MALABO PROTOCOL
SA holds back Pan African Parliament
SA commits millions to the Pan African Parliament but has yet to ratify the Malabo protocol creating a legislative body
SA is continuing to pour millions of rand into the Pan African Parliament (PAP), despite failing to ratify the Malabo protocol, which is meant to turn it into an effective legislative body. The AU allocated just more than $22m to the PAP for the 2017 financial year. SA incurs extra costs as host nation. Along with 49 other member states, SA is one of the countries holding back the PAP, which without the power to create laws is reduced to a consultative and advisory talk shop. Only five countries, including Mali, Togo and the Gambia have ratified the Malabo Protocol that extended the mandate of the Pan-African Parliament to include legislative powers. Amnesty International described the agreement as a "crucial legal instrument" in 2016. The 55 member states of the AU agreed to amendments to the protocol at a summit in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea in June 2014. Yet the PAP remains a toothless institution with nothing else but a mandate to make recommendations and convene conferences at w...
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