peut nous apporter son expertise technique et mettre à notre disposition les moyens dont elle dispose à cet effet, mais je pense qu’il revient à notre Parlement de conduire et de diriger les missions d’observation d’élections.THE PRESIDENT:Half a minute hon. Souleiman.HON. HASSAN ALI HASNA [DJIBOUTI]:J’en ai fini Madame. J’ai un dernier mot. Donc, il appartient à notre parlement de diriger nos missions d’observation qui sont dépêchées dans les pays qui sont en élection. Je vous remercie, Madame la Présidente.HON. MUKABARANGA AGNÈS [RWANDA]:Je vous remercie, Madame la Présidente.Je voudrais dire aussi que ces missions d’observation des élections, Madame la Présidente, sont parmi les activités qui renforcent la visibilité de notre institution et doivent, donc, à mon sens, être plus élaborées que ce que l’on a reçu, tout en réservant du respect et des félicitations à ceux qui nous ont représentés dans ces missions.Madame la Présidente,En analysant ce rapport, je constate qu’il aurait dû y avoir des informations complètes. Il aurait dû nous rappeler notamment le contexte et le background - si je puis l’appeler ainsi - des élections qu’ils ont observées.Nous savons tous très bien que, par exemple, en Ethiopie, il y a eu des violences au cours des dernières élections. Des personnes ont été emprisonnées. Quelle était la différence de ces dernières élections avec les nouvelles élections? Que disait la constitution? Que disait la loi électorale? Qu’en est-il du registre des électeurs? Toutes ces informations auraient dû, à mon sens, être reflétées. De même pour les autres pays, ils auraient dû, par exemple, souligner que, pour les élections au Rwanda, c’était des élections présidentielles, des élections importantes, dire dans quel contexte ces élections sont venues, faire un commentaire sur ce que les médias disaient sur ces élections, et quels sont les nouveaux acteurs dans ces élections présidentielles. Nous avions un honorable candidat au sein du PAP à ces élections. Cela aurait pu être souligné.Madame la Présidente,Je pense qu’il n’est pas acceptable qu’on doive prendre le rapport général de l’Union africaine. Le PAP peut confectionner son propre rapport. Ce sont ces quelques commentaires, Madame la Présidente, que je voulais vous soumettre. Il est important, avant d’entamer une mission, que nos représentants aient quelques informations préliminaires sur les pays qu’ils vont visiter et examiner.Je vous remercie.HON. JATTA SIDIA S. [GAMBIA]:Madame, I am sorry but from my point of view, there is nothing that I can say about this particular issue because I have not read any report. We have had presentations on administrative and logistic matters but we have not had any report on any election proper in any of the countries that we are dealing with. So, I am sorry but I cannot say anything. Thank you. (Applause)HON. HASSABO MOHAMMED ABDUL RAHMAN [SUDAN]:شكرا جزيال السيدة الرئيسة،أنا أعتقد أن مداخلتي سترتكز على أنه يجب على البرلمان أن يضع معاييرا ومؤشرات لبعثاته لمراقبة االنتخابات. هذا أوال ، ثانيا يجب أن يعرض التقرير وأال نستمع للشكاوى: الترحيل والتذاكر والمسائل اإلدارية فهذه ال تفيدنا كثيرا. نحن، كبرلمانيين، نود أن نتمطئن بأن االنتخابات جرت في أوضاع ديمقراطية، بمشاركة، وباستقرار. ألننا نمثل الشعب وعليه نود أن نتمطئن. فعليه أقترح أال نستمع لشكاوى أعضائنا اللوجستية أو نقاطع مراقبة اإلنتخابات. وعليه أقترح أن تكون لدينا معايير ومؤشرات Principles Guiding أي مباديء توجيهية، ألعضائنا الذين يراقبون االنتخابات. وعليه أود أن نسمع التقرير أو نطلب من مفوضية اإلتحاد اإلفريقي أن تعرض التقرير وأعضاؤنا يعلقون على ذلك. ولكن، منذ الجمعة، لم أستمع إلى تقرير عن االنتخابات، بل أستمع إلى شكاوى: تذكرة {economic}وأشياء أخرى ال أعرف ما هي وأشياء إدارية ومشاكل وتاكسي، هذا ليس تقريرا. نود تقديم التقرير أو نطلب من مفوضية اإلتحاد اإلفريقي أن تعرض التقرير هنا، لنسلم عليه رد مفوضية السلم ، تقرير عن أوضاع األمن ويعرض مفوض الشؤون السياسية تقرير عن االنتخابات وأعضاؤنا يعلقون على ذلك.وشكرا جزيال.HON. NJOBVUYALEMA JOSEPH [MALAWI]:Thank you Madame Vice-President for giving me this opportunity to contribute to this important report. I must state that I was a member of the mission which went to Ethiopia and apart from everything else, I was happy with the whole arrangement and the way the election was carried out. But my main worry, which the presenter of the report has already cited, is lack of communication between PAP Members who comprise the mission and AU. There is no communication at all.Honorable Madame Vice-President, the whole purpose of communicating is to impart or share information. When you are sent out on a mission, you have some specific information which you think you are able to share with the organizers. It is important that African Union should be able to share information with members of PAP, I mean we are an organ of African Union and rightfully so. PAP members are basically politicians; all of us who are here are politicians. We have undergone elections so many times, we have a lot of experience, we have a lot of knowledge, we have very important information for AU officials, but what happens is, the AU officials ignore or sideline PAP members completely. I mean the whole purpose is not just coming up with complaints, but putting things in order. We are saying, if we are sent out to missions, we should be recognized by African Union officials. You could see that even the protocol officers did not recognize us. Why? One wonders whether you have gone there as an intruder or what.HON. RASHID ABDUL PELPUO [GHANA]:Thank you Madam President, I have one observation to make. The fact that we have representation of Observer Missions shows that PAP is showing interest in what is going on in Africa in terms of our democratic developments. It is important that we develop this process by getting fully involved in it and get experiences in other countries. With the experiences, we better our own standards and learn from best practices. If in the event PAP is finding it difficult to continue with this process, it will be a subject of serious discussion and serious consideration for PAP leadership. I believe very strongly that all the stories we are hearing about Members going on tracks and finding it very, very difficult to go through the process are so saddening, and we have to rethink how we send our Members to these places.Members of Parliament are the cream of society; they represent the people of Africa, they are the pulse of our democracy, they are people whom we have to uphold, to show respect and reverence for, in terms of building a democratic transition in Africa. So, if they go out there, using economy tickets and flying in the economy, going without the needed facilities and materials to work with, it is an indictment on the very foundation and principle of PAP and our strive to democratize Africa. I want to say that we need, without any option to relook at this and to rethink and ask ourselves whether we need it or not. If we do not need it, we do not go for it, if we go for it because we need it, we have to ensure that we fully sponsor it, and that Members are comfortable when they go out there to observe. Thank you Madam President.THE PRESIDENT:Thank you very much Honourable Rashid.HON. SHAMAKOKERA THARCISSE [RWANDA]:Je vous remercie, Madame la Présidente de me donner la parole. Cette occasion me permet d’exprimer ma déception quant aux rapports qui nous ont étés présentés. Il ne s’agit pas, en fait, de rapports. On se serait attendu à un rapport réel sur le déroulement des élections, ce qui n’est pas le cas et ceci m’a amené à me poser cette question: pourquoi les rapports des membres du PAP, qui seront présentés au PAP, doivent-ils être préalablement approuvés par le Président de la Commission de l’Union africaine? Ma réponse est la suivante: je voudrais qu’elle soit aussi celle de la Chambre, si possible et que soit mis fin à cette bureaucratie de mission conjointe d’observation d’élections PAP-UA.A ce sujet, d’autres problèmes ont été soulignés par les membres des missions eux-mêmes, je rappellerais ceux liés à la logistique, au transport et autres.Madame la Présidente,Les rapports des membres du PAP ne doivent pas être censurés par la Commission de l’Union africaine avant d’être présentés au PAP. Et le PAP, seul, doit mener ses propres missions d’observation sans être obligé de passer par l’Union africaine. Je me réjouis déjà que cela soit fait, pour la mission du PAP envoyée à l’Île Maurice, et que cela soit possible pour les autres missions à venir.Pour terminer, je voudrais dire que j’ai été désigné pour faire partie de la mission d’observation en Ethiopie. Je me trouvais en Ethiopie, en ce moment; mais, comme le message m’a été communiqué, juste, à la veille de mon départ au pays, je n’ai pas pu y participer. Je vous remercie, Madame la Présidente.THE PRESIDENT:Thank you very much. That explains why no one from East Africa went to observe elections in Ethiopia, because I have a list of those who went to observe election in the different countries and I am concerned that the region of East African is not being represented. So, that explains it. Thank you very much Honourable Member. (Interruption) Yes, point of information?UN HONORABLE MEMBRE:Il y a des honorables membres de l’Afrique de l’Est qui faisaient partie de la délégation en Ethiopie. Il y avait deux membres Madame: l’honorable Habeb Ibrahim Nour de la Somalie et l’honorable Hassan Ali Hasna de Djibouti.THE