Vision of the SADC
Parliamentary Forum for the Year 2000 |
The Forum Secretariat will serve as a Regional Resource Centre on
issues of strong and effective parliamentary institutions on regional integration,
democratisation, and SADC parliamentary practices, on governance and human rights.
It serves as a capacity building
centre for Parliaments at the regional level.
Thus the Forum shall have a strong
database and a roster of professional resource persons on all core areas of need, by using
the state-of-the-art information technologies in its own premises at Windhoek, which are
inter-linked to other Parliaments in the region.
In the long run, the Forum expects to
have citizens of SADC who are informed and participate in driving regional integration
efforts from bottom-up.
The author, Dr Mutukwa, is a former
Zambian MP whose career started in the university as an academician.
Born in 1947, his previous
engagements include working as director general of the Eastern and Southern Africa
Management Institute (1987-93), chief of the United Nations Environment Programme's (UNEP)
Environmental Education and Training Unit (1981-85), Zambia's deputy permanent
representative to the UN in New York (1977-81) and head of department of Political and
Administrative Studies at the University of Zambia
World water visioning
kicks off
Illicit drugs in
Southern Africa: The facts
Commonwealth leaders
to meet in Durban
New impetus for
Africa's goal of an economic community as SADC-ECOWAS forge closer ties
"He carried the
torch that liberated Africa"
Exerpts from address
by President Mkapa at funeral
The week that Southern
Africa will long to remember
|
The SADC Parliamentary Forum, formed two years ago, now has a fully
functional Secretariat based in Windhoek, Namibia. In this article, Dr Kasuka Mutukwa, who
was appointed Secretary General by the Forum's Plenary Assembly in June 1999, outlines the
principal objectives and expected outputs of the organization in the new millennium.
The SADC
Parliamentary Forum offers a permanent platform for dialogue and advocacy on regional
cooperation at the parliamentary level, thereby bringing issues of regional integration to
the forefront of national agendas as we enter the new millennium.
With
membership from all parliaments in SADC, lawmakers are afforded the opportunity to work
together and thus contribute to peace, development and prosperity of all citizens and
residents of the SADC region.
This will be
made possible by bringing about a more comprehensive participation of MPs and other
stakeholders in the process of regional integration, which has been a missing link in
earlier efforts.
The Forum also expects to
contribute to the advancement of the desires for peace building, economic prosperity,
democratic governance and freedoms for citizens of the Community through their elected
representatives.
By encouraging MPs to work together,
the Forum is expected to initiate and strengthen the evolution of common approaches on
policy issues at country levels that will eventually promote and compliment regional
integration efforts.
|
Also to be established are common standards and consensus on
democratising elections, electoral processes and their management. The Forum hopes to strengthen the
knowledge base of MPs on the issues of regional cooperation, leadership roles and skills
including parliamentary diplomacy and networking.
Equally essential is the increased
role of Parliaments on legislation and programmes on regional integration being
implemented by executive branches at ministerial levels.
The Forum anticipates expanding
opportunities for the participation of other stakeholders in the processes of regional
integration and democratisation involving civil society, non-governmental organizations,
community-based organisations, professional associations and groupings with particular
emphasis on involving women.
It is also hoped that an atmosphere will be created that
will allow parliamentarians to work in close cooperation with the Summit and the SADC
Secretariat in facilitating and advancing the noble cause of the Southern African
Development Community.
Dr Kasuka Mutukwa
Dr Mose Tjitendero
“Forum expects to have
citizens of SADC who are informed and can participate in driving regional efforts from
bottom-up” |