Story by: Gilbert Borketey Boyefio
Midrand, South Africa: Members of the Pan-African Parliament have expressed mixed reactions over the twists and turns that has characterized the amendment of the Rules of Procedure of the Parliament, which has resulted in the postponement of the elections of a new Bureau from 2025 to February 2026.
Expressing various views on the subject matter, a cross section of the MPs, were of the view that the PAP was capable of amending its own Rules of Procedure, and regretted various actions and inactions by some Members of Parliament that eventually brought the AU Commission into their internal affairs. Others argued that the concerns raised where Constitutional and for that matter the involvement of external stakeholders were inevitable.
Article 26 of the Constitutive Act of the African Union on Interpretation states that, “The Court shall be seized with matters of interpretation arising from the application or implementation of this Act. Pending its establishment, such matters shall be submitted to the Assembly of the Union, which shall decide by two-thirds majority”.
Article 17, Clause 2 of the Constitutive Act of the African Union states that, “The composition, powers, functions and organization of the Pan-African Parliament shall be defined in a Protocol relating thereto”.
Article 11 of the PAP Protocol states that, “The Parliament may adopt and amend its own Rules of Procedure including the procedures for giving effect to its mandate under Article 8 of this Protocol, by a two-thirds majority of all its members. In developing its Rules of Procedure, the Parliament shall ensure consistency of these Rules with AU rules and regulations.”
Background
The PAP has had a checked history of instability and power struggles, this was put to rest in 2022 when the Parliament amended its Rules of Procedure. The amended Rules of Procedure was borne out of the need to enable the PAP to fulfil its mandate, to address historical challenges with respect to geographical rotation and to avoid institutional instability and uncertainty arising from national Parliamentary transitions. The PAP, as it would be recalled, was praised by the Permanent Representative Council (PRC) and the AU Executive Committee for the progress made after the adoption of this new Rules.
However, on October 5, 2023, an interoffice memorandum from the AUC Chairperson with Subject: “Suspension of the Rules of Procedures of the Pan African Parliament revised on 4th November 2022”, led to confusion and a series of unconstitutional actions at the PAP. The AUC memo states that, “The legal opinion reveals clear incompatibilities of the various provisions of the Revised Rules with the Protocol to the Treaty Establishing the African Economic Community relating to the Pan-African Parliament (PAP Protocol). In my capacity as the Legal Representative of the Union and depositary of the legal instruments of the Organization. I hereby inform you of the suspension of the PAP Rules of Procedure revised on 04 November 2022 due to the fact that its provisions are contrary to the Protocol”.
Looking at the way forward with the Executive Council Decision
Restoring order and sanity back to the Parliament, in February 2025, the Executive Council through EXCL/Dec.1288(XLVI), directed as follows: approved that the tenure of the current Bureau be extended by seven (7) months starting from 1st July 2025 due to the crisis situation experienced by the PAP in 2023; and decided that the elections of the PAP Bureau be held in February 2026.
The Executive Council further mandated the PRC through the Sub-Committee on Rules, Standards and Verification of Credentials and Procedures, in collaboration with the Commission and the PAP, to finalize the alignment of the Rules of Procedure with the PAP Protocol regarding the mandate and reiterate the principle of rotation and to present a report to the Executive Council in July 2025.
Joint Bureauxes Meeting
In his opening remarks during the Joint Bureauxes Meeting, the Pan-African Parliament President, H.E. Chief Fortune Charumbira, explained that the decision by the Executive Council was a recognition of the inconsistencies between the PAP Rules of Procedure, specifically Rule 16(10) of the 2011 Rules of Procedure, and Article 12(3) of the PAP Protocol in relation to the tenure of the Bureau.
Rule 16(10) of the Rules of Procedure provided for a fixed, non-renewable three-year term for the Bureau while Article 12(3) of the PAP Protocol aligns the tenure of the Bureau to their national Parliamentary terms.
“In view of these inconsistencies, the 7 months extension was intended not only to atone for the period of internal crisis, but also to give the PRC Sub Committee on Rules, Standards and Verification of Credentials and Procedures working with PAP and the Office of the Legal Counsel adequate time to align the Rules of Procedure to the Protocol to ensure that there would be no further violations of the Constitutive Act,” he pointed out.
He stressed that the PAP, through the Rules Committee is seized with the process of aligning the Rules of Procedure to the Protocol and the Committee will be expected to table a report to brief the Plenary on the status of the alignment process.