PRESIDENT:Okay, thank you very much Chair of the Caucus of Eastern Africa. May I now give the opportunity to Honourable Forrie Raisi TemboHON. TEMBO RAISI FORRIE [ZAMBIA]:Thank you, Madame President, for giving me this rare opportunity to add a word to the debate on the Floor.Madame President, from the onset, I must state that I do strongly support the report on the Election Observer Mission to Ethiopia presented to this August House.Madame President, there were a lot of challenges on the joint mission faced by the Members of the PAP who were assigned to observe elections in Ethiopia. Some of the challenges, I am sure, have already been mentioned, such as the poor conditions of travel for Members of Parliament.The second point was the low rate of per diem which was paid to Members of Parliament. I am sure this issue has discouraged a lot of Members to take part in the observer missions.The other issue was the issue of tickets not being sent on time. I for one, Madame President, did not receive my ticket until my Parliament had to come in and buy a ticket for me.Also language barrier was another issue of concern that affected the participation of Members of PAP in the election observer mission.Madam President, the whole show was taken over by the African Union Commission which is against the objective of PAP to ensure that the process of elections is in line with Article 3.Madame President, I wish to ask PAP so that next time it is better to send Members of PAP 20 days or more before the election date to facilitate Members to have ample time to observe campaign rallies and meetings. This issue has to be taken seriously. Most of the PAP Members who went for this mission did not have ample time to observe the campaigns.I thank you, Madame President.THE PRESIDENT:Thank you very much, Honorable Member. I wonder whether we have twenty days to be out of our National Parliaments to spend in the field, am not so sure about that but the point is well taken that we should at least be there some days before the actual elections so that you can understand the ground and how things are going.Honorable Members, I would like to remind you of one of the rules that we had agreed on here that when you contribute you stand so that we can all see you and listen to you. Sometimes it takes me time to find out where is the contributor. So, if you can remember to observe that small rule of our House.I now give the opportunity to Honorable Mohamed Abdoulkader of Djibouti.HON. ABDOULKADER MOHAMED MOHAMED [DJIBOUTI]:Je vous remercie, Madame la Présidente, pour m’avoir donné l’opportunité de prendre la parole.Je voudrais tout d’abord féliciter l’ensemble des intervenants qui nous ont présenté le rapport administratif des différentes missions d’observation, comme précisé dans le document.De même, je voudrais joindre ma voix à celle de tous ceux qui m’ont précédé tout au long de ces derniers jours, pour féliciter le Bureau, pour son excellent rapport d’activités, et appuyer sa démarche en ce qui concerne les missions d’observation.Pour revenir à la question relative à la mission d’observation, beaucoup de choses ont déjà été dites et pas mal de mes préoccupations ont été évoquées. Cependant, je tenais à apporter ma contribution à ces débats qui me semblent très importants.Tout d’abord, je voudrais commencer mon intervention par des rappels. Le premier rappel, c’est que les missions d’observation sont des compétences du PAP en vertu des articles 3 et 11 du Protocole au traité instituant la communauté économique africaine.Aussi, le PAP avait commencé à superviser les élections en Afrique, notamment au Zimbabwe, au Kenya, au Ghana et en Angola. Mais voilà, que, tout d’un coup, nous avons constaté que l’Union africaine a mis fin aux missions d’observation indépendantes du PAP, sans que nous sachions les raisons de ce revirement. Pour ma part, je pense que le fait que le PAP organisait des missions d’observation constituait pour lui un excellent moyen quant à sa visibilité, à laquelle nous tenons beaucoup, et qu’il gagnait en crédibilité à travers ces missions.Je crois que c’est cela qui est à l’origine de la mise en terme des missions indépendantes de notre institution et il faut réagir par rapport à ce recul, en demandant le retour au respect du Protocole, dans la mesure où les missions d’observation rendraient plus visible notre institution.Par rapport à la désignation des membres de la Commission, je voudrais suggérer que les Présidents des caucus y soient associés.Je vous remercie de votre attention.HON. AGYEMAN ELIZABETH [GHANA]:Thank you Madame President. I am also a Member of the team that went to Ethiopia.I want to agree with my team leader that we were not treated well at all by the AU Commission. Much has been said about that and it was discussed during the debriefing. That was the first time I went out there to observe elections. So, I think I should have known better before I left for the place. The ticket came to me a day before I left. It was also an economic class ticket. Ghana’s Parliament had to upgrade it for me before I went there.During the deployment, I was sent to a place called Dire Dawa, that is the second capital of Ethopia and when we arrived airport at Dire Dawa, we had to stay there for about two hours. There was nobody to meet us, there was no car available and I can tell you the kind of taxicabs there, about the nineteen century type of Peugeot cars, where there as taxicabs and we did not know the hotel we were going, we had to call Addis Ababa to the AU Commission before they told us the name of the hotel.Madame President, much has been said about the treatment we received how it was but what went on during the elections, there were so many things. I am waiting for the African Union report because as somebody coming from Ghana, I understand democracy and I know what transparency is but considering so many things I do not call this election any good elections, I will say this. (Applause) After elections, I think results should come out immediately; you do not have to wait two months before you declare results of elections.Madame President, if I want to say more, I will say because I was the team leader for the Dire Dawa delegation and I wrote my report. I am waiting until I get the main report from the AU Commission. We were there with the European Mission, they went six weeks before the elections, so we could also have gone like two or three weeks before the elections so that we got to know more about what went on before the elections.I thank you Madame President. (Applause)DEPUTADA CATARINA PEDRO DOMINGOS [ANGOLA]:Muito obrigada, Senhora Presidente. Da leitura que fiz aos relatorios, primeiro, quero felicitar os Colegas que, de forma sacrificada, puderam cumprir essas missoes sem olhar às dificuldades de atendimento que foram reservadas e, nesta óptica, proponho que, em fun?ao dessas dificuldades que estamos aqui a analisar, que a Mesa do Parlamento Pan-Africano junto da Uniao Africana, possa decidir sobre a dignidade dos Deputados, nestas missoes.A segunda questao, é em rela$ao ao Relatório do Burundi, o qual proponho a retirada do meu nome porque nao fui avisada para cumprir esta missao, nao recebi nenhuma comunicado a este respeito, de modo que nao fiz parte desta missao. Devia constar o nome da pessoa que me representou nesta missao.A terceira questao, dos relatórios que estamos analisando, vi que é necessário que o Parlamento Pan-Africano defina dois tipos de modelo: um modelo sobre como devemos elaborar os relatórios na base dos objectivos que queremos atingir no Parlamento Pan-Africano, em segundo lugar, os indicadores específicos para a observado eleitoral.Muito obrigada.HON. KANTENGWA JULIANA [RWANDA]:Thank you Madame President for giving me the floor.I also wish to congratulate our colleagues who managed to go for these Observer Missions under such conditions. I wish to salute them because I consider them they are beginning to make themselves heroes of trying to carryout difficult tasks under difficult circumstances. (Applause)However, Madame President, the reports that were tabled here were actually not reports of the Election Observation Missions, they were reports of the organization of the election Observation Missions. Furthermore, it was also said that the reports will have to come from the AU before they can be tabled at PAP, that’s after being acceptable to the AU.Madame President, I want to say that this is not in order, this is not why PAP is there, and we are not supposed to be rubberstamping what AU has said. We are supposed to be adding value to whatever processes are happening towards the integration of Africa but not rubberstamping what the AUC has just finished.Madame President, the outputs to PAP or the usefulness of this exercise clearly shows that the joint missions are a futile endeavor; I don’t know why we should continue with them. My way forward is to propose to the Bureau that they have been trying hard on so many flouts and so many difficult things, but to try and convey in honest to the AUC that this situation is unattainable; it is unsustainable and undermines the very mission as to why PAP is there and it should be discontinued. This one I am saying they need to do it in honest and really convey to them that it is not serving any purpose. So, a review needs to be done with a view to rectify the situation. Otherwise, I