Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem visits a Pan African Parliament session in South Africa and reports back on the progress of one of the African Union’s most important institutions. After two years of existence, the PAP is making progress, although teething problems remain.

The Pan African Parliament (PAP) has been sitting for its Fifth Ordinary Session in Midrand, South Africa. On its agenda are: the rationalization of Economic Communities (RECs) in Africa; Peace and Security in Africa focusing on the Great Lakes region, Darfur, Cote d'Ivoire, Chad and the DRC; PAP and civil society linkages in enhancing effective implementation of NEPAD/APRM; the PAP audit and strategic plan.

I have taken the trouble to identify the agenda partly to let all Doubting Thomas’s know that the PAP is not just an assembly of eminent MPs from across Africa who meet occasionally as a kind of Pan African Parliamentary lobby group. It is also to show critics and cynics that despite its statutory 'advisory' role, according to the Constitutive Act of the AU, the parliament is finding its feet and developing a pro-active programme of action to make itself relevant to the yearnings of African people to make the dream of unity a reality.

The PAP is one of the most important institutions in the AU that distinguishes it from the old Organisation of African Unity. The latter was statutorily and in practice a leaders' forum, whereas the former seeks to be a pro people and people - driven organization, hence the inclusion of democratic and potentially democratizing institutions like the Parliament, ECOSOC, African Court of Human Rights, etc.

It has not been easy for the parliament to take off properly since it was inaugurated two years ago. There was a lot of politics about where it was going to be based. Libya was one of the countries that offered to host it. It has the resources to do so but many felt that while they may have a huge building there may not have been much of a parliament because of the maverick nature of the Libyan political system. In the end South Africa won and it was a very good decision because despite one's reservations about the Pan Africanisation of Apartheid power relations, the country is one of the most vibrant democracies on the continent. It also has resources to support the infrastructure of a parliament. The South African parliament already uses 11 national languages, therefore providing for a PAP that officially uses 6 working languages was not a problem at the level of facilities. South Africa has fulfilled its obligations about providing a permanent home to the PAP, with a custom-built parliament equipped with the latest techno facilities including individual offices for all the 200 parliamentarians and 24-hour Internet access. Many of the parliamentarians do not even have these facilities in their national parliaments.

However the building and technical support is not what makes a parliament. It is the quality of what they do inside their sessions and how much they impact on the lives of ordinary Africans that will give or deny legitimacy to the parliament.

I had the honor of visiting (along with a number of civil society activists) the PAP in session last week. We found a generally enthusiastic, warm and people-friendly PAP. From the speaker to the clerks to the parliamentarians, they did not mind that we had not made any formal appointments but had just dropped by and they were willing to engage and entertain our queries.

They all wished that more Africans would take and interest in and interact with the PAP. Maybe two years is too short for the parliament to be visible to all Africans, but we need to take more interest in it. The South African Broadcasting Corporation is trying its best to popularize the work of the parliament by having daily broadcasts of interviews, features and discussions on the PAP while it is in session. The PAP also needs the support of media in all the African countries for people to know that it exists - and exists for them.

The challenges that the PAP faces derives from the structure and powers conferred on it. One, it is merely advisory therefore its debates and proceedings are not binding on countries. Two, it is not directly elected thereby denying it Pan African legitimacy. It is either elected or appointed from national parliaments which makes it like a kind of continental subcommittee of parliaments. Three, by statute it is only required to meet twice annually, with each session lasting not more than 30 days.

In reality most sessions have been for two weeks because of limited resources. The parliamentarians do not get any extra allowance apart from per diem and transport for the duration of their stay, which is covered by their national governments. This has meant in practice governments limiting themselves to the statutory meetings, with little money for any activities in between the two sessions. It has 10 subcommittees, which must also meet during these ‘sessions’. Consequently the PAP is not able to perform its monitoring, oversight and advocacy functions effectively. Four, there is also a high turn over in membership due to different electoral timetables in the 53 countries. This means that at every session more members are being sworn in while experienced members are being lost. A departing member called PAP the most prominent transit lounge in Africa! For instance, three of the five members from Uganda will not be returning for the next session because they lost their seats in the last parliamentary elections. One way of stopping this is to have PAP elections at the same time in all the countries and separate it from national elections and parliament. We cannot have an effective PAP without offering Pan African citizenship and full participation to all Africans wherever they may be.

Finally, our leaders have to put their money where their mouth is by making available the resources that PAP needs to function. We cannot have PAP running like another donor-driven NGO or aid-addicted state bureaucracy.

* Dr Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem is General-Secretary of the Pan African Movement, Kampala (Uganda) and Co-Director of Justice Africa

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