Miles Sampa launches attack on Pan-African Parliament President, scandalizes him through a sham Audit Report

By Amb. Emmanuel Mwamba

Miles Sampa launches attack on Pan-African Parliament President, scandalises him through a sham Audit Report

Senator Chief Fortune Z. Charumbira, a Zimbabwean national, was previously Vice President of the Pan-African Parliament.

Charumbira was elected as the new leader of the Pan-African Parliament (PAP) at the Pan-Africa Parliament (PAP) Ordinary Session of the Fifth Parliament held in Midrand, South Africa.

Hon. Charumbira was seconded to contest for Presidency of the PAP Bureau by his Southern Africa Caucus.

Miles Sampa was among his campaign managers.

But Sampa has turned the guns against him.

Sampa is now backing the candidature of Hon. Dr Ashebiri Gayo,who is Vice President of PAP from Ethiopia.

Sampa is Chairperson of the Audit and Public Accounts (PACA).

REBUTTAL OF CAPA REPORT ON SUPPORT STAFF

1.0 THE CAPA CHAIRPERSON IS CONFLICTED

● “Hon. Sampa’s credibility to speak on this issue of support staff is highly questionable as he is among those who in their individual capacity has sought to abuse the system and exploit the process which I resisted.”

● “In his individual capacity, at every session he always has at least three support staff on the list whom he brings through either the Bureau or staff – look out for Chaze Mwale, Edward Mkandawire, Edwin Banda and Ngolwa Jane Sakala who are a constant feature on the support staff lists.”

i. It has been drawn to my attention that, during the Joint Committee Meetings being held in South Africa, Burundi and Ethiopia, the Chairperson of the Committee on Audit and Public Accounts (CAPA), Hon. Miles Sampa, made malicious and false allegations against me to the effect that PAP funds were exhausted through a convoluted number of support staff that I allegedly brought in for the March and May sessions.

ii. A fabricated table was shown to Members in support of the trumped-up allegations that purportedly reflected that I brought a total of 254 Support Staff for the March Committee Sittings, 241 Support Staff for the May Session and over 40 Zimbabweans at each session.

iii. I will not delve into the substance of the allegations now as a blow-by- blow factual account will be provided to Members in due course which will disabuse all the lies that have been peddled by Hon. Miles Sampa with the backing of Hon. Dr. Gayo.
iv. However, I must point out that it is practically and factually impossible for the President to single handedly orchestrate the employment of such a huge number of support staff on his own, notwithstanding the presence of a Bureau and a fully-fledged Secretariat both of whom have traditionally been active participants in the development of support staff list and often with a vested interests in the support staff list and a fiduciary duty to the institution, let alone the MPs themselves. To endorse such anomaly where one man can influence such number of support staff, without intervention or objection would then imply that these structures are dysfunctional and have abdicated their responsibilities.

v. Before going into the substance of the allegations, it is pertinent to point out that the CAPA Chairperson, Hon. Miles Sampa, is driven by political motivations, is undeniably conflicted on so may levels and as such does not have the moral standing to table this report. Firstly, Hon. Members must be aware that Hon. Sampa is the preferred candidate for Hon. Gayo and his backers in their attempt to dislodge me from the position of President. They have finally conceded and accepted that the principle of rotation, which they were initially fighting is here to stay and that only the Southern Region can field a candidate if PAP is to go for elections. Hon Gayo having conceded the impossibility of his quest for the Presidency, has now positioned Hon. Sampa as his preferred candidate from the Southern Region to take over from Hon. Chief Charumbira if they succeed in their machinations. Hon. Sampa is, therefore, not only trying to discredit me in the eyes of Members to justify the coup they are attempting but he is also campaigning for himself as the alternative.
vi. Hon. Members must ask themselves why he has been a constant feature wherever Hon. Dr. Gayo goes since 23rd August when Hon. Dr. Gayo truncated the principle of rotation and declared himself the Acting President of PAP and why he has been given so much prominence at various platforms despite established frameworks in the functions and jurisdiction of CAPA. The real issue is not about the abuse of funds or the violation of the PAP Protocol, which have been rebutted and debunked by existing reports and legal principles, but the real motive is to remove Charumbira from the position of President and replace him with Hon. Sampa who is Hon. Gayo’s blue-eyed boy. I am confident that the Members easily see through this deception.

vii. Secondly, Hon. Sampa’s credibility to speak on this issue of support staff is highly questionable as he is among those who in their individual capacity has sought to abuse the system and exploit the process which I resisted. In his individual capacity, at every session he always has at least three support staff on the list whom he brings through either the Bureau or staff – look out for Chaze Mwale, Edward Mkandawire, Edwin Banda and Ngolwa Jane Sakala who are a constant feature on the support staff lists. These are the only ones known to the Bureau though there could be more that we do not know. As I have been instrumental in reigning in on these excesses, I can authoritatively state that any proposal for the reduction of support staff should start with him.

