Linking Parliaments with Regional Bodies[2004 July 21]
The paper was presented at a meeting held in Lusaka Zambia in June 2004. The meeting was organized by the World Bank governance unit. The aim of the meeting was to explain the role of Parliament in the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) process and the linkages between national Parliaments and the Pan African Parliament (PAP). In this paper Lyn Chiwandamira explores the challenges facing the Pan African Parliament (PAP). She notes that the goals of the PAP including that of creating an African identity are very laudable but there is a need to define the relationship between the national and regional legislative bodies. The paper argues that the scorecard of political integration in Africa can only be complete when the citizens feel that they are connected to their institutions of governance.
She argues that Africa defies generalizations and that one of the most serious challenges facing Parliaments in Africa is crisis of legitimacy. Many people do not understand the roles and activities of Parliaments, let alone regional legislative bodies and now the PAP. Parliaments are perceived to be “the weakest link” in the governance structure. This is despite the fact that Parliaments constitute the centre of gravity in any democracy. She argues that this constitutes a major challenge for the PAP. If PAP is to achieve its goal of representing the people of Africa, then there is a need to ensure that the national Parliaments themselves are linked to citizens. The paper also points out that another major challenge is to align the different regional legislative bodies with the PAP. Currently different regions have different legislative bodies- the East African Legislative Assembly, the Economic Community of West Africa –ECOWAS Parliament, the Maghreb Parliament and the Southern African Parliamentary Forum –SADC-PF. She concludes the paper by pointing out that despite the numerous challenges facing the PAP; the PAP is an important vehicle to achieve the goals of African renaissance and good governance in Africa.
For full details of the paper contact Lyn Chiwandamira at IDASA's Centre for Governance in Africa.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License
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