The Honourable Speaker of the National Assembly, Ms Nelly Kashumba Butete Mutti, SC, MP, FAPRA handed over the Presidency of the Forum of Parliaments of the Members States of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (FP-ICGLR) to Ms Carolina Cerqueira, Speaker of the National Assembly of Angola on Friday, 25th April, 2025 at the end of the 15th Session of the FP-ICGLR in Luanda, Angola. The Rt Honourable Speaker Mutti took over the Presidency in April 2024 in Livingstone, when Zambia hosted the 14th Session of the FP-ICGLR. During her tenure of office as President of the FP-ICGLR, Speaker Mutti successfully carried out the following activities:
(i) In January, 2025, she undertook a familiarisation tour to the Headquarters of the Forum in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). For the first time in the history of the Institution, staff at the Headquarters had an opportunity to speak directly with herself as the Sitting President as well as Hon Moses Moyo, MP, Second Deputy Speaker and President of the Executive Committee of the FP-ICGLR. Some of the issues raised by staff included conditions of service for local staff which were not in tandem with the labour laws of the host nation;
(ii) It was also during this visit that the gap between the Forum and Chief Executives of national Parliaments, who are Controlling officers was identified. It was, therefore, proposed that a committee of clerks of member parliaments be established, so as to ensure that parliaments were up to-date with their annual subscriptions. That was why Clerks of Parliaments were present in the Angola meeting;
(iii) In March, 2025, Speaker Mutti led the Fourth Phase of the Parliamentary Fact- Finding Mission on the armed conflict in the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to Kampala, Uganda. During the Mission Speaker Mutti and her Delegation, which included the Speaker of Uganda, Mrs Anita Among and Members of Parliament from Rwanda, DRC and Zambia had a very fruitful engagement with His Excellency Mr Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, President of the Republic of Uganda. President Museveni gave us his perspective on the armed conflict in the eastern DRC. President Museveni emphasised the need for leaders to avoid the sectarian model of governance, which he said was the root cause of the conflict in Eastern DRC;
(iv) In the Fifth Phase Mission to Nairobi, Kenya, which the President of the Executive Committee, Hon Moses Moyo, MP led, the Mission had an engagement with His Excellency Mr. William Ruto, President of the Republic of Kenya. President Ruto expressed concern that a country that was endowed with so much mineral wealth and resources had been engulfed in unending conflicts. He gave a historical perspective to the African Union, stating that the Union was initially a liberation movement and there were questions about whether or not it was capable, in its current form, to address the conflicts on the continent.
(v) President Ruto indicated that the resolve was to make the African Union a fit-for-purpose Institution, agile enough to resolve African problems. With the fall-out of the United Nations Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), in the peace keeping initiative in DRC, as well as the East African Community Regional Force (EACRF), there was need for the United Nations to back up the African Union in its efforts to brocker peace in Africa.
(vi) During the 15th Session of the FP ICGLR in Angola, Speaker Mutti successfully chaired the process of selection of a new Secretary General of the FP ICGLR. After consultations, the Plenary approved the Executive Committee’s nomination of Dr Deo Osmund Mwapinga of Tanzania to be the new Secretary General for an initial tenure of three years, which was renewable if the candidate was capable. Mr Mwapinga, gave his acceptance speech following his approval by the Plenary as new Secretary General.
(vii) Madam Speaker finally proposed that the tenure of office of the incoming President of the FP-ICGLR be increased to two years from one year as the one year term was too short to execute affairs of the Presidency in the midst of so many other responsibilities as a Presiding Officer. This proposal was also adopted by the Plenary Assembly.
The 15th Session of the FP-ICGLR was officially closed by the incoming President of the FP-ICGLR, Ms Carolina Cerqueira, Speaker of the National Assembly of Angola on Friday, 25th April, 2025, after assuming the Presidency from Speaker Mutti.