viii. I must also point out that the Audit Report lacks credibility because despite availing myself to scrutiny by CAPA, I was not given the opportunity to appear before the Committee during its enquiry. The CAPA Chairperson is deliberately misleading Members in his representation that I refused to appear before CAPA. This is clearly contradicted by documents on record. See attached the email that I sent to the Clerk confirming my availability but I was not interviewed because the audit was intended to create a particular narrative.
ix. On the basis of these lies alone, Members must question the credibility of the report and the motive behind the whole agenda. I am prepared to appear before any Committee to respond to the issues raised in their fictitious report with facts. It is my hope that in the interests of fairness and in line with the principles of natural justice, that I will be given the opportunity even though some Members may appear to have already been manipulated with a biased, untrue and one-sided view of the issue.

2.0 THE FACTS ON SUPPORT STAFF

2.1 PRIOR TO THE MAY SESSION APPROVAL FOR THE SUPPORT STAFF LIST WAS NOT DONE BY THE BUREAU/ PRESIDENT

i. Firstly, it must be placed on record that, prior to the May 2023 plenary session, the Support Staff list was managed and approved by the Acting Clerk. The list would be compiled by H.R. and submitted to the Acting Clerk for approval. Even Management did not discuss the support staff list and the list was not approved by the Bureau. Like other Departments/Units, the Bureau would submit its list of support staff list to H.R. for consolidation and submission to the Acting Clerk. In that regard, during the March Committee Sittings, the Bureau, like any other Department submitted its support staff list for consolidation into the composite list and did not, at any point, approve the final list. The number of 254 was, therefore, known to and approved by the Acting Clerk and not the Bureau/President as is alleged. I must point out that the computation of the support staff list was presented to the Bureau by the Acting Clerk with representation that the compilation of the list was informed by a needs assessment by the respective departments of the institution with consideration to the human resource capability needed for a smooth functioning of the session.

2.2 THE SUBSEQUENT SUPPORT STAFF LIST FOR THE MAY SESSION WAS APPROVED BY THE PRESIDENT AS PER THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE AUDITORS

ii. The Support Staff List only came to the Bureau for approval after the April 29th Audit Report that compelled the Acting Clerk to submit the list to the Bureau. (See Observation 2(e) of the attached Audit Report). The Bureau convened a meeting and decided to reduce the number of staff to not more than 100 (See Minutes of the 13th Bureau Meeting). However, the initial list submitted by the Acting Clerk had 183 support staff (See attached list). The President directed the Acting Clerk to engage the Departmental Heads to reduce the number of staff but the Acting Clerk encountered stiff resistance and ended up arbitrarily reducing the number to 145. The President directed the current Acting Director Finance, Administration and Human Resources, Mr. Kenneth Akibate, and the Director of the Bureau to further reduce the list and it came down to 130. However, the various Departments/Units, following a memo from the Acting Clerk directing them to appeal to the President for additional staff where need be, wrote to the President requesting for some of the staff that had been removed to be retained on the basis that they had already started working as the list was approved late. The final list that was signed by the President, as per the audit requirement, came up to 166 and the President declined to go beyond that number. (See the attached signed list)

2.3 THE LIST APPROVED BY THE PRESIDENT FOR THE MAY SESSION HAD 166 SUPPORT STAFF NOT 241

iii. The list approved by the President for the May 2023 Session had 166 support staff, minus Interpreters and Translators, who are managed by the LBC. The list of interpreters and translators does not come to the Bureau such that the Bureau has no idea how many interpreters and translators are engaged at every session.
iv. It is, therefore, surprising that the Audit puts the total number of support staff for the May 2023 Session at 241. The Bureau would be equally interested in knowing how that number was arrived at. The Bureau can only assume that the additional 75 people were added to the list as Interpreters/Translators by the Legislative Business Unit. If they are all interpreters and translators, then there may be need to interrogate whether that is a reasonable number.

