By Mohammed Hadebbe
JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA – The Pan-African Parliament (PAP) is navigating a crucial period of institutional alignment, as clarified by PAP President, Senator Chief Fortune Charumbira, during the Joint Bureauxes Meeting on Saturday , July 19, 2025.
A key point of discussion was the Executive Council’s decision in February 2025 to extend the current Bureau’s tenure by seven months, a move aimed at resolving inconsistencies within the Parliament’s founding documents.
Chief Charumbira explained that the Executive Council, through EXCL/Dec.1288(XLVI), directed the extension of the Bureau’s tenure from July 1, 2025, with elections now slated for February 2026.
This decision directly addresses a long-standing conflict between PAP’s 2011 Rules of Procedure, specifically Rule 16(10), which stipulated a fixed three-year non-renewable term, and Article 12(3) of the PAP Protocol, which aligns the Bureau’s tenure with the national parliamentary terms of its members.
“The decision by the Executive Council was a recognition of the inconsistencies between the PAP Rules of Procedure… and Article 12(3) of the PAP Protocol,” Chief Charumbira emphasized.
The seven-month extension is not merely to compensate for the period of internal crisis experienced by PAP in 2023, but critically, to provide adequate time for the PRC Sub-Committee on Rules, Standards, and Verification of Credentials and Procedures, in collaboration with the Commission and the PAP, to finalize the alignment of the Rules of Procedure with the PAP Protocol.
This alignment process is crucial to prevent further violations of the Constitutive Act of the African Union and to ensure the smooth functioning of the Pan-African Parliament.
The PAP’s Rules Committee is actively engaged in this process and is expected to present a report to the Plenary on the status of the alignment soon.
This move signifies a proactive step towards strengthening the institutional framework and governance of the Pan-African Parliament.
