National Assembly Deputy Speaker clarifies chaos at Pan African Parliament
The Leader of the Namibian delegation to the Pan African Parliament (PAP), Hon. Loide Kasingo, Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly recently said the PAP session could not be concluded due to a succession battle between African regional blocks making up the legislative body.
Despite the principle of geographical rotation that was agreed upon by the African Union, the northern and southern regions have been deprived of the leadership since the body’s inception, she said.
“The principal of geographical rotation is a well established principle within the union, which has been consistently applied with legal obligatory effect within the entire union and this was the bone of contention in the session, held in Midrand, Johannesburg, South Africa,” she explained.
She informed that for the last 17 years of the existence of PAP, the four years of presidency were held by the Eastern, Central and twice by the Western Region, while the Northern and Southern regions never got an opportunity to lead the governance of the institution.
Kasingo further noted that opposition to the demands of rotation by Western and some of the other regions degenerated into chaos thus warranting the suspension of the electoral process and the session.
“The Southern Region took the stance to demand for the application of the principle of geographical rotation and if not considered, no election will take place, which was apposed by the Western and some of the regions resulting in the eruption of chaos that could not be controlled by the Ad hoc Committee responsible for the election processes,” stated Kasingo.
Kasingo was accompanied by Hon. MacHenry Venaani, Leader of the Official Opposition, Popular Democratic Movement, Hon. Hamunyera Hambyuka and Hon. Gerhardus Shiimi who are also Members of Parliament appointed to represent the Namibian Parliament.
The PAP started on 21 May with the theme of ‘Arts, Culture and Heritage: Leavers for building the Africa we want’.
