AU is too far from the people — Kadaga

PIC: Speaker Kadaga addressing the conference at Midrand/ Courtesy photo

The Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga, has proposed increasing visibility of the African Union (AU) among the population.

The statement from the office of the clerk to parliament said Kadaga made the remarks during the 8th annual conference of Speakers' of African Parliaments meeting in Midrand, South Africa.

She also called for increased funding to the Pan African Parliament (PAP) by the member states to enable it meet its mandate.

"Apart from working with civil society, I think there is a bigger constituency of the population. Now that we have something to market in form of an African passport, I want to include a provision that members of PAP and member states popularize the African Union to the population because it is too far from the people," Kadaga said.

The AU has begun pursuing a path of closer integration through the launch of a common passport that will grant visa-free access to all 54 member states.

The first of the electronic passports were unveiled last month at the AU summit in Kigali, Rwanda, where they were issued to heads of state and senior officials. The Union aims to distribute them to all African citizens by 2020.

The 8th annual conference resolved that Speakers of regional and national parliaments urge their respective governments to ratify the Malabo Protocol and deposit instruments of ratification with the African Union Commission.

The Protocol to the Constitutive Act of AU on PAP was adopted by the assembly of the Union in June 2014 in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, with major revisions to the original Protocol of 2001.

The amendments relate to increase in representation of women from one out of five designated Members of Parliament per country to two.

It also provides for election of Parliamentarians to the PAP outside the membership of national parliaments.

The new Protocol seeks to see PAP move away from being merely a consultative and advisory organ to one with full legislative functions. The tenure of a PAP member would also not be tied to the national Parliaments.

According to the text of the communiqué that Speakers endorsed on Friday, they agreed to strengthen regional parliaments as a way of enhancing regional integration and attainment of a continental parliament with full legislative powers.

They also called for a consultative process that includes civil society and other stakeholders in the ratification of the revised protocol of the PAP.

To date, only two member states, Mali and Sierra Leone, have ratified and deposited the Protocol. For the Protocol to come into force, 28 member states have to ratify and deposit it.