Ugandan Parliament team meet Speaker and Seychelles PAN African delegation |24 April 2021

The meeting with the Speaker (Photo: Joena Meme)

The Seychelles PAN African Parliament Delegation met the Ugandan Parliament Delegation yesterday at the National Assembly at Ile du Port.

The purpose of the meeting was to support, upon the request of the Parliament of Uganda, Hon. Bangirana Anifa Kawooya, who is vying for the position of vice- president, Eastern Region in the PAN African Parliament. The current tenure of the PAN African Parliament (PAP) Bureau will be ending in May 2021 and new members will be elected for a three-year term.

They were welcomed by the Clerk and other staff of the National Assembly and then had a special meeting with Speaker Roger Mancienne, who presented them with a token with the logo of the National Assembly.

This was followed by a meeting with the Seychelles PAP delegation comprising Hon. Regina Esparon, Hon. Wavel Woodcock and Hon. Conrad Gabriel. Two other members, Hon. Sylvanne Lemiel and Hon. Terence Mondon, could not attend the meeting.

The Ugandan parliamentary delegation was represented by Hon. Amogin Jacqueline, Hon. Anifa Bangirana Kawooya, Hon. James Kakooza and Hon. Isiagi Patrick Opolof. They were accompanied by Lydia Arinaitwe and Barbara Nabitaka.

After a brief presentation on the purpose of their visit by Hon. Amogin Jacqueline, the Seychelles PAP delegation got to know more about the candidate for the post of vice-president of the PAN-African Parliament, Hon. Kawooya.

“I am counting on the support of Seychelles to be elected in that position and my priorities will be to put the advancement of gender and human related issues on top of Africa’s Agenda; to restore confidence, image and visibility of the PAN African Parliament (PAP); to restore team spirit and harmonious working relationship among the Bureau, PAP members, secretariat staff and the African Union Commission; to ensure that the PAN African Parliament becomes the creation centre of model laws for good governance, peace, security and development of the African continent; to ensure acceleration of the signing ratification and depositing of the instruments of the Malabo Protocol by the member states in order to expeditiously transform the PAP into a fully autonomous legislative Assembly and lastly to advocate for members’ empowerment to effectively perform their duties as enshrined in the African Union Constitutive Act.

The visit ended with a tour of the National Assembly and sharing of tokens from both sides.

Vidya Gappy