Texts and Reports
- Good Governance in Africa - Speeches and Issues Notes
Assessing
the Scope of National and Supra-National Parliaments to Form African
Policies
Gertrude
Ibengwe Mongella
President
Pan-African-Parliament/African Union
Member of Parliament, Tanzania
Introduction
I
am delighted to be part of this High Ranking International Policy Dialogue
on Good Governance which has brought together Speakers and Parliamentarians
from some of the African countries. My sincere gratitude goes to InWent
and those who have made this dialogue a possibility. This dialogue will
provide a venue for discussions and deliberations that will influence
and bring a global and common understanding of critical development
issues for Africa.
New political and
economic momentum driven by what is happening in the world is emerging
based on a concept of regional integration and unity in Africa. This
is not totally a new idea altogether. The Pan African movement characterised
the decolonisation process in the 1950s. Some of the founding fathers
of the African Nations strongly believed that Africa could only achieve
true democracy and meaningful development through a united Africa. Kwame
Nkurumah of Ghana one of the champions of this course said:
"If we are
to remain free, if we are to enjoy the full benefits of Africa's rich
resources, we must unite to plan for our total defence and full exploitation
of our material and human means in the full interest of our peoples.
To go it alone will limit our horizons, curtail our expectations and
threaten our liberty".
These ideals were
shared by other African leaders such as Modibo Keita (Mali), Sekou Toure
(Gunea) and Cheikh Diop (Senegal). They saw the continental union as
the most effective vehicle for transformation of Africa. Julius Nyerere
of Tanzania further defined development in terms of a struggle to eliminate
poverty, diseases and ignorance by using land, people, good governance
and leadership for self reliance. The seeds of good governance were
already planted since that time; it is now that we are watering them.
The post independence
period was dominated by national building, creation of national sovereignty
and unification of national people from small entities of tribes and
religious groupings, so much so that the vision of unity became obscure.
Despite that, there have been efforts to create regional integration
organisations such as ECOWAS, SADDC, East African Community and the
African Union (AU).
Regional parliaments
have been formed along with these organisations in order to give them
a strong representational mandate from the people they serve and widen
democratic process in Africa. ECOWAS parliament was established 2000,
the East African Legislative Council was inaugurated on November 2001;
the SADDC parliamentary forum was formally established in 1996.The Pan
African Parliament (PAP) was established in 2004 as one of the organs
of AU to ensure the full participation of the African peoples in the
development and integration of the continent.
Parliamentary
mandate
All national parliaments
have legislative powers. The regional and Pan African Parliaments have
representational and advisory mandate in varying degrees according to
the protocols that establish them. In the process of developing regional
and Pan African Parliaments as democratic institutions, in the final
analysis they should have the following powers:
- Legislative
- Advisory
- Policy shaping
and influence
- Investigative
- oversight
- Budgetary oversight
- Enforcement
of justice
- Promotion of
good governance, democracy and regional integration
Scope
There are
many parliaments in the continent of Africa at different levels. The
effectiveness and efficiency of these parliaments will depend on a number
of factors:
- Availability
of resources both human, financial and technical
- Clearly defined
relationships between parliaments of one level and another to avoid
repetition of things
- Relationships
of parliaments and the people they represent and institutions they
relate to including the civil society
- Adequate democratic
capacities to perform parliamentary functions
- Access to information
and communication
Issues to be
addressed
In order for various
parliaments to achieve African development goals it is a responsibility
of every parliament to address
- Increased Poverty
- Peace and security
- Economic policies
for Africa (NEPAD and APRM)
Methodology
- Setting regional
agenda and influencing global agenda; regional parliaments need to
define their policies for their global partners
- Partnership
and ownership of policies
- A participatory
approach that involves the civil society
- Harmonisation
of democracy and human rights
- dialogue at
all levels
- Adequate and
effective representation
- Capacity building
to PAP, parliamentarians and staff reorientation
- Exercising effectively
the oversight role
The Pan-African
Parliament role
Article 11(7) of
the Protocol to the establishment of PAP, states on the promotion of
coordination and harmonisation of policies, measure programmes and activities
of the Regional Economic Communities and the parliamentary fora of Africa.
Also rule 77 of the PAP rules of procedure stresses on carrying out
consultative role with national parliaments or any deliberative organs
of the member states.
The Pan African
Parliament at its 2nd session held in September 2004, discussed and
debated the foundation of its future work. The parliament adopted the
Rules of Procedure of the Pan African Parliament; examined and debated
the African Union Vision, Missions and Strategic Plan; debated New Partnership
for Africa's Development (NEPAD) and African Peer Review Mechanism.
It discussed and debated on peace and security within the continent
and finally the parliament discussed its role within the framework of
the African Union's vision and other major issues of African development
and people's integration before drawing recommendations and resolutions.
The end of this
session came with a list of commitments in terms of resolutions and
recommendations to be turned into actions. The actions have to be directed
and shaped towards meeting the objectives of the Pan African Parliament
which include:
- To achieve greater
unity and solidarity between the African countries and the peoples
of Africa;
- To defend the
sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of its member
states;
- To accelerate
the political and socio-economic integration of the continent;
- To promote peace,
security and stability on the continent;
- To promote democratic
principles and institutions, popular participation and good governance;
and
- To promote and
protect human and peoples' rights in accordance with the African Charter
on Human and Peoples' Rights and other relevant human rights instruments.
Committees listed
below have therefore been formed to address the objectives of PAP:
- Cooperation,
International Relations and Conflict Resolution;
- Education, Culture
and Human Resources;
- Gender, Family,
Youth and People with Disabilities;
- Health, Labour
and Social Affairs;
- Justice and
Human Rights;
- Monetary and
Financial affairs;
- Rules, Privileges
and Discipline;
- Rural Economy,
Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environment;
- Trade, Customs
and Immigration; and
- Transport, Industry,
Communication, Energy, Science and Technology.
Functional of these
committees depend on the availability of resources.
Way forward
- Change of mind
set, image and policies on Africa
- An active role
of Africa to inform and to implement commitments reached (NEPAD, APRM
and Millennium Development Goals)
- Implementation
of parliaments' commitments and development interventions
- Efficient management
of available resources in Africa
- Establishing
code of conduct for Peace and security
Thank you for your
attention.
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