Rwandan representatives to the Pan-African Parliament (PAP) believe much will be attained by the continental body despite challenges in capacity.

They were addressing the press yesterday at Parliamentary Buildings, Kimihurura on the recently concluded ninth ordinary session of the PAP in South Africa.

They are Prosper Higiro, Vice President of the Senate and Head of Rwanda’s PAP delegation, Senators Augustine Iyamuremye, Agnes Mukabaranga and Deputies Antoine Somayire and Juliana Kantengwa.

"Unlike the OAU, the vision of the AU is different. In the Parliament, we bring up Africa’s problems for discussion which is an important aspect, we identify them in order to better find their solutions," Higiro explained.

He however pointed out that PAP is faced with a number of challenges including lack of political will on the part of some states and capacity problems.

"The Parliament is still new and no proper evaluation has been done to asses its achievements," he said, adding that PAP’s major roles include pursuit of Africa’s economic integration and oversight of AU policies.

Higiro explained that the 9th ordinary session dwelt on Africa’s present security concerns, election disputes, food crisis and the French and Spanish judges’ indictments of some Rwandan military leaders.

"We couldn’t take it [the fraudulent indictment case] on our own since it is an African problem. Today it could be us and tomorrow another country," he observed.

"We also discussed security problems since there are many agreements signed but implementation is still lacking," he said. This, he explained, was due to capacity problems encountered in the various levels of implementation both at the UN and AU.

On the Kenyan and Zimbabwean elections, the lawmakers stressed that in both cases the problems emanated from delays in announcing election results.

Mukabaranga, a PAP Human Rights Commissioner, who was also an observer during the Zimbabwe elections, said poor electoral laws were largely part of the problem.

"For example, voters’ register was brought in at the last minute," she said.

The time of announcing election results, political party disagreements on campaign terms, partiality of courts and the problem of accepting election results were other critical issues in the Zimbabwe poll, the lawmaker added. A re-run is due next month.

"We wonder what the elections are for if people vote and things are change," Higiro observed. "We pondered on this question and think in the near future the AU will come out with solutions."

The PAP meeting also looked into issues of food crisis in Africa, and blamed the situation to mainly climate change, low investments in agriculture and population explosion.

Only six countries in Africa have got a budget above 10 percent for agriculture in Africa, they said.

The Pan-African Parliament was established in March 2004.

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