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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. I beg to move the following Motion:- THAT, this House adopts the Report of the Sixth Ordinary Session of the Pan African Parliament held in Gallagher Estate, Midrand, South Africa, from 13th to 24th November, 2006, laid on the Table of the House on Wednesday, 18th April, 2007. Mr. Speaker, Sir, for hon. Members to understand the operations of the Pan African Parliament (PAP), I would like to give a short historical perspective of the Parliament. The Constitutive Act was established by the African Union (AU) and its organs, and was signed in Lome, Togo on 11th July, 2000, by the 53 Independent countries of Africa. Article 17 of that Constitutive Act provided for the establishment of PAP in order to ensure full participation of the African people in the development and economic integration of the continent. The Protocol to the Treaty establishing the PAP was finally ratified by 46 countries in Sirte, Libya, on 2nd March, 2004, which paved the way for the establishment and inauguration of the PAP in Addis Ababa on 18th March, 2004. The seat of the PAP is in Midrand, South Africa. For the first five years, the Parliament should have consultative and advisory powers only. During the interim period, the member states shall be represented by five Members nominated by their 1706 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES June 12, 2007 national parliaments. I am happy to report that this Parliament is represented by hon. Wycliffe Oparanya, who is the leader of the delegation, hon. Njoki Ndung'u, hon. Nyiva Mwendwa, hon. Mwancha Okioma and hon. Nicholas Salat. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I will go through the objectives of PAP very quickly. They are as follows:- 1. Encourage international co-operation, taking into account the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. 2. Promote peace, security and stability in the Continent. 3. Promote democratic principles and institutions and popular participation and good governance within the Continent of Africa. 4. Promote and protect human and peoples' rights in accordance with the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights and other relevant human rights instruments. 5. Lastly, establish the necessary conditions which will enable the Continent to play its rightful role in global economy and international negotiations. Mr. Speaker, Sir, at this juncture, I want to thank hon. Members of PAP from this Parliament for their active participation during parliamentary debates. I also want to thank our Government for having facilitated Members to attend both the Committee and the Ordinary Sessions proceedings. Since PAP was established three years ago, it has made some achievements. It has been able to come up with its own rules or procedures. It has already established a strategic plan from 2006 to 2010 and, currently, it is actively involved in the conflict resolution on the Continent. It has sent missions to Darfur in Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Cote d'Ivoire, Togo and Somalia. Mr. Speaker, Sir, during the Session that I am reporting on - the Sixth Ordinary Session - the following issues were discussed and adopted:- The PAP launched its Trust Fund. It was important that a Trust Fund is established to supplement the meagre funds that come from the AU. As you know, the AU is comprised of the Independent states of Africa, which contribute to the AU kitty. But some of the countries are unable to contribute and, therefore, the flow of funds to the Parliament has been a problem. So, the Parliament decided, through a resolution in the House, to establish a Trust Fund, which will supplement the activities of the Committees and the Parliament as a whole. At that time, we were lucky that the retired President of the Republic of South Africa, His Excellency Nelson Mandela, officially launched the Trust Fund and, at the same time, accepted to be the patron of the Fund. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) Country Reports on Rwanda, Ghana and Kenya were discussed at length. But I will confine myself to what was mentioned about our own country. There were five issues that were mentioned negatively about Kenya. There were also issues that were positively mentioned. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the first positive issue that was mentioned about Kenya is that it has had a very impressive economic growth for the last three years and that the Government has reduced the foreign debt over the last three years. It was said that the country has made significant strides in the production and export of horticultural products; the country has established the Constituencies Development Fund (CDF), which has helped to develop rural areas; the country has facilitated peace in the neighbouring countries, especially in Somalia. There is also freedom of exercising political and civil rights and we have an efficient Electoral Commission. Kenya was also commended for introducing Free Primary Education (FPE). Lastly, Kenya was also commended for the reduction of the HIV/AIDS prevalence rates from 13 per cent to 7 per cent between 1999 and 2004. Mr. Speaker, Sir, however, the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) Report was critical about Kenya regarding the following issues: First, corruption in this country is still on and is much alive and kicking. The cases of June 12, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 1707 Anglo Leasing and the Goldenberg scandal were mentioned. The other issue that was mentioned in the APRM Report was that this country is unable to address the colonial legacy and set a political agenda for a real and strong united country. They also cited the historical imbalances in channelling of resources and development to certain regions of the country. The issue of the delayed new Constitution; marginalisation of certain groups within this country and ethnic-oriented political parties; high levels of poverty; lack of confidence and trust in public institutions; poor implementation of Government policies; and weak oversight role of this Parliament were mentioned. