Annoh-Dompreh calls for sustenance of principle of rotation for Pan African Parliament

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Laud Nartey
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The Majority Chief Whip, Frank Annoh-Dompreh has called for regular engagement of the Pan African Parliament (PAP) and the African Union Commission (AUC)

He also called for the sustenance of the principle of rotation of bureau officers of the PAP, and the PAP to be given its original mandate of oversight over the African Union (AU), amongst other functions.

At a meeting of members of the Pan African Parliament and the Committee of Foreign Ministers at Addis Ababa over the weekend, he urged members not to give up on the PAP., rather he urged them to make it work.

“The least you can do is to per gate emotions, let the people who matter know of the difficulties you have gone through. But I am confident that we will jump that hurdle because this meeting itself is an acceptance that the two sides of PAP  and the PRC, that all of us have to work together whether we like it or not,” the Nsawam Adoagyiri lawmaker said.

He added “This matter that has played our conscience for a very long time, the principle of rotation, we understand the fundamental relevance of the principle of rotation in the choice of leadership of the bureau but I am quick to also admit  that we had a mammoth challenge of adopting that principle of rotation.”

During the previous meeting last year, he called on the President of the Pan African Parliament (PAP) to ensure that oversight powers were given to the Parliament.

According to him, the PAP’s oversight had been given to a body – agencies of AUCs and PURC, adding that PAP was in competition with the PURC over oversight. This, he said, should not be the case.

He explained that the PAP was formed with a mandate to oversee parliaments in Africa. Therefore, “that function that is being performed by the agencies of the AUC and PURC must be relinquished.”

“Nobody should tell me any theory, that is what it is.  From whichever way you view it, we have an oversight that is backed by protocol and nobody will take it away from us. We will demand that and will make that suggestion to you with the greatest of respect that let that oversight powers be given back to PAP,” he appealed to the newly elected PAP President, Chief Fortune Charumbira.

He made this appeal during a Pan African Parliament meeting in South Africa.

He maintained that the oversight function must be given to PAP, noting that it is well defined in PAP’s rules of procedure under rule 17.

According to the legislator, the PURC, AU and PAP are supposed to work in sync.

“I hope today will be a day that all of us will rally around and say that enough is enough! We cannot come back one year after and be talking about the same thing,” he said.

He also commended the President of PAP and the Bureau for maintaining peace at meetings.

According to him, he has proven beyond doubt that the confidence reposed in him is justified.

“We want to make an appeal to the African Union and all agencies of the African Union that gone were the days when PAP will come here and be fighting. For a long time we are not fighting again, we as an institution are making a conscious effort to reform ourselves.

“That is why we changed our rules of procedure. That is why for a long time the PAP and the PURC were not meeting but through the leadership – our president, the new Bureau struck that understanding and there is a cross-fertilization and working together,” he said.