Group photo: Speakers of African parliaments at their 6th conference in Midrand, Johannesburg, South Africa (Seychelles National Assembly)
The Pan-African Parliament is set to evolve into an organization with full legislative and oversight powers.
This was approved by the speakers of African Parliaments during their 6th Annual Conference held in Midrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, last week.
Established in March 2004, the Pan-African Parliament, which is one of the organs of the African Union, had until now been exercising a consultative and advisory function.
The Speaker of the Seychelles National Assembly Dr. Patrick Herminie represented the island nation at the 6th Annual Conference of Speakers of African Parliament.
In a press statement issued this morning, the National Assembly said the speakers also approved measure for future members of PAP to be elected by direct universal adult suffrage, and not nominated by national parliaments as is presently the case.
“Each African country will vote in a general election to elect five members to PAP,” reads the statement adding that the decision followed a lengthy discussion on an amended PAP protocol drafted by the African Union at its 23rd summit held in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, in June this year.
Herminie noted in the statement that this decision would come into force after the amended protocol was ratified by more than half of the members of PAP.
In addition to approving the evolution of the Pan-African Parliament into an organization with full legislative and oversight powers, the speakers’ conference also adopted a presentation by the chairperson of the African Union, Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma.
Titled, The Vision and African Aspirations for 2063, Dlamini Zuma’s presentation reaffirmed “the vision of the African Union to build an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa, an Africa driven and managed by its own citizen and representing a dynamic force in the international arena.”
Read more at www.seychellesnewsagency.com
