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George Sanzila
WINDHOEK – Remarkable efforts are made to transform the SADC Parliamentary Forum (PF-SADC) into a regional parliament
. This is the recent convergence of national SADC speakers in Angola, which has pressured the president of this country Joao Manuel Lourenço to become one of the champions of forum transformation and influences his peers in the region. Speakers gathered for the 43rd Plenary Assembly of SADC-PF
SADC-PF, composed of 15 Member States and up to five representatives elected by the national parliaments of each Member State, was established in 1997 to the SADC. summit in Malawi with the aim of providing a platform to support and enhance regional integration through parliamentary participation and to promote best practices in the role of parliaments.
He has more than 1,800 parliamentarians in the SADC region. regional interparliamentary body was the absence of a regional parliament. There are already other bodies such as the secretariat (executive) and a court (judicial), the legislative arm being the only missing link.
Other regional bodies such as the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have regional parliaments At the meeting, President Lourenço affirmed his support and said added that all the necessary preparatory processes should be put in place and communicated at the next SADC summit scheduled for the agenda. Windhoek, Namibia, next month
SADC-PF parliamentarians agreed that a regional parliament was needed to harmonize legislation such as the eradication of child marriage and protection marriages, the development of standards for elections in the SADC region, regional integration and gender issues and the 50/50 gender parity goal in parliaments.
With SA The only region without a parliament, the proposed body, which will be housed in Namibia, would see the completion of five regional parliaments anchored in the Pan-African Parliament.
Addressing the media on behalf of SADC speakers after the consultative meeting Luanda, Speaker of the Namibian National Assembly, Prof. Peter Katjavivi, noted that the transformation was also vital for the government. regional integration and development.
He added that the meeting had agreed that each national parliament should seek support for the transformation by working closely with government ministries in their respective countries in preparation for the upcoming SADC summit
Namibian President Hage Geingob will take the presidency of SADC at the summit organized by Namibia
* George Sanzila works as director of information in the division: Research, information, publications and editorial services in the National Assembly.
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