don’t know why we should be carrying out such Observer Missions when we only come up with a report of complaints. We haven’t known what actually transpired in the election processes that were taking place on the African Continent. So, if we are going to becoming here to debate such reports of how we have been mistreated, it is not useful to me. I wish to thank you.HON. KINGSLEY NAMAKHWA [MALAWI]:Thank you, Madam President for according me the floor to contribute to the socalled Report on Election Observer Missions. Going through the so-called reports, to me these are not reports. It appears they should have come as, maybe, communications from the Chair because what we hear are lamentations from the Members who attended these missions: how uncomfortable it is to travel in economy class, how humiliated they were, what kind of hotels they were staying in and yet we are calling these reports.PAP had sent its Members to observe the elections. The Members who went to these missions were the right people to observe the elections because all the Members here present were duly elected by the grass roots and we represent the people of Africathe grass roots. What it means to go to election observation missions is that we need to look at the grey areas and perfect the forthcoming elections. But to have a mission going to the elections and when you go there you come back with no report and the Members from PAP are being bulldozed and not even being given a chance to express themselves, really, it is very pathetic. Those who went for those missions are the true sons and daughters of Africa.Madam President, my understanding is that diplomacy at times works and this is what AUC is trying to do. But looking at Africa, every nation that we go through, we hear of disputed election results. Why do we get that? Because we doctor reports and that is what the AUC is actually doing because all the missions who went out have never brought a report. What is the delay? It is because the report is being doctored to suit the environment. Whenever we send our people to these missions - let me urge PAP for the benefit of our Members - let us get an objective report for the Members to debate. But waiting for the AUC Report, to me, we are going to get a diplomatic report; we are going to get a doctored report, which will not help Africa and yet we are talking of democracy. Democracy will not work as long as we wait for doctored reports. I thank you, Madam President. (Applause)DEPUTADO ERNESTO JOAQUIM MULATO [ANGOLA]:Obrigado, Senhora Presidente. Também vou-me juntar a todos os outros Colegas que apreciaram os relatórios, embora com as deficiencias que aqui estamos a observar.Em segundo lugar, o objectivo de observar, como também já foi dito, tem a ver sobre como é que as eleigoes vao ser realizadas ou como é que vao se fazer as eleigoes, como também sentimos aqui que há dois termos, realizar e fazer eleigoes.Dos relatórios que aqui vimos, encontramos alguns aspectos que chamam a nossa atengao, embora esses nao serem os próprios relatórios. Quando aqui temos, no Burundi, falou-se que nao tiveram a oportunidade de se reunirem com os actores que fariam parte das eleigoes mas, na mesma informagao, nao nos dizem quais foram as razoes que levaram os partidos da oposigao a se retirarem, e se as eleigoes feitas sem esses partidos como é que seriam classificadas.Penso que a retirada dos partidos da oposigao teve razoes, e os nossos observadores tinham que nos dar o porque dessas razoes, e que numa próxima eleigao deve-se tomar nota para serem corrigidas. Por último, é também o que os outros Colegas já aqui disseram, sobre a apresentaçâo dos relatórios. No Relatório do Burundi, os nossos Colegas foram mais claros quando afirmaram que os funcionários da Uniâo Africana disseram que eles nâo podiam ter o relatório que todos eles concordaram que seria apresentado, sem que o Presidente da Comissâo o aprovasse.Ora, se o Relatório é a observaçâo no terreno, como é que o Presidente da Comissâo vai aprovar, vai dizer que nâo está bom ou está mau!?Penso que é o que os Colegas aqui também já disseram: esses sâo relatórios manipulados e que nós, que queremos que a Carta Africana sobre a Democracia, Eleiçoes e a Boa Governaçâo seja aplicada como os próprios Chefes de Estado concordaram, entâo temos que ter outra atitude quando vamos fazer essas observaçoes!Muito obrigado.HON. AWALEH ADEN ROBLEH [DJIBOUTI]:Je vous remercie, Madame la Présidente.Je ne parlerais pas d’un rapport spécifique à un pays, mais je donnerais une observation d’ordre général.Je me suis surtout demandé à quoi servent les missions d’observation des élections. Si on veut faire de véritables observations des élections, il faut plusieurs étapes absolument importantes. Les fraudes électorales ne se font pas au moment du vote, elles commencent dès le début, en amont, c’est-à-dire au moment de la confection des listes électorales, surtout lors de la mise sur pied d’une commission électorale nationale indépendante (CENI), etc.Donc, si nous voulons vraiment observer les élections, nous devons passer par toutes ces étapes. Parce que, si nous observons des bureaux de vote, nous disons après, dans un rapport, qu’il n’y a pas eu de problème, que tout s’est passé normalement alors que le rapport signale des irrégularités, c’est comme les pays européens qui disent observer nos élections, ils ont une formule consacrée: « il y a eu quelques petites irrégularités qui ne faussent pas le résultat final. »Moi, je voudrais dire que notre Parlement doit prendre très au sérieux son rôle, et il ne reste plus que les élections pour permettre l’alternance politique. Vous savez, l’autre possibilité que nous avions, la limitation des mandats pour avoir un changement quelconque. Cela n’existe plus, cette lapalissade est balayée par tous les chefs d’Etats africains. Il ne nous reste que les élections. Alors, nous devons prendre à bras le corps les élections en Afrique.Lorsque nous parlions, l’autre jour, de la Charte africaine de démocratie, de bonne gouvernance, c’était une chose excellente mais, il fallait la traduire par la pratique. Donc, nous devons observer profondément ces élections, en intervenant auprès des comités électoraux, en permettant à ces comités d’obtenir la liste électorale et de distribuer les cartes électorales après vérification. Les listes électorales établies par les ministères de l’intérieur sont délibérément et illégalement « gonflées » pour frauder en faveur des dictateurs en place.Je vous remercie, Madame la Présidente.THE PRESIDENT:Thank you very much Honorable Member. That brings us to the end of the list of contributors on the Election Observation Report. And I want to make it clear for the Honorable Members that the Bureau is trying whatever is possible to negotiate with the AUC about your concerns as you have elaborated on them and we hope that things will change. We are aware that this does not represent the mandate and the expectation of the PanAfrican Parliament.May I now call upon Honorable Muosa to respond, followed by Honorable Master Goya to respond also subsequently. I am going according to the list that I have so you will respond after that. Thank you. Honorable Muosa please.HON. NJINGUM MUSA MBUTOH [CAMEROON]:Thank you Madame President for giving me the floor for a second time. I think I will not overburden myself because the Honourable Members have already shown their concerns and they have given us compliments on our observation. What I want Members to understand is that this is not a comprehensive report of election observation. We are not mandated to table election reports, here as the decision that was taken by the African Union Commission and the other organs and approved by the Heads of States Summit; that the election results must be sanctioned by the Africa Union Commission before it is tabled or published or taken to the plenary. So, we have no right to table any report here, but we are giving our views and giving our situation on how the election went on, so that you can actively contribute and assist the bureau to see what measures can be taken for a good observation of elections.I think the most important issue now as I will like to contribute Madame President, is that as they have involved the Heads of States to accept sign and approve the decision should not be insolent, we are gentlemen MPs and we have the respect, but I think if we have to go for elections now, the bureau should negotiate with the Africa Union Commission so that we should have our own independent groups in that joint commission. Our own delegations should have their own leaders from PAP so that we can bring our report and present to the plenary. Our logistics will be handled by our staff so that we can easily handle our elections. They will follow and guide us successfully in our elections.On the issue of tickets, they should also know that we are also going to do away with economy tickets. PAP should be involved in all the regions because if we went for elections and we have only three regions that we represent out of the 24 regions, then we cannot give a concrete report as Parliamentarians. It is our prerogative to observe election and give a good report Madame President; I hope it will assist you in the struggle to negotiate with the African Union Commission.With that Madame President, I think I will end my contribution for