SADC stalls African

MBABANE – Put simply, if the Malabo Protocol is ratified, Parliament shall have the right to elect non-parliamentarians to represent Eswatini in the Pan-African Parliament.

Currently, only members of Parliament are eligible to represent their countries in the Pan-African Parliament (PAP).

Of the 14 countries that have so far heeded to the call to transform the PAP into a fully-fledged continental legislative body, none of the SADC members have ratified the protocol.

The 14 countries that have ratified the document are Morocco, Benin, Cameroon, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Gambia, Ghana, Madagascar, Mali, Niger, Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, Sierra Leone, Somalia and Togo.

Kenya has indicated that it would heed the call to empower the continental Parliament by September 2023.

The Malabo Protocol requires a minimum of 28 countries to ratify it before it comes into force.

Notably, countries that have given formal consent to the Malabo Protocol are drawn from different geographical parts of Africa, except the southern African region.

MEMBERS

There are 16 members of the Southern African Development Community - Angola, Botswana, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, United Republic Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

In 2014, the African Union (AU) adopted the Protocol to the Constitutive Act of the African

Union, relating to the Pan-African Parliament (Malabo Protocol). The Malabo Protocol was adopted to amend the current Protocol relating to the PAP and is expected to enable the Parliament to extend its functions and allow members of the Parliament to be elected through adult suffrage.

The AU is made up of 55 member States, which represent all the countries on the African continent.

It must be said that the protocol seeks to, among other things, extend the powers of the PAP into a fully-fledged legislative organ.

Article 5 (6) of the adopted Protocol provides that a member of a national Parliament is eligible to contest an election to PAP, but, if elected, shall resign from being an MP in his home country.

“For the avoidance of doubt, a member of a national Parliament or other deliberative body is eligible to contest an election to the Pan African Parliament. However, if elected, he or she shall resign from the national Parliament or other deliberative body,” reads Article 5 (6) of the adopted Protocol.

Article 5 of the

Protocol, adopted in June 2014, provides that the national Parliament or other deliberative body shall elect from outside its membership five members of the Pan-African Parliament.

Reads the Article 1(a): “the national Parliament or other deliberative body shall elect from outside its membership, five (5) members of the Pan-African Parliament.”

Subsection (b) provides that the representation of each State must reflect the diversity of political opinions in each national Parliament or other deliberative body. This should take into account the number of members from each political party represented in the national Parliament.

It is proposed in the Protocol that the elections of members of the Pan-African Parliament by the national Parliaments or other deliberative body shall be conducted as far as possible in the same month throughout the member States, as may be decided by the Assembly (meeting of Heads of State).

In the protocol, it is said that the election of the president of PAP shall be presided by the chairperson of the Assembly.

The current chairperson of the AU Assembly is Azali Assouman, the President of Comoros.

It is also mentioned in the proposed protocol that the qualifications for election to the Pan-African Parliament shall be the same as for a national Parliament or other deliberative body.

ESWATINI CASE

Section 96 of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Eswatini prescribes qualifications for a person to be appointed, elected or nominated as a Senator or a member of the House.

It is stated in the Constitution that a person qualifies to be a member of the House or Senate if he is a citizen of Eswatini, has attained the age of 18 years and is a registered voter.

The person with the ambition to be legislator should have paid all taxes or made satisfactory arrangements to the commissioner of taxes.

Section 96 (d) emphasises that aspirant-MP should be registered as a voter in the inkhundla (voting centre) in which he or she is a candidate.

LESOTHO

Section 58 of the Constitution of Lesotho prescribes qualifica

(Courtesy pic) Members of national Parliaments under the Pan African Parliament are in a session in Midrand, South Africa where even the Eswatini team, which is made of five members, are in attendance.