By Tendai Guvamombe
NEW YORK – The Pan-African Parliament (PAP) is spearheading a continental push for stronger digital governance. During the Forward Africa Leaders Symposium, held on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly’s 80th session (UNGA80), PAP President H.E. Chief Fortune Charumbira stressed the vital role of parliamentarians in shaping Africa’s digital future.
The symposium, convened by the African Peer Review Mechanism, focused on advancing Africa’s digital transformation to accelerate growth and amplify impact.Chief Charumbira highlighted the need to integrate a parliamentary dimension into the digital governance architecture.
He emphasized that for digital transformation to be truly inclusive and for the governance of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to be effective, parliamentarians must be empowered to perform their oversight duties.
“Parliamentarians are therefore well positioned to guide Africa’s digital revolution to ensure it is transparent, inclusive, and beneficial to the continent,” he stated.
To this end, a significant announcement was made: the Pan-African Parliament, in collaboration with the African Population and Health Research Centre (APHRC), will host a training workshop for its members on September 27-28, 2025.
The workshop aims to build MPs’ capacity and will lead to the launch of a Common Parliamentary Toolkit on AI Governance. This toolkit will serve as a model law to harmonize legislation across all African countries, ensuring a unified approach to AI regulation.
Chief Charumbira also participated in a panel discussion on “Making Governance work for Tech Innovation,” where he advocated for policy frameworks that enable African businesses to climb the technology value chain.
The PAP delegation’s presence at UNGA80 is part of a broader strategy to elevate African voices on the global stage through parliamentary diplomacy.