now.HON. MOISERAELE MASTER GOYA [BOTSWANA]:Thank you very much Madam President. Madam President when I was given the floor last week to present the report on the Rwanda Presidential Election Observation Mission, I was very explicit to the fact that what I was presenting was not a full detailed report, but rather a synopsis of the administrative and logistical issues surrounding that mission. But nonetheless Madam President, I have been listening very keenly to the interventions made by Honourable Members and I would like to commend those who found it worthwhile to comment on these issues. But, I plead with Honourable Members to wait for the reports to come from the African Union and then upon receipt of these reports, it will be incumbent upon us who went to all these missions to find out whether these reports have been doctored by the African Union. I think for now let’s not waste our breadth talking about issues of doctoring of reports before we have even seen these reports from the African Union Commission. I think we must wait, let’s all wait for the reports to come to this August House. We will cross the bridge when we come to it.What is important for us Madam President is to ensure that we take out PAP from the Joint Mission Observation. And this has come out very clear from this August House, and we should continue making a lot of noise about it. We should talk about it until Jesus comes, if Jesus will ever come. We should not stop talking about it. So, I think that is the most important aspect that we as PAP should be seen to be doing Madam President.In a nutshell, I just want to thank the Honourable Members who made some comments on this report. I thank you Madam President.HON. CHARUMBIRA FORTUNE [ZIMBABWE]:Issue of position Madame President. Madame President, I have been listening to reports, what are called on election observation missions. We are meant to believe these were reports and even the documents that were given to us, they are written, ‘Report on the PAP election observation mission’. However, everybody is disowning them as reports, saying these are briefs, and the actual reports are coming. So, we need to amend this documents, these are not reports so they should not be presented here as reports. Thank you.THE PRESIDENT:Could you Honorable Chief make a proposal as to what we should call them.HON. CHARUMBIRA FORTUNE [ZIMBABWE]:These are just briefings on the administrative challenges that members encountered.THE PRESIDENT:Ok, your point is taken. Thank you very much Honorable Chief Charumbira. I now allow the Clerk to read....AN HONOURABLE MEMBER:Madame Speaker, before you proceed. What is the procedure in terms of getting the reports to PAP? Is it that what we have are briefs, or not?THE PRESIDENT:Well, I thought of whether we should adopt these reports or not, because it is not really an observer mission report. So, the situation is not clear whether they are briefings or not, but if the members fill that these are the reports in whatever form they are, then we should adopt them. Can we adopt the briefings?AN HONOURABLE MEMBER:I think you misunderstood me Madame Speaker; I was asking the procedure for getting the proper report, because it seems from the reports by members, the proper report is yet to come from the AU Commission. Therefore, what I am asking is; what is the procedure to be followed for us to get the reports? How do we get it? Are they going to just send it at their own time because I think these members were there on behalf of PAP? Whether they had a good time or not, we need to know how that report is going to come into our hands; that is all.AN HONORABLE MEMBER:Madame President, thank you. Madame President I had my sister from Ghana who was on these missions; she had her own very strong points on the report that she has written, which we are waiting for AUC to release officially. Now if we are going to adopt this as an election observer mission report, then what do we do with that report? I think as far as am concerned, we just take note of this pending the outcome of that report and we can compare notes. Thank you Madame President.THE PRESIDENT:Yeah, I think your point is taken Honourable Bahari, but I think that the point that Botswana was raising is the procedure of how we will receive the report from the AUC. Normally, the AUC sends the report to the Pan-African Parliament and sometimes they come here and present them. When the reports are available, they will be presented one by one through either the relevant committees or the AUC representative coming here and presenting them. Then we will debate it accordingly, that is the procedure. I hope I have answered your question. So as of now we take note of the reports of the administrative proceedings that went on during the observer missions. Honourable members, I would request the Clerk to read the second item on the agenda.THE CLERK:Thank you Honorable President. Presentation and Debate on Peace and Security.THE PRESIDENT:I can see Honorable Soglo, Madame Soglo you may take the floor.HON. VIEYRA SOGLO ROSINE [BENIN]:Madame Vieyra Soglo, Madame la Présidente, s’il-vous-plaît! Madame Vieyra Soglo!Madame la Présidente je remarque que vous ne m’avez pas appelé. Je suis désolée de rappeler toujours que je suis malvoyante. Cela m’humilie. Pourtant, j’ai demandé à ce qu’on m’inscrive à tous les débats et, comme je ne peux pas lire là- bas et m’inscrire moi-même, je vois qu’on fait l’impasse sur ma personne. J’ai demandé à prendre la parole et j’ai demandé qu’on m’inscrive pour tous les débats. Or, je ne vois pas mon nom sur la liste. Je vous remercie, Madame la présidente.THE PRESIDENT:Madam Vieyra Soglo, we accepted that, whenever you put up your hand, we will take your hand. So, the only problem is that you waited until the second order was read. Otherwise, every time you put up your hand, we always give you the floor. You will excuse me on that. I didn’t see your hand earlier. I suggest that we proceed.HON. VIEYRA SOGLO ROSINE [BENIN]:Madame la présidente, il faut que quelqu’un m’aide, n’est-ce pas? Vous n’êtes pas à ma place, je m’excuse! Vous dites que j’aurais dû lever le doigt, heureusement que le Président m’a aidé, puisqu’il faut que quelqu’un m’aide pour que je puisse appuyer sur le bouton pour demander la parole. Vous ne savez pas ce que moi je souffre, ici! Alors je m’excuse! J’ai levé la main, vous n’avez peut-être pas voulu regarder. Pour demander la parole, on ne va pas argumenter longtemps, si vous êtes dans ce Parlement! Je suis désolée! Je suis déjà suffisamment humiliée pour que, tout le temps, j’en rajoute!
3.0 – PRÉSENTATION ET DÉBATS SUR LA PAIX ET LA SÉCURITÉ EN AFRIQUE
HON. KHUMALO MARWICK [SWAZILAND]:Madame President, the Vice President, Chairperson of Caucuses, my fellow Parliamentarians.Since this is my maiden speech as the Chairperson of this Committee, may you allow me to convey my deep gratitude to the Southern Caucus for having nominated me to stand for this position and most of all to convey my deep gratitude to the Committee on Cooperation, International Relations and Conflict Resolutions for seeing it fit to elect me to this position.Madame President, let me state at the outset that this is a document that is home grown; a document that was produced by the Committee itself within a very short space of time. The Committee when it realized that the report that we had was not up to speed and it was not up to taste, so, the Committee decided to set up a small a Subcommittee to work on this issue over a period of two days working even after hours, Madam President. And we are grateful to the Subcommittee which composed of the Chairperson, who was chairing that Sub-committee, who is the Deputy Chairperson of the Committee, the Honorable Dusty Wolokolie, Honorable Fatima Hajaig, the Honorable Lassane Sawadogo, the Honorable Ouaddadi Cheikh Ahmed El-Heiba, Honorable Obama Nve and Honorable AbdulAziz Abdulahi. This is the Sub-committee that was mandated by the Committee to work on this document and we are proud that it has all the content that we believe touches on the issues of peace and security within the African Continent.Madame President, the decision to proclaim 2010 as the year of peace and security was taken by the special session on the consideration and resolution of conflicts in Africa held in Tripoli, Libya on 31 August 2009. The declaration was made against the backdrop of the continued prevalence of armed conflict n the continent despite the significant progress made towards the promotion of peace, security and stability. Notably, in paragraph 9 of the Tripoli Declaration, the Heads of State and Government made the following undertaking and I quote, "We are determined to deal once and for all with the scourge of conflicts and violence on our continent, acknowledging our shortcomings and errors, committing our resources and our best people and missing no opportunity to push forward the agenda of conflict prevention, peacemaking, peacekeeping and post-conflict reconstruction. We as leaders simply cannot bequeath the burden of conflicts to the next generation of Africans."Madame President, the situation at Regional Level, notwithstanding the remarkable strides that have been made in democratic governance, challenges with respect to peace and security at some flashpoints all over the continent continue to stifle the movement towards