MAHAMA TASKS AU TO DEAL WITH DRUG TRAFFICKING

President John Dramani Mahama has admonished the Pan-African Parliament (PAP) to speed up its transformation into a fully-fledged body with legislative powers, to help bring to an end the challenges confronting the African continent.

According to the Ghanaian leader, member states of the African Union (AU) have not made much progress as a result of lack of effectively enforcing laws to end drug trafficking, human trafficking, addressing the impact of climate change, deforestation, desertification, and land degradation.

He told a fully-packed Assembly that the continent could be a force to reckon with when the continent's Parliament works as a unified body in addressing the above-mentioned challenges, as opposed to many individual countries.

'Now is the time for the Pan-African Parliament to also make its own transition from that of a deliberating body to that of a legislative one. It is time for the Pan-African Parliament to solidify the energy of solidarity and hope that is sweeping across the continent,' noted President Mahama.

President Mahama was speaking at the official opening of the Second Ordinary Session of the Third Parliament of the Pan-African Parliament in Midrand, South Africa, under the theme 'Pan-Africanism and African Renaissance.'

The session would close on May, 17, 2013, with members expected to debate on the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), Peace and Security in Africa, and the theme of the Summit, African Union 50 th Anniversary: Achievements and Challenges, and the situation in the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) among many others.

The session would also witness the election of members to occupy positions of ten other PAP organs, namely; Committee on Monetary and Financial Affairs; Committee on Trade, Customs and Immigration matters; Committee on Transport, Industry, Communication, Energy, Science and Technology, and Committee on Health, Labour and Social Affairs.

The rest are, Committee on Gender, Family, Youth and People with Disability; Committee on Justice and Human Rights; Central Africa Caucus; Eastern Africa Caucus and Women Caucus.

President John Mahama, who was the Guest of Honour at the event, is one of the founding members of the Pan-African Parliament. He is the first among the members to be elected as Head of State among member nations.

The PAP, also known as the African Parliament, was established in March, 2004, by Article 17 of the Constitutive Act of the AU.

It is one of the nine organs provided for in the treaty establishing the African Economic Community signed in Abuja, Nigeria, in 1991.

Its establishment was inspired by a vision to provide a common platform for the African people and their grassroots organisations to be more involved in discussions and decision-making on the problems and challenges confronting the continent.

The PAP currently exercises oversight, and has advisory and consultative powers, lasting for the first five years of its inception.

According to President Mahama, the PAP could contribute to the process of transforming into a body with legislative powers, by organising the elections of its members through universal adult suffrage in member countries.

He also admonished the AU to contribute to that process by fast-tracking its evolution into a union of people, and not merely a union of governments. This major step, when well taken, he noted, would be one that would help end the delay in granting the PAP full legislative powers.

He said one of the benefits of having full legislative powers was the complete elimination of the final vestiges of colonisation, the most pervasive of which are the artificial boundaries that have kept the continent divided.

'We must work towards achieving a system of governance in Africa, in which no African, for the purpose of short term passage, is considered a foreigner in another African country. We must enact laws that allow people with goods and services to move freely across the continent, so as to establish and integrate free trade areas. This can only be of benefit to our individual nations and to the continent as a whole,' he argued.

Continuing, President Mahama said despite the numerous wounds inflicted on the African continent in the areas of dictatorships, coup d'états and civil wars, the AU, formerly Organisation of African Union, has remained.

This, he noted, had afforded each nation and its people the opportunity to find a way to start fulfilling the promise that independence offered.

He said considering the challenges that the continent had gone through over the years, it was inspiring to note that 'Africa's possibilities are limitless,' and has also shown to the world that 'Africans should not be underestimated.' 'If ever we should fall,' he noted, 'we will rise and stand taller and stronger than before.'

In his welcome address, the President of PAP, Bethel Nnaemeka Amadi, said the struggle of the African continent was not yet over.

He said the Assembly currently, has taken note of the recommendations of the Executive Council, contained in its decision on the amended Protocols, and had decided to do further consultation with particular reference to Articles 81(a) and 82, before adopting it.

He told the House that the draft protocols had now been deferred for consideration at the next Ordinary Session to be held in January, 2014.

Amadi said the adoption of the amended protocols would provide the African Union governance the architecture with an institution that has sufficient capacity to facilitate the implementation of the Assembly's decision, and to develop legislative framework for continental integration.

To this end, he implored President Mahama to continue to support the advocacy of a fully-fledged African Parliament with legislative functions and also prevail upon his colleague heads of state to adopt the draft protocols, since it had already been approved by the Ministers of Justice and Attorney General of member states. 'This would enhance the ability of the Pan-African Parliament to meet is visionary objectives,' he argued.