The dues of African Union member states, notoriously in arrears, should be collected through a ”community levy”, the Pan African Parliament (PAP) proposed on Friday.
The percentage by which funds are to be thus collected should be determined by the AU, the PAP said in a resolution adopted at the conclusion of its fourth ordinary session in Midrand.
The resolution is an attempt by the PAP to ”support the AU in the provision of necessary resources for the realisation of its dreams and vision”. Such funds would, by extension, also benefit the PAP, a document said.
No further details were available on the mechanics of such a levy.
MP Miria Matembe said there will be a look at how the Economic Community of West African States collects fees from its members and from those who do business with it — including the payment of taxes.
Finding ways of tapping into the ”goodwill” of businesspeople who ”enjoy the conditions on this continent” will be considered among other ”innovative new means” of boosting AU and PAP funding, she told reporters.
Budget shortages were repeatedly highlighted during the current session of the PAP — which gets about half of its funding from the AU and the rest from member countries.
In 2005, the AU provided $4,6-million of the $6,2-million promised to the PAP.
AU budgets
On Thursday, AU Commission chairperson Alpha Konare was grilled by PAP MPs on the lack of funding and the AU’s failure to submit its annual budgets to the PAP for consideration before approval, as required.
The current session of the PAP asked specifically for Konare to brief it on the AU’s budget, which he failed to do in Thursday’s address.
Parliamentarians were angered and took him to task, Matembe said on Friday.
It was subsequently resolved to set up a joint committee — comprising representatives of the PAP and of the commission — to discuss ways of ensuring a harmonious working relationship.
Closing the parliamentary session after more than a week of debate, fourth vice-president Theophilus Nata said the interaction with Konare contributed to a better AU understanding of the PAP’s financial problems.
The PAP is still a young organisation and needs nurturing, he said.
”A baby should receive special care. Our needs [as the PAP] are great, but the means are getting less and less.”
Human rights and good governance
On issues of human rights, democracy and good governance, the PAP condemned the recent coup d’état in Mauritania, and passed a resolution seeking urgent AU intervention in Uganda.
PAP president Gertrude Mongella was mandated to approach AU chairperson Olusegun Obasanjo, urging him to ensure instability is avoided in Uganda by seeking the ”unconditional release” of opposition leader Kizza Besigye.
Obasanjo should also ”ensure that the government of Uganda respects the rule of law and fundamental human rights of citizens in compliance with the AU Protocol on Human Rights and Peoples’ Freedoms”, the resolution states.
At a media briefing, Matembe said the situation in Uganda is considered by the PAP to be ”a potential situation erupting into war”.
She stressed the PAP’s oversight role in seeking to ensure that member states ”do things in accordance with good governance and the rule of law”.
”We are not going to treat people with kid gloves. We will not protect undemocratic leaders,” she said.
The PAP did not, however, discuss the current situation in Zimbabwe.
”I think we did not discuss it because it has been on the agenda for a long time,” she said in response to a question. Issues that have been so long in the running have a tendency to become ”business as usual, sort of history”, she said.
”We discussed the hot, hot things.” — Sapa