progress in democratic development. These flashpoints are of grave concern that must continue to seize our resolve for speedy and lasting peaceful resolutions.We focus on Central Africa, the Congo in particular. Peace has come to the Democratic Republic of Congo. Nevertheless, the Congo DRC needs stronger institutions. There is concern however, that there is still conflict in Eastern Congo in Kivu where reprisal attacks against civilian populations continues. The parties to the conflict are implored to come to terms, dialogue and find a peaceful solution to stabilize the country.Madame President, the Committee applauds the arrest of rebels who were involved in mass rape of women, men and children. It is pleasing to note, positive developments by the organization of a meeting on the situation of children, women and men. This shows progress towards resolving the issue.On Central African Republic, there is little peace in the Central African Republic. However, there is social instability due to the absence of elections despite the sitting president’s term of office having come to an end. There is agitation among rebel groups opposing the government. It should be noted that some progress is being made as the independent Electoral Commission has set a date for elections.The Committee is however, concerned about the continuous low level conflict and would like to see peace and stability so that development takes place.In Chad, the Chadian problem is caused by internal political crises whose origin dates back to a distant past on the one hand and to conflicts with neighboring countries on the other. Since the last rebel attack on N’djamena which was repelled early thanks to the assistance of the French Military and which led to the arrest and disappearance of an opposition leader, Ibni Oumar Mahamat Saleh, the situation at the moment seems to be striving for calm. In this regard we must pay tribute to the holding of the forthcoming elections in this country and the political rapprochement with neighboring Sudan. Without any doubt this situation could have positive impacts on the internal crisis of this country and in the sub-region.In East Africa, Somalia. Somalia has been ravaged by violence since warlords overthrew Dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 and have since turned on each other. International community organized reconciliation between former transitional federal governments and moderate Islamists in which the current President, Sheik Sharif was elected. The aim was that the international community hoped that President Sharif could unite the country’s factions but violence has continued.Suicide bombing unheard of in Somalia before 2007 have become increasingly frequent and the lawlessness has raised concern that Al-Qaeda is trying to gain a foothold in the Horn of Africa.African troops from Uganda and Burundi protecting the Somalia Government wage daily battles with Islamic militants who hold much of central and southern Somalia. Bombings have become deadlier as Al-Shabaab militia receive training from veteran insurgents from Afghanistan and Pakistan conflicts.Among the thousands of killings that are occurring, in 2009, one of the deadliest attacks took place at Shamo Hotel where a graduation ceremony was being held. In this incident, four ministers, graduating students, relatives, journalists, security personnel and others were killed. Six MPS and other government officials were attacked and killed at the end of Ramadan 2010 in Muna Hotel.Recently, another attack carried out by Al-Shabab took place in Uganda, Kampala, where innocent civilians watching the final football match of the 2010 World Cup were attacked. In this attack, over 70 people were killed.The last attack carried out by Al-Shabab tool place at Mogadishu Airport by suicide bombers in which two peacekeepers were amongst those killed.The rule of law has completely broken down in Somalia. The anarchy also allowed piracy to flourish off the country’s coast. Corruption is another major problem affecting Somalia.Eritrea, Djibouti and Ethiopia, the border between Eritrea and Djibouti on the one hand and Eritrea and Ethiopia on the other have not been resolved, the border dispute. However, the Horn of Africa must promote peace and stability so development can take place.It is pleasing to note that the Amir of Qatar has brought about an agreement between Eritrea and Djibouti to resolve its border dispute.Sudan, Sudan is entering one of the most critical phases of its history. For the region and African continent, the successful completion of the ongoing processes is of utmost importance. We are confident that with genuine support from the international community the Sudanese people have the capacity to seize this historic opportunity to overcome the challenges facing them.South Sudan, South Sudan will be holding a referendum in 2011. There is concern with the oil deposits around the border of north and south Sudan which could be a source of discontent. Therefore the Committee proposes that a solution be reached with respect to equitable sharing of resources within the North and South Sudan. It is the Committee’s further hope that the referendum process must be credible and free of violence.Darfur, the Committee welcomed the Darfur Peace Strategy that is concerned with continued dialogue with the rebels. The internal social peace, development and services programme, support the return of the displaced people and rehabilitation of villages and compensating the affected people.The continued dialogue with the rebels under the supervision of the Afro-Arab International Initiative (AU, AL and the UN) in Doha is a development worth taking note of. It is noted that development of good relations between Sudan and Chad has had positive impacts in supporting the peace process and stability in Darfur. All security violations and support of rebel movements have increased significantly.The humanitarian situation in Darfur seems to be stable. The indication in this respect is the return of some refugees and displaced people to their home villages. If I may add, Madame President, that one of our newest members in this Committee, not only is he from Darfur, but he has been seized with the issues in that country for some time. We are hopeful that he will remain a source of information from that region.Madame President, North Africa, Saharawi Republic, we members of the Committee reiterate Africa’s commitment to continue supporting the efforts aimed at resolving the dispute on Western Sahara on the basis of international legality, of relevant Security Council and General Assembly Resolutions of the United Nations as well as the Tripoli Plan of Action. We support the Saharawi peoples’ wish and right to choose and determine their own destiny.We call upon stakeholders in particular Morocco to fulfill their commitments to the Tripoli Plan of Action.The Pan-African Parliament is filled with consternation by the massive and repeated violations of human rights in the Western Sahara by Moroccan authorities. It is calling on the African Union and the United Nations Organization to become involved particularly in this matter by compelling Morocco to respect its obligations and to free political prisoners that it is still holding.Southern Africa, Madagascar, the situation in Madagascar constitutes a real challenge for Africa and the SADC region in particular. SADC continues with efforts to arrive at an agreement on a consensual and inclusive transition in Madagascar. However this initiative has continued to come up against the will of the Rajoelina Regime to proceed with the elections in disregard of the spirit and letter of the Maputo and Addis Ababa Agreements. The Committee commends efforts by SADC, AU and UN to find a quick solution. No effort should be spared to achieve return to constitutional legality.West Africa, Cot D’Ivoire, following eight years of bickering and posturing in holding elections as a way forward, the critically remaining hurdle of a voter register has been achieved thereby clears the way for elections to go ahead. The Committee is optimistic that the elections will be held as scheduled at the end of October 2010. All stakeholders should endeavor to ensure a smooth, free and fair election.Niger, democratic civilian rule has not returned in Niger. However, it is pleasing to note that a one year transition programme has been adopted calling for organizational of a constitutional referendum, municipal and legislative elections and presidential elections on 26 December 2010. We hope that this timetable will be respected and upheld. All stakeholders should endeavor to ensure smooth, free and fair elections.Guinea (Conakry), a glimmer of hope now looms as the presidential run-off date has been set for 24 October 2010 between the two leading candidates for the first round of elections nearly four months ago. The Committee would like to urge the ECOWAS, African Union and United Nations and other key players to remain seized and fully engaged to ensure a free, fair and transparent process that would respect the true wishes of the Guinean people thereby lending legitimacy to the outcome of the polls.Nigeria, the bombing on Nigeria’s 50th Independence anniversary celebrations has thrown a spanner in the works of the heretofore critically fledging path leading to elections in the first