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The Majority Chief Whip, Frank Annoh-Dompreh, has urged consistent engagement between the Pan African Parliament (PAP) and the African Union Commission (AUC). Additionally, he advocated for maintaining the principle of rotating bureau officers within the PAP and emphasized the restoration of the PAP’s original mandate, which includes oversight over the African Union (AU) and other functions.
During a weekend meeting of Pan African Parliament members and the Committee of Foreign Ministers in Addis Ababa, he encouraged members not to lose faith in the PAP. Instead, he urged them to actively contribute to its success.
“The least you can do is to per gate emotions, let the people who matter know of the difficulties you have gone through. But I am confident that we will jump that hurdle because this meeting itself is an acceptance that the two sides of PAP and the PRC, that all of us have to work together whether we like it or not,” the Nsawam Adoagyiri lawmaker said.
He added “This matter that has played our conscience for a very long time, the principle of rotation, we understand the fundamental relevance of the principle of rotation in the choice of leadership of the bureau but I am quick to also admit that we had a mammoth challenge of adopting that principle of rotation.”
At the last year’s meeting, he urged the President of the Pan African Parliament (PAP) to secure oversight powers for the Parliament.
He noted that the oversight role of the PAP had been delegated to agencies such as AUCs and PURC, creating unnecessary competition between PAP and PURC for oversight. He emphasized that this situation should not persist.
He explained that the PAP was formed with a mandate to oversee parliaments in Africa. Therefore, “that function that is being performed by the agencies of the AUC and PURC must be relinquished.”
“Nobody should tell me any theory, that is what it is. From whichever way you view it, we have an oversight that is backed by protocol and nobody will take it away from us. We will demand that and will make that suggestion to you with the greatest of respect that let that oversight powers be given back to PAP,” he appealed to the newly elected PAP President, Chief Fortune Charumbira.
He presented this appeal during a Pan African Parliament meeting in South Africa. He emphasized that the oversight function must be granted to PAP, citing its well-defined role in PAP’s rules of procedure under rule 17. The legislator highlighted that PURC, AU, and PAP are intended to collaborate seamlessly.
“I hope today will be a day that all of us will rally around and say that enough is enough! We cannot come back one year after and be talking about the same thing,” he said.
He also commended the President of PAP and the Bureau for maintaining peace at meetings.
According to him, he has proven beyond doubt that the confidence reposed in him is justified.
“We want to make an appeal to the African Union and all agencies of the African Union that gone were the days when PAP will come here and be fighting. For a long time we are not fighting again, we as an institution are making a conscious effort to reform ourselves.
“That is why we changed our rules of procedure. That is why for a long time the PAP and the PURC were not meeting but through the leadership – our president, the new Bureau struck that understanding and there is a cross-fertilization and working together,” he said.
Source/Ghana/Accralive.com/Ebenezer Junior Arthur.
