Luanda - The Botswana Head of State, Mokgweetsi Masisi, gave on Tuesday the “green light” for the country to sign the protocol to transform the Parliamentary Forum of the Southern African Development Community (PF-SADC) into a Regional Parliament.
The acceptance of adherence to the protocol occurred during a meeting that the Head of State of Botswana held with the Lobby Group led by the Speaker of the Parliament of Zimbabwe, Jacob Mudenda, as part of a good offices mission.
According to deputy Pedro Sebastião, Coordinator of the SADC National Group, who was part of the group representing the National Assembly Speaker, Carolina Cerqueira, during the hearing information was transmitted regarding the process of transforming the FP-SADC into a Regional Parliament.
According to deputy Pedro Sebastião, after presenting the arguments of the members of the Lobby delegation, the President of Botswana, Mokgweetsi Masisi, gave the green light for his country's accession to the Treaty establishing the SADC Parliament.
To this end, the concerns of the Government of Botswana were heard, which essentially concern the powers and mandate of the future Regional Parliament, financial issues and the management of the sovereignty of the Member States.
The objective is to establish the SADC Parliament as one of the SADC institutions in terms of Article 9 of the SADC Treaty.
Speaker of the National Assembly of Zimbabwe, Jacob Mudenda, who made the presentations on behalf of the lobby team, highlighted that the forum aims to provide a platform for parliaments and parliamentarians to promote and improve regional integration through parliamentary engagement.
It is recalled that, in light of article 9 (1) of the Constitution, the Agreement Amending the SADC Treaty for the establishment of the Regional Parliament has already entered into force, with the signature of 12 Member States, making up 3/4 of the necessary majority, that is, 12 out of 16.
However, in accordance with the recommendation of the 44th Summit of Heads of State and Government, held on August 17th, in Harare, Zimbabwe, all regional parliaments must express their inestimable approval of the creation of the Regional Parliament.
The signatures of Madagascar and Mauritius are also assured, during the next Summit of Heads of State, scheduled for August next year, in the Republic of Madagascar.
The SADC Parliamentary Forum is made up of 16 member states, namely Angola, Botswana, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), eSwatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, United Republic from Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.ART/CF/DOJ/DOJ
