AFRICAN PARLIAMENT OBJECTIVES, POWERS AND MEMBERSHIP

Abstract

The African Parliament, or the Pan-African Parliament, was formed to become the legislative body of the African Union, which is one of the eight bodies of the Union. The need arose for it so that the Union would have a parliament alongside its other bodies similar to the European Parliament. In the late last century, and especially in the conference held in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, the conference resulted in the African Economic Community Treaty, and its work continued until the founding law of the Union was issued, which dealt with the objectives for which the Parliament was formed. It also indicated that its powers would be detailed in a later protocol, which is what was actually issued in the Protocol to the African Economic Community Treaty relating to the African Parliament. As the Parliament’s objectives address various important areas for the Union and for African countries and peoples, such as promoting security, peace, democracy, the rule of law, human rights, economic cooperation, and achieving self-sufficiency for the people of the continent, they are closer to wishful thinking than reality and are difficult to achieve given the African reality. These objectives cannot be separated. Regarding the limited powers of Parliament, which become an obstacle to achieving these poisoned goals, what indicates their limitations is what is stated in the Protocol, which is that Parliament has the authority to express its opinion on any issue related to the Union, either on its own initiative or at the request of the Conference or any other policy-making bodies and to submit any Recommendations he deems appropriate relate to him, just as the issue of parliamentary membership is not based on sound foundations in terms of proportional representation, as well as the methods for acquiring it. In this regard, it is better to try to make some comparisons on the subject of goals, powers and representation in relation to regional parliaments or parliamentary unions, and we will find out if they are The methods they have are consistent or different from those of international parliaments, and among the most important of these parliaments are the International Parliament and the European Parliament, which were established a long time before the African Parliament, and they have precedence, leadership, and successful experience in many important aspects.