quarter of next year. There is tension brewing within the ruling party with political rivals of the sitting President for the party’s nomination accusing him of intimidation and witch hunting following the arrest and questioning of aides of one of the rivals in connection with the incident.The unfolding developments in this situation have to be closely monitored and managed so as to avoid and untoward repercussions for the democratic gains so far made in the continent’s most populous country.As a major player in Africa, we would not like to see an escalation of further tension in Nigeria.Madame President, may I conclude by enumerating the challenges. Core challenges will have to be addressed by both Africans and international partners. The key challenges include:1)Fostering institutional capacities;2)Political commitment by the majority of African states;3)Improving the quality of international support;4)Prevention and combating of terrorism;5)Proliferation of small arms and light weapons;6)Protection of civilians in peacekeeping operations;7)Maritime security and safety especially in the Indian Ocean off coast of Somalia and Gulf of Guinea;8)Piracy off the coast of Somalia is but a symptom of the complex political security and humanitarian situation in Somalia including the enduring climate of lawlessness, poverty, youth unemployment and collapse of state institutions. Illegal dumping of toxic waste off the coast of Somalia were also key contributing factors to the emergence of this phenomenon; and last but not least9)Lack of a fully established and operational early warning system.Madame President, I submit. Thank you.(Applause)THE PRESIDENT:Thank you very much, Honourable Khumalo for that very well presented and elaborate report. We also wish to congratulate you upon your winning of the hotly contested election and now, you being the chair of this important committee, we wish you the best of luck and we vest our hopes and aspirations in your work. Honourable members, now we open the debate on the report as presented by the Honourable Khumalo. I have a list of twenty two names and I wish to remind you that we have a meeting with members from the European Parliament and so Parliament has to close to go for lunch at exactly twelve thirty. Therefore, I wish to give each person three minutes; this is an important issue and a substantive report. So, I recognize that less than three minutes will be too short. I stick to the three minutes and to the point. The first person on the list is Honourable Juliana Kantengwa of Rwanda.HON. KANTENGWA JULIANA [RWANDA]:Thank you Madam President for giving me the floor. I wish to congratulate Honourable Khumalo on winning the Presidency of the Committee and representing our views so ably. I also wish to salute the Sub Committee members for sacrificing their precious free time in order to produce such a good piece of work for our Committee. Having said this Madam, may I also add that I am a member of this Committee. There are few issues that I would want to comment on. Firstly, I would wish to bring it out that the warming of relations between Chad and Sudan is a welcome development and we commend the PAP first of all, through its Committee of Cooperation to have contributed to this rapprochement since 2006.Secondly, I also want to salute the peace keeping efforts of the Africans by Africans in the Darfur and Somalia. It is a welcome development and we wish to encourage the process to continue to evolve into a permanent development on the African Continent because we are recognizing that Africans can do it. So, if we can get more involved in bringing down the conflicts on the different parts of the Continent, it is a welcome issue. But Madam President I have two points concerning the timid positioning of the AU towards two specific disputes. The first one is between Eritrea and Ethiopia on border issue. We all know that the ruling was made according to the terms of reference for international mediation, and Ethiopia is supposed to abide by that international ruling. I do not understand why the African Union is not urging Ethiopia enough, to abide by that and resolve that ongoing conflict.The second one is the Saharawi republic; we all know that quite a big number of our countries do recognize the territorial occupation of Morocco over Saharawi, yet we know that they also took a double standard stand of not having Morocco in the African Union, and in recognizing the existence and aspirations of the people of Saharawi for self-determination. Why do we not have all the members of the African Union sanction Morocco for colonizing the people of Saharawi, since Saharawi is a Member of the African Union? Expelling Morocco is not enough when you trade with it!Finally Madam President, I also wish to talk about the semantics of our election observation missions to the conflicts that are prevailing on the African Continent. Madam President we all know that businesses of power capturing and power giving away, the theatre is during the election process. Now we are not going to be very effective in monitoring and participating in the resolutions of Conflicts in Africa if our efficiency at election observation missions is hampered like we have said before in the previous debate. So if we take these two things together, and you rightly said that this Committee is dealing with very important issues that are besieging Africa right now, the issues of conflict, the two have to be taken hand in hand. We need to empower PAP to effectively come out and play its role both in election observations and in playing a key role in prevention and resolution of the existing conflicts. I thank you.THE PRESIDENT:Thank you very much Honorable Juliana. Now we give the opportunity...AN HONORABLE:A point of Clarification!THE PRESIDENT:Yes, point of clarification.AN HONOURABLE:Thank you Madame President. There is a report that was handed to us this morning on Peace and Security in African from the AU. I just want to appreciate at what point we are going to be presented with this report because I was thinking that because we are already discussing peace and security, maybe this could have been an appropriate time for the report to be presented so that as we debate, then we debate on the two reports.THE PRESIDENT:From my point of view, I think the AUC was supposed to come and present that report. I cannot give an immediate answer right now because I run a risk of giving you incorrect information, when the opportunity arises and if the member from the AUC becomes present, it will be presented. But short of that, we will go with our own. Thank you very much.The next speaker on the list is Honorable Justin Joseph Marona of Sudan.HON. JUSTIN JOSEPH MARONA [SUDAN]:Thank you Madam President for giving me this very important chance. To begin with I really want to thank the AU mission that is operating in Sudan. They have opened missions in South Sudan in Juba for monitoring the implementation of comprehensive peace agreement in Sudan. I also want to thank the participation of AU in all the areas of conflict in Sudan, especially Darfur and all the forces that are there, enhancing the peace in our nation.Madam President, the East Africa Region where Sudan is in, according to the report and I thank the Chairman or the President of the committee of cooperation and conflict resolution for this very nice report that they have presented. Sudan is one of the crucial countries at this moment because Madam President, we are going to finalize the implementation of the peace in Sudan. Madam President, the last phrase or clause of this agreement is very sensitive as it relates to the conflict or peace in the region. The issue of the self determination of the people of South Sudan and self determination of people of Abyei are going to be conducted on 9th January 2011. Therefore, Madam President, these issues are very sensitive because they are related with border demarcation, the post-referendum negotiation that is going on and speeding all this processes are equally important in order for us to reach a peaceful ending of this agreement.Madam President by giving this, I want to raise a motion about the issue of how the PAP will participate in the referendum mission in Sudan, given the fact that the issue of election observation missions had encountered a lot of constraints, which have put PAP in a very uncomfortable position as regards its full participation in election missions in the continent. The referendum in Sudan is very vital and sensitive. Therefore, I would like to put it as a motion and for it to be given as a note to AU that the earlier participation of PAP in the processes of the referendum of South Sudan and Abyei is very important because the expectation of the people of South Sudan and Abyei is fixed on the date mentioned for referendum.THE PRESIDENT:One minute Honorable Marona.HON MARONA JOSEPH JUSTIN [SUDAN]:Ok. Secondly Madam Chair, I would like it to be noted in this august house that the issue of speeding up the referendum processes, the Abyei referendum issue, border between South and North and post referendum issues are very important because they have a connection, and are related to the peace and security in Sudan and region at large. Madam President since my time is up, I would like to thank you.THE PRESIDENT:Honorable Marona the work of getting PAP