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the Report, which was adopted by the House, recommended the following: First, Kenya should enact a new Constitution that will take care of the interests of all Kenyans. In fact, eminent people within the African Union (AU) were requested to help Kenya in making sure that we have a new Constitution. It was also recommended that this country should address the issue of creating an enabling environment for investment by developing infrastructure, reduce cost of doing business and combating insecurity, improving public service delivery, especially in areas of business registration and licensing, accelerate implementation of programmes aimed at poverty reduction such as slum upgrading projects. It was noted that there is need for the Executive to work with a reform-oriented Parliament and Judiciary, and transformation leadership at all levels. Mr. Speaker, Sir, we were glad that the Assistant Minister for Planning and National Development, hon. Serut, was there to respond to some of these issues. He promised that the Government was going to address the weaknesses that were pointed out in the Report and make a progress report to the AU Summit, which was held in Addis Ababa, January, 2007. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the issue of peace in Africa was discussed at length; and moreso, peace in Darfur in Sudan, Cote d'Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Chad, Somalia and Western Sahara. Issues that cause instability were looked at. Some of the issues that were looked at and which contribute to insecurity in Africa were as follows: Lack of socio-economic justice in some of the countries; divided societies on the basis of religion and ethnicity, scramble for scarce resources; lack of consistency in the administration of justice; lack of political tolerance in some countries; lack of strong and accountable democratic institutions; corruption; land issues; proliferation of small arms; disputes over election results; refusal by Heads of States to hand over power; interference by foreigners in African affairs; and colonial inheritance relating to the demarcation of boundaries and border conflicts. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the other issue that we looked at, and which this Parliament should follow, is the audit report of the Parliament for the year 2004/2005 as audited by the AU External Board of Auditors. The Parliament adopted its only budget for 2007, which was approved at US$51.1 million against the expenditure of US$11.9 million for the year 2006. The issue of arrears of the AU member States as at 20th November, 2006 amounting to US$59.4 million from the AU members was also discussed. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the issue of finances has been addressed by five countries accepting to contribute 75 per cent of the budget. South Africa has accepted to contribute 25 per cent of the budget and so has Libya, Nigeria and Algeria. Finally, the other issue that was discussed is migration in Africa. Migration was looked at within individual countries, within Africa and migration to the outside world. Factors that contribute to migration issues were also discussed and various governments were requested to deal with the issue of migration as a problem that affects this continent. Mr. Speaker, Sir, there are a few issues that we learnt there as a Parliament and that we need to copy or adopt in this House. One of the issues that we undertook to look at is the issue of live coverage. We have been talking about live coverage in this Parliament for many years, but we still do not have it. The other issue is that the Pan African Parliament is able to discuss its own budget. It is 1708 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES June 12, 2007 also able to discuss its own audit report which does not happen here. We have to encourage that our own Budget and audit report must be debated and adopted here by this Parliament. Mr. Speaker, Sir, lastly, the Committees of Parliament there play a very crucial role. All Committees discuss relevant issues under them and the Chairs of the various Committees report. So, most of the work is done in the Committees. They are well facilitated to ensure that they discuss issues exhaustively before they come to the Floor of the House. The Parliament there also decides on its own calender, something which we have been fighting for here. I hope that soon we will get that so that we are able to decide on our own calender. Mr. Speaker, Sir, with those remarks, I beg to move and request hon. Okioma, if he is around, to second."
}