PAP Holds The 6th Ordinary Session of The 4th Parliament
JOHANNESBURG,South Africa-Wednesday April 18,2018-6:00 PM Local Time (Cameroon News Agency) The Sixth Ordinary Session of the fourth Parliament of the Pan African Parliament (PAP) will take place from 7 to 18 May 2018 at the PAP precincts in Midrand, South Africa. Deliberations of this Session will be guided under the overall theme: “Winning the Fight against Corruption: A Sustainable Path to Africa’s Transformation.’’
H.E Moussa Faki MAHAMAT, Chairperson of the African Union Commission is expected to address the Plenary on the State of the African Union. Among others, the session will discuss and make resolutions and recommendations on matters and issues that include the Europe-Africa Forum on the Challenges and Opportunities of Migration Flows; the Report on the African Union (AU) Year of Combating Corruption; and the Report on Repealing Defamation Laws to Promote Press Freedom.
The Clerk of Parliament, Mr. Vipya HARAWA says this will be a unique session as it ushers in new leadership.
“The term of the Bureau of the fourth Parliament will come to an end in May 2018. As a result, election of the new Members of the Bureau of the PAP will take place on 10 May 2018 on the side-lines of the Session,” says the Clerk.
At least 80 new delegates from different countries will be sworn in as Members of the PAP following elections in a number of African States and rotation within delegations. This statutory meeting follows the Permanent Committee Sittings of March 2018.
BACKGROUNDER
The Pan African Parliament
The Pan African Parliament (PAP), also known as the African Parliament, is the legislative body of the African Union. PAP is one of the nine organs proposed in the 1991 Treaty Establishing the African Economic Community (Abuja Treaty).
Its purpose, as set out in article 17 of the AU Constitutive Act, is “to ensure the full participation of African peoples in the development and economic integration of the continent.”
The ultimate aim is for the Parliament to be an institution with full legislative powers, whose members are elected by universal suffrage. The Continental Parliament exercises oversight, and has advisory and consultative powers.
The Parliament has up to 255 members representing the 55 AU Member States that have ratified the Protocol establishing it. There are five members for each Member State. The five must include at least one woman and reflect the diversity of political representation in the National Parliament or deliberative organ. PAP members are designated by the legislatures of their Member State. They are currently not directly elected by the people to the PAP.
PAP held its inaugural session in March 2004. In October 2009, the second legislature of the Pan African Parliament opened its first ordinary session and began a new 5-year mandate.
The seat of the Pan African Parliament was initially in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia but was later moved to Midrand, South Africa.
