SADC SPEAKERS LOBBY FOR SADC PARLIAMENT
Speaker of the National Assembly, NELLY MUTTI and other Speakers in SADC Member Parliaments have met with the President of Botswana, Dr. Mokgweetsi Masisi to lobby for Botswana to sign the Treaty transforming the SADC Parliamentary Forum into a Regional Parliament.
The SADC Lobby Mission Team briefed President MASISI on the number of countries that have signed the Treaty, meeting the twelve Member threshold required to bring the treaty into force.
The President was also informed that only four countries were yet to sign the Treaty.
Speaker of the National Assembly of Zimbabwe JACOB MUDENDA, who is the leader of the Mission Team, hoped that all countries would append their signatures to the agreement to amend the Treaty for the establishment of the SADC Parliament.
The SADC Parliament will include new features which include the setting up of an administrative joint task team constituted of SADC Secretariat and SADC-Parliamentary Forum Secretariat to ensure that the SADC Parliament is aligned to the regional integration agenda and contributes to it by deliberating on issues of prioritized importance.
It will also ensure deeper commitment to monitoring the domestication of Model Laws by engagement of national parliaments through scorecards as well as efficient Monitoring and Evaluation of strategic objectives akin to international standards.
This is according to a statement issued by First Secretary at the Zambian High Commission in Gaborone Botswana , JULIA MALUNGA.
Oh my goodness, what is it for? There’s no need for a parliament in the SADC region. Let the member nations remain as trading partners. Africans are normally very good at creating multilateral institutions that are irrelevant to the interests of ordinary people.