involved in what is going on with the referendum in the Sudan can be done through our Permanent Committees. So, I would suggest that the Sudan gives us an invitation and we will find ways of getting involved before the election is in place. I thank you. I now give the opportunity to honorable Fatima Hajaig of South Africa.HON. HAJAIG FATIMA [SOUTH AFRICA]:Thank Madam Chair. First of all, a few days ago we commemorated 50 years of independence for 17 African States. Looking at these countries, we find that 10 of them have been engaged in conflict or are in fact still engaging in conflicts. We have among them; Togo, Madagascar, Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Niger, Ivory Cost, Chad and Central African Republic, Nigeria and Mauritania. So we need to ask the question; why are we having these various conflicts? We have heard about the conflicts that are happening at this moment. What can we identify as the reasons for these continuous conflicts? Among them - it is not an exhaustive list - is the lack of institutions that promote democracy and good governance, border disputes, unconstitutional changes of governments, especially non acceptance of the election results, lack of resources or unequal distribution of resources and structural imbalances in the various states. What can we do to avoid these conflicts?We need to identify and implement projects and programmes for implementation; for example, enhancing conditions of peace, security as well as political and economic governance, post-conflict reconstruction and development. Here, the inclusion of women in the peace processes, in conflict resolution, in post conflict reconstruction is imperative.Madam President, in war it is the women and children who suffer the most despite the fact that the men usually create the wars. What we need is a vision of a common future that will ensure economic growth, improvement of the standard of living and the quality of life, freedom and social justice and peace and security for the peoples of Africa. Some objectives that we ought to take into account are:1.To achieve development and economic thrust in order to alleviate poverty;2.Enhance the standard and quality of the life of the people, and give support to the socially disadvantaged;3.We need to evolve common political value systems in institutions especially as we move towards an African Union government;4.We need to promote and defend peace and security;5.We need to promote selfsustaining development on the basis of collective selfreliance and the inter-dependence of Member states;6.We need to achieve complementarities between national and regional strategies and programmes;7.We need to promote and maximize productive employment and utilization of our resources in the member states and our regions;8.We need to achieve sustainable utilization of national resources and effective protection of the environment and our water ways; and9.We need to strengthen and consolidate the long standing historical social and cultural affirmatives and links amongst all the peoples of Africa.In conclusion Madame President, I would like...THE PRESIDENT:I give you half a minute to conclude because you are concluding.HON. HAJAIG FATIMA [SOUTH AFRICA]:Mr. Kofi Annan said; despite the progress made of the last decades, there is still a long way to go. In this regard he notes that there are so many incidences of corruption, squandering of resources, inequality in wealth distribution, abusive of electoral processes and selective adherence to the rule of law. Therefore, imploring is the most crucial start for moving the African Continent, for, it is strong leadership and good governance that will make the difference. I thank you.DEPUTADO MANUEL SERIFO NHAMAJO [GUINÉ BISSAU]:Obrigado, Senhora Presidente. Inscrevi-me para abordar sobre o Relatório do Embaixador Ramtane Lamamra, Comissário para Paz e Seguranza, mas como nao está presente e nem sequer foi apresentado, permitam-me fazer algumas observares sobre a apresentagao do nosso Colega Deputado Khumalo Marwick.Comego por felicitar a sua nomeagao para dirigir essa Comissao tao importante neste contexto e neste Continente tao conturbado.Senhora Presidente, no Relatório apresentado, falou da marcagao da data da segunda volta das eleigoes na Guiné Conacry. Chamo a sua atengao para a preocupagao que tenho: nos últimos tempos os sinais que nos chegam é de preocupagao porque a tendencia tribal comega a ganhar terreno e nao sei se nao seria prudente actuarmos na prevengao dos possíveis conflitos logo que se anuncie os resultados da segunda volta. E nao sei, nesse sentido, o que é que estâo a preparar, mas, na Guiné Conacry os sinais que nos chegam sâo muito preocupantes.Hâ outro aspecto que queria também chamar atençâo, é a existência de uma fome terrivel a nivel do Niger e, pergunto: preparar eleiçoes num pais em que metade da populaçâo padece de fome, morrem animais, hâ uma instabilidade alimentar, haverâ condiçoes para as eleiçoes? É preciso agirmos, como diz o texto, é melhor prevenirmos do que depois irmos como bombeiros.Sâo essas as duas questoes que queria realçar, mas o meu objectivo era debater sobre o Relatorio do Embaixador.Muito obrigado, Senhora Presidente.HON. VIEYRA SOGLO ROSINE [BENIN]:Madame la Présidente, je vous remercie de m’avoir donné la parole. Mais, tout à l’heure, j’avais aussi un petit mot à dire, vous n’avez pas voulu me donner la parole, je n’en fais pas un cas.Je voudrais simplement poser quelques questions sur les histoires des conflits. Les chefs d’Etats, paraît-il, se sont rencontrés et ont décidé de ramener la paix. J’ai écouté la radio hier, il paraît qu’ils sont en Lybie et qu’ils ont décidé aussi de faire tout leur possible pour mettre fin aux conflits. Mais, ma première question, Madame la présidente, mes chers collègues, est la suivante: est-ce que ce n’est pas nos chefs d’Etats euxmêmes qui sont à l’origine de ces conflits? Dans un cas, c’est parce que les élections ont été contestées, dans un autre cas c’est parce qu’ils demandent à changer les constitutions?Ces messieurs se prennent pour des dieux et ont notre vie dans leurs mains, parce que tout le reste, Madame la Présidente, mes chers collègues, en ce qui me concerne, c’est comme dit le Canard enchaîné, ce sont des paroles verbales, car il y a bientôt 20 ans ou 50 ans que nous sommes dans la voie de la démocratie, qu’on parle de démocratie, et qu’on ne voit rien venir! Il y a bientôt 20 ans que le peuple africain souffre et que la population ne sais plus où elle en est.Alors, Madame la Présidente, j’aimerais, si possible, que nous fassions quelque chose de concret, qu’on me donne des choses concrètes et peut-être, grâce à Dieu, je pourrais voir, avant de mourir, la paix en Afrique.Je vous remercie, Madame la Présidente.HON. LABELLE MARIE NOËLLE FRANÇOISE [MAURITIUS]:Madam President, Honorable colleagues, distinguished guests, peace and security has been a recurrent subject at our various settings. Can it be otherwise when peace and security remains a huge challenge in Africa?Madame President, I do recognize that many initiatives have been taken to manage these difficult situations. I do recognize that many organizations are working towards the prevention, management and resolution of conflicts in several countries.Madame President, we have to keep in mind, as rightly pointed out by my colleague from South Africa, the sources and the main causes of these conflicts. We have of course the non respect for democracy which includes dysfunction within Electoral Commission or simply absence of independent Electoral Commission, the unconstitutional change of government and also unfortunately a resurgence of interethnic conflicts which in some countries lead to displacement.Madame President, we are also after fifty years facing the boarder issues. We realize that the Charter on Democracy, Election and Governance, offer necessary tools to help us to have a better situation. I think that the Pan-African Parliament has an opportunity to take concrete action and initiative to deepen the process of democratization. In this respect all the initiatives taken to ensure the ratification of this Charter will help to have a better situation on our Continent. But ratification is not the only solution; follow up has been proved to be most important. We can recall the first country which ratifies this Charter entered into a coup some days after ratification.Madame President, also we know that other actions have to be initiated and in this respect. That PAP reviews its action, and this, can be the time for our Permanent Committees to make an auto evaluation. How each permanent Committee of PAP can enter into this process? How can we work together with the AU as an important partner in the initiatives taken for further democratization of the African Continent?Madame President, I also want to share the concern expressed by different colleagues regarding the Saharawi Republic. I think we should not stop talking about it until our brothers and sisters in the Saharawi Republic find the place they deserve.Madame President, I can only wish that we continue to contribute to have a better Africa and concrete actions are initiated in a very short time from PAP, thank you. (Applause)DEPUTADO JAIME BESSA AUGUSTO NETO [MOZAMBIQUE]:Muito obrigado. Senhora Presidente, pe$o para falar sentado por questoes de saúde.THE PRESIDENT:Honourable Members, I thought we had agreed that we stand so that we can see each other.HON. NETO JAIME BESSA AUGUSTO [MOZAMBIQUE].Madam President, I am not feeling well.THE PRESIDENT:No problem.DEPUTADO JAIME BESSA AUGUSTO NETO [MOZAMBIQUE].Muito obrigado, Senhora Presidente, por me ter permitido falar sentado. De facto, nao estou bem de saúde para ficar muito tempo de pé.Em primeiro lugar, queria saudar o nosso Colega, Senhor Deputado Marwick Khumalo, por ter apresentado este relatório em nome da Comissao. Senhora Presidente, o Relatório que nos foi apresentado indica que o nosso continente ainda está longe de alcanzar os requisitos para o pleno desenvolvimento. Como muitos países nossos vizinhos nao gozam de plena estabilidade política, os seus povos sao vítimas de violencia e intimidado, e carecem muitos deles de assistencia humanitária.Os conflitos internos afectam, sobremaneira, a estabilidade do continente no seu todo e interfere no desenvolvimento económico. A instabilidade nas zonas fronteiri?as está cada vez insustentável. A questao da Somália é o exemplo daquilo que estou a dizer. E segundo o Relatório, todas as regioes do nosso continente sao afectadas por instabilidade, o que faz com que cada uma das nossas regioes nao seja estável, porque quando um dos nossos irmaos nao está bem, todos nao estamos bem.Eu, Senhora Presidente, queria apenas saber, se nós temos exemplos do Zimbabwe, do Quénia e da Libéria, onde o sucesso da restaurado da paz, da seguranza e os esfor?os de promodo do desenvolvimento e alivio á pobreza estao a surtir efeito, por que é que todos esses exemplos nao pegam para o resto do continente!?Nós nao podemos, de facto, usufruir dos recursos que temos, enquanto nao tivermos essa paz que nós pedimos todos os dias. E, acho que devemos deixar de estar a fazer apelos á paz e fazermos coisas concretas para que, de facto, o nosso continente se pacifique o mais rápido possível e, um dos exemplos, penso que já foi dado pela nossa Colega da África de Sul e reforjado também pela nossa Colega das Maurícias. Está relacionado com a maneira como nós realizamos as nossas elei?oes. Penso que a Uniao Africana deve ver com muita responsabilidade esta acqao, para permitir que nós nao continuemos a ter focos de instabilidade a partir da realizado das elei?oes nos nossos países.Muito obrigado.HON. ABDUL-RASHID PELPUO [GHANA]:Thank you Madam President for this opportunity and let me also thank the presenter Mr. Khumalo, for an elaborate presentation.Madam Speaker, conflict is just not a choice; it is a symptom of a bigger problem that occurs in Africa. It is as a result of leadership wanting to extend itself into the future. It is also because we have an elite group in Africa that suffers from greed and are always undermining the rights of peoples of Africa. And often as part of the problem, people want to resist and when they resist there is always conflict. Conflicts then bring about underdevelopment. Underdevelopment is one of the major problems that Africans suffers, and until we can ensure peace and security in the continents, we are likely for a very long time to continue suffering the pain of conflicts, to tell stories of pain because conflict is a very painful experience, to tell stories of walking skeletons of people shown on western televisions; people who are hungry and displaced, and cannot find their way back home to their various countries.Madam President, it is important that we begin to re-examine the role of PAP in ensuring that we support the AU to reflect the very purpose of AU as one that will promote peace and security, and one that will promote development in Africa. We have indeed presented to ourselves a lot of resolutions and treaties. It is important that we encourage our various countries to rectify these all. They are not the ones that will eventually bring about the end of conflicts, but it is a choice that we are going to make. And as a matter of fact, we have to do a lot of sacrifices in our daily lives, we have to sacrifice whether we like it or not, we have to subsume our individual interests under the State interests more and more. Many of our leaders, many of our political allies still think that, their individual interests are bigger than the interests of our individual countries and so we pursue that agenda and we get support from the majority, the masses of people who do not understand. So, part of the problem is the ignorance of our own people. As PAP members, we need to promote education and we need to ensure that we do this tirelessly, to ensure that our people are aware. Let us also encourage our people to recognize the role of the peer review mechanism as projected in the NEPAD initiative. Let’s encourage membership of the AU to subject themselves to the peer review as Ghana did as the first country in Africa and let us ensure that eventually people will.. (Interjection: Point of Order!) Point of Order!AN HONOURABLE MEMBER:Madam President, we don’t have the list of speakers, so we can’t follow, who is able to speak or not. Thank you.THE PRESIDENT:Could the Clerk’s desk circulate the list of speakers please.HON. ABDUL-RASHID PELPUO [GHANA]:Madam Speaker, can I just make this last remark. In the fifth stanza of the African Union Anthem, it tells about us toiling together to better the standards of Africa. I think that we need to remove the first line of the fifth stanza that talks about toiling in Africa. We are not toiling, we have gone beyond toiling and we are going to work using our brains not the physical toil that is defining us all today.HON. SILAVWE MAKAMACHE CLEVER [ZAMBIA]:Thank you very much Madame President for giving me this opportunity to make a brief contribution on this important topic.May I also start my debate by congratulating my dear brother, Honorable Khumalo for scooping the position of a Chairperson of the Committee and commend him for his detailed report presented this morning.Madame President although we may celebrate 50 years of independence of the 17 countries and indeed many more others, mere political independence is nothing if there is no peace and security in the entire Africa region. We are also aware that the absence of peace and security, it means that there is no meaningful economic and social development that can take place. I am sure if we recall on the speech of the former President of Tanzania Dr. Mwinyi, he presented a very rich and educated speech in this August House where he spoke about some leaders who were not comfortable on which was happening in neighboring countries, even when they were very comfortable in their own countries but because their neighbors were having some political problems they had to come together and form what they called the ‘Front Line States’, to sacrifice, to ensure that even the neighbors got independence and this is very important. As this organization, what is it that you can be done to ensure that we give peace and security to our neighbors who are still suffering? These are some of the issues that we need to address if this organization will be able to be appreciated by Africa as a region.Madame President, dear colleagues, we as PanAfrican Parliamentarians, we must double our efforts in ensuring that the conflicts in various countries come to an end. Even the motto of One Africa, One Voice will remain meaningless if our brothers and sisters in some parts of the African region continue dying due to political instability.The Chairperson has ably explained and he has given us the figures and the countries where we still have a lot of problems, where there is political instability and where there are conflicts. If there are conflicts, then we know that our brothers cannot have enough time to grow food. Some of them are even dying because of hunger. This is very very discouraging and as Pan-African Parliamentarians, let ensure that we work with our government to put our hands together to ensure that we restore peace in these countries.Madame President, it is pleasing to note that on the (interruption)THE PRESIDENT:Thank you very much Honorable Member. I cannot give you two minutes, I can give you half a minute, conclude.HON. SILAVWE MAKAMACHE CLEVER [ZAMBIA]:Madame President, it is pleasing to note that on 21 September this year, Africa joins the rest of the world to mark Peace Day for Africa. This day was indeed significant because AU had declared 2010 as a year of peace and security.Madame President, 21 September 2010 was the bridge in the implementation of the campaign that allowed the Continent and its international partners to review the achievement so far made and revise plans for the future. It is imperative that we all continue to work together to ensure that this is year is marked more than just a series of symbolic activities.^(interruption by the bell)THE PRESIDENT:I now give the opportunity to Honorable Ali Souleiman of Djibouti, Suleiman is not around. I now give opportunity to Honorable Sisa Njikelana of South Africa.HON. NJIKELANA SISA JAMES [SOUTH AFRICA]:Thank you Madam President. Mine is to focus on action. I do concur with my colleagues that Honorable Khumalo has done a brilliant presentation in articulating the situation as it stands in Africa when it comes to peace and security. However, once upon a time, one of the great man said, ‘philosophers have interpreted the world, ours is to change it. That is what
