Pan African parliamentary partnerships must produce visible improvements in citizens’ lives rather than end with signed agreements, Ghanaian lawmaker Dr Zanetor Agyeman Rawlings has told African legislative leaders.
Opening the second day of the Conference of Speakers of National and Regional Parliaments in Midrand, South Africa, she called for more strategic cooperation to advance the Pan African Parliament’s mandate and accelerate Agenda 2063.
“The true measure of any partnership lies not in the number of Memoranda of Understanding we sign, but in the tangible outcomes they deliver,” she said.
African institutions urged to abandon silos
Agyeman Rawlings said African institutions cannot keep working in isolation while the continent confronts challenges that cross national borders.
Parliamentary diplomacy, legislative harmonisation and coordinated action, she argued, should be treated as practical tools rather than conference language.
She linked closer parliamentary cooperation to peace and security, economic integration, climate resilience, democratic governance and gender equality. The point was direct