The Republic of Zambia has signed the Agreement Amending the SADC Treaty on the transformation of the SADC Parliamentary Forum into a Regional Parliament in Luanda, Angola. The Treaty was signed on 2nd July, 2024 by the sidelines of the ongoing 55th SADC Parliamentary Forum Plenary Assembly by Honourable Princess Kasune, MP, Minister of Justice, who was designated by His Excellency the President of the Republic of Zambia, Mr Hakainde Hichilema, pursuant to Article 92 (1) of the Constitution of Zambia , Chapter 1 of the Laws of Zambia.
Speaking in Angola, during the occasion, Speaker of the National Assembly, The Right Honourable Ms Nelly B K Mutti, SC., MP, FAPRA, said that the Forum was now at the verge of actualising the dream of many years of it being transformed into a Regional Parliament as is the case in other regional blocks in Africa . She reiterated that one of the tangible outcomes of this transformation is the strengthening of the implementation of resolutions by the Forum and action by member Parliaments. Honourable Mutti called on Parliaments in the region to work together in changing the narrative of being policy giants but implementation dwarfs.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Justice, Honourable Princess Kasune, MP, has thanked President Hakainde Hichilema for granting her the authority to sign the Agreement during the plenary Assembly of the Forum. She further thanked the SADC Secretariat for yielding to the request and facilitating the signing. She also thanked the Secretary-General and staff of the SADC Parliamentary Forum for the administrative support rendered in actualizing the process. Honourable Kasune also implored on the remaining five countries of the SADC region to ensure that the Treaty is signed in order to join hands in confronting the numerous challenges affecting the region.
The President of the SADC Parliamentary Forum and Speaker of the National Assembly of Seychelles, Honourable Roger Mancienne, has congratulated Zambia for signing the Agreement. He stated that the signing of the Agreement by Zambia has brought the region closer, than ever before, to actualising the dream of transforming the Forum into a Regional Parliament.
The signing ceremony was witnessed by SADC Speakers, SADC Parliamentary Forum- Secretariat, SADC secretariat, Zambia’s Chargé D Affaires to Angola, Mrs Roster Kapaya and other senior Government officials from the Government of Angola.
The Agreement Amending the SADC Treaty was adopted by the SADC Heads of State and Government Summit at its meeting held in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo on 17 August 2022. The Agreement establishes SADC Parliament as one of the Institutions of SADC under Article 9(1) of the SADC Treaty.
The Agreement requires signatures by twelve (12) SADC Member States for it to be operational as a regional Parliament. Zambia becomes the eleventh SADC Member State to sign the Agreement after Namibia who signed on 26th June, 2024.
The SADC Parliamentary Forum provides a platform for dialogue among the Parliaments from 15 SADC member States on issues of regional interest and concern. It has a membership of over 3500 parliamentarians from Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Seychelles, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
