 | This article needs to be updated. (July 2022) |
Pan-African Parliament
| |
|---|---|
 | |
| History | |
| Founded | 18 March 2004 |
| Leadership | |
Fortune Z. Charumbira (since June 2022) | |
Gayo Asherbiri, Second Vice President and Acting President | |
| Structure | |
| Committees | Permanent Committees of the Pan-African Parliament
|
| Motto | |
| One Africa, One Voice | |
| Meeting place | |
| Gallagher Convention Centre, Midrand, South Africa | |
| Website | |
| pap.au.int | |
26°0′07″S 28°07′46″E / 26.00194°S 28.12944°E
The Pan-African Parliament (PAP), also known as the African Parliament, is the legislative body of the African Union. It held its inaugural session in March 2004. The Parliament exercises oversight, and has advisory and consultative powers, having lasting for the first five years. Initially the seat of the Pan-African Parliament was in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, but was later moved to Midrand, South Africa. The goal in establishing the parliament was creating a space where people from all states of Africa could meet, deliberate, and pass some policy on issues that affect the entire continent of Africa.[1]
The Parliament is composed of a maximum of five members per member state that have ratified the Protocol establishing it, including at least one woman per Member State.[2] These members are selected by their member state and their domestic legislatures. The overall goal for the parliament is to be an institution that has full legislative power whose members are elected through universal suffrage, as stated by South African President Jacob Zuma in his opening speech to the first ordinary session of the second legislature of the Pan-African Parliament on October 28, 2009.[3]
The Pan-African Parliament is composed of three sections. The Plenary is the main legislative and deliberation section of the Parliament, where representatives meet regularly to discuss issues in Africa and potential solutions. The Bureau is the leadership section of the Parliament, made up of a president and four vice presidents, all of whom are elected by delegates in the Plenary. The final section of the Parliament is the Secretariat, which is the organizational body of the Parliament and is chaired by a Clerk, Deputy Clerk, and an Acting Deputy Clerk. Together, these structures maintain and carry out the goals and protocol set out to govern the Parliament.[1]
At the Parliament's 2022 elections, Chief Fortune Charumbira from Zimbabwe was elected as the new President, and Massouda Mohamed Laghdaf from Mauritania, Ashebiri Gayo from Ethiopia, Lúcia Maria Mendes Gonçalves dos Passos from Cape Verde, and Francois Ango Ndoutoume from Gabon were elected as Vice Presidents.[4]
- ^ a b Yusuf, Abdulqawi A.; Ouguergouz, Fatsah (20 January 2012). "The Pan-African Parliament". The African Union: Legal and Institutional Framework: A Manual on the Pan-African Organization. Brill | Nijhoff. doi:10.1163/9789004227729_007. ISBN 978-90-04-22100-0.
- ^
"Honorable Members of Parliament (MPs) | Pan-African Parliament". Pan-African Parliament. 2024. Archived from the original on 4 June 2024. Retrieved 11 June 2024.
The Parliament has up to 275 members representing the 55 AU Member States that have ratified the Protocol establishing it (¬five members per Member State, including at least one woman and representing the diversity of political opinions in their own national parliament or deliberative organ)
- ^ "The Pan-African Parliament | African Union". au.int. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
- ^ "Pan-African Parliament elects new leadership | African Union".