Luanda - The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has just become the 12th SADC Member State to adhere to the agreement to transform the organization's Parliamentary Forum into a regional parliament.
The treaty was signed this Thursday by the DRC ambassador to Angola, Constantin Kalala Mayba, to whom President Felix Tshisekedi gave full powers to sign the protocol.
For its entry into force, the agreement to transform the SADC-PF into Parliament requires a minimum of 12 signatures.
The Angola National Assembly Speaker, Carolina Cerqueira, welcomed the step taken by the DRC, considering that the conditions have been created for the transformation of the Parliamentary Forum (PF) into a SADC parliament.
"It is a date that marks the organization’s history and in SADC parliamentarism, because, today, we managed to constitute the necessary group of two thirds, in accordance with article 9, point 1, paragraph “a” of the Constitution of the regional organization, to give green light to the defined objective.
"We are to be congratulated, because the conditions are met for the transformation of the SADC-PF into a regional parliament", stated Carolina Cerqueira.
She highlitghs that Angola's satisfaction lies in the fact that, after 10 years, the conditions for this purpose are met.
"We have been dealing with the issue for 10 years and, today, fortunately, we have managed to achieve what is necessary for the regional parliament to become a reality", she stressed.
Speaking to the press, Carolina Cerqueira highlighted the fact that this was an action resulting from the efforts of the President of the Republic, João Lourenço, who, as acting chairman of SADC, "did everything to achieve this objective".
She added that Angola will continue to make efforts, within the scope of the lobby team, so that the other Member States that have not yet signed the agreement can do so.
In this way, she continued, SADC heads of state will be able to learn, at the organization's next summit to be held in Zimbabwe, that there are effective conditions for the emergence of the regional parliament, as a consultative and non-deliberative body.
It is a consultative parliament that, as a geopolitical bloc, within the scope of regional consultation, addresses the concerns of the populations and, above all, with the contribution of parliaments, in the approval of model laws, reinforcing the democratic process and the preservation of the Democratic State of Law, she said.
"The next step will be to inform the Heads of State that it can proclaim itself the SADC parliament with 12 member states that are signatories to the agreement", she reinforced.
However, Carolina Cerqueira said that Angola's intention is for the entire bloc to sign, including the Mauritius islands, Madagascar and Botswana.
"We are sure that these brother countries will sign, because they will want to be part of the SADC parliament. Angola will soon send a delegation to the Mauritius islands, as part of the lobby group's action to obtain the signature of this member state", she revealed.
Established in September 1997, the SADC-PF, based in Windhoek, Namibia, provides a platform for dialogue between the parliaments of the 16 SADC Member States on issues of regional interest and concern.
The Agreement amending the SADC Treaty was adopted by the SADC Summit of Heads of State and Government, in Kinshasa, DRC, on August 17, 2022.
The region has more than 3,500 parliamentarians from Angola, South Africa, Botswana, Comoros, DRC, eSwatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
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