2.4 THE NUMBER OF ZIMBABWEANS ON THE LIST IS EXAGGERATED AND NOT ALL OF THEM COME THROUGH THE PRESIDENT

v. The number of support staff from Zimbabwe is exaggerated to give the impression that the President is bringing in a huge number of support staff from his own country. The report also deliberately forgets to mention the fact that the list has 17 support staff from Ethiopia and 6 from Zambia.
vi. It is incorrect to assume that all the support staff on the list that are from Zimbabwe are associated with the President, who is also from Zimbabwe. As reflected on the list, some of the support staff come through the various Departments and even Bureau Members and MPs. If we are to go by the same token, we can conclude, therefore, that all the 17 Ethiopians on the list were brought in by Hon. Dr. Gayo and all the 6 Zambians on the list were brought by Hon. Sampa who has a tendency of approaching Bureau Members and staff to include his people on the list. The majority of the Zimbabweans have nothing to do with the President. Staff have their own on the list, the Bureau Members have their own and even MPs bring their own through either the Bureau or staff.

2.5 THERE IS NO SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE IN THE SUPPORT STAFF LISTS FOR THE 2019 AND THE 2023 SESSIONS

vii. For comparative purposes, it must also be noted that the 2019 Support Staff list had 144 Support Staff and about $1.3 million was utilised. The May 2023 Support Staff list had 166 Support Staff and about $1.2 million was utilised. The only difference is that there is a budget deficit because of the inadequate budgetary allocation but the trend in the utilisation of funds and the level of support staff for the sessions is the same.
viii. Secondly, in the 2019 Support Staff List, the then President has 16 Support Staff from Cameroon, the 2nd Vice President has 8 support staff from Mali. In the same vein, the Bureau agreed on a specific number for Bureau support staff, that is, 3 International and 5 Local Support Staff for the Vice Presidents and 5 International and 10 Local Support Staff for the President. This Bureau resolution has been adhered to. There is, therefore, nothing amiss with the President having support staff on the list as this is via a Bureau decision which is validated by precedence. I note that nobody complained when Hon. Roger Nkodo Dang brought over 30 support staff under his name during his tenure but it becomes an issue when Charumbira brings in a number agreed upon by the Bureau and which has been established as duly necessary to undertake the task and demands of the office.

2.6 THE DURATION OF ANY SESSION IS DETERMINED BY THE JOINT BUREAUXES AND NOT THE PRESIDENT ALONE AND A SESSION CAN LAST UP TO ONE MONTH AS PER THE RULES OF PAP PROTOCOL

ix. The May 2023 Plenary Session was convened from 8th May to 2nd June 2023 giving a total of twenty six (26) days. It must be noted that Article 13(2) of the PAP Protocol as read with Rule 28(2) of both the 2011 and the 2022 Rules provides that, “A session of Parliament may last up to one month.” The 26-day period is thus compliant with the PAP Protocol and Rules of Procedure. So there is no violation of any law or rule whatsoever.

x. It must also be put on record that the programme for the session is collectively considered and approved by the Bureau and Bureauxes of Permanent Committees and Caucuses prior to the onset of each session. Accordingly, the programme for the May 2023 Plenary session was considered and approved at a Joint Meeting of the Bureau and Bureauxes on Friday 12th May 2023. It is not the Bureau or the President alone who decides on the programme.

xi. Need I remind Hon. Members that, in convening the 26 – day session, the PAP was also responding to growing public criticism that the PAP does not commit enough time to its sessions given the multitude of challenges bedevilling Africa. This has motivated the PAP to lobby for the ratification of the Malabo Protocol which envisages full-time PAP Members who will be able to devote enough time to deliberate and act on the challenges facing the continent. In trying to accuse Charumbira of falsehoods, we must be careful not to set a precedent that will haunt us in future by accepting the reduction in the duration of our sessions and yet it is provided for the in the PAP Protocol which Hon. Gayo claims to uphold.

2.7 THE PROBLEM IS AND HAS ALWAYS BEEN THE BUDGET INADEQUACY

xii. It is important to re-emphasise that in February 2023 the Executive Council acknowledged the inadequacy of the PAP Budget and commended PAP for its output in so short a time. The Executive Council directed the PRC to review the 2023 PAP Budget to enable PAP to fulfil its mandate. (See EX.CL/DEC.1198(XLII) of February 2023) Even the Executive Council itself appreciated that the PAP Budget was not enough.
xiii. During the May 2023 session, the Chairperson of the Committee on Finance and Monetary Affairs, Hon. Mohamed Mubarak Muntaka tabled a Report that warned that the August 2023 Committee Sittings and October 2023 session would not hold unless additional funding is released by the AU. This is reflected in the report to the Bureau by the Secretariat and also the President’s follow-up letter to the AUC Chairperson requesting for funds to enable PAP hold the sitting and session.
xiv. There is, therefore, no substance to the allegation that the President exhausted funds by bringing in a huge number of support staff from Zimbabwe. Members of Parliament and the staff themselves also have vested interests in the support staff list which explains the refusal to reduce the number of staff during the May 2023 session.