The Pan-African Parliament (PAP) is set to convene in Midrand for the first statutory meetings of its permanent committees under the leadership of its newly elected Bureau headed by Senator Chief Fortune Charumbira. The 10 permanent committees of the African parliament will assemble for their bi-annual meeting at the institution’s headquarters in Midrand, South Africa from 22 August to 2 September 2022.
The continental parliamentary body has announced a joint workshop on African Union’s theme for 2022, “Building resilience in nutrition on the African continent: Accelerate the human capital, social and economic development”; and PAP’s theme “reviving, renewing, repositioning and reinvigorating the Pan African Parliament”.
The permanent committees are expected to present the progress made in their various thematic areas starting on Wednesday. Capacity-building training for members of the committees and the media fraternity from across the continent will also be conducted during the 12-day assembly.
Speaking to Africa Parliamentary News, president and speaker of the African Parliament Senator Chief Fortune Charumbira, emphasized the need for PAP to revisit the institution’s vision and access its progress and shortfalls in fulfilling its mandate to African citizens. This comes as the newly elected president and speaker zeroes in his election campaign agenda, where he promised to ‘restore the battered image of PAP’.
“It will interrogate whether the PAP is on course in fulfilling its mandate and responding to the expectations of the African citizenry on what the PAP should do within the continental governance matrix. During discussions, parliamentarians will critically analyze the achievements, opportunities, and challenges the Parliament is facing in advancing the objectives of the Union and how it can turn the challenges into opportunities to improve its performance”, said Senator Chief Charumbira.
