The Pan-African Parliament (PAP) to get legislative power

16 Nov, 2014 - 06:11 0 Views

The Sunday Mail

The Pan-African Parliament (PAP) could soon assume legislative powers after members resolved to transform the consultative body into a full-fledged continental legislature.

The resolution should be ratified by a minimum of 28 member states to become effective.

If the proposal is endorsed, PAP will legislate a single African currency, continental passport and Standby Force.

It could also checkmate the International Criminal Court on the prosecution of African leaders. Zimbabwe’s PAP representative and Zanu-PF’s National Assembly Chief Whip Dr Joram Gumbo told The Sunday Mail that last month’s resolution to these ends “was an endorsement of what African heads of state agreed on earlier this year”.

“We sat at the Pan-African Parliament in South Africa and one of the resolutions was for our organisation to have legislative powers. However, for this to be implemented, it has to be ratified by a minimum of 28 states, which have to adopt the protocol and deposit their ratification with the African Union.

“I will move a motion soon, calling on our Parliament to ratify and adopt this protocol. It is the heads of state who will determine what will be enacted into law. The legislative powers will make the Pan-African Parliament more powerful as a body.”

PAP was established by Article 17 of the African Union’s Constitutive Act in 2004 as one of the nine organs provided for in the treaty establishing the African Economic Community, signed in Abuja, Nigeria, in 1991.

Its original mandate was advisory and consultative, and legislative powers were due to be conferred after five years.

However, this transformation has stalled with indications that some members fear Pap could pass laws that are ultra vires the national objectives of individual states.

At an AU Summit in June 2014, African heads of state and government agreed to ratify “as expeditiously as possible” PAP’s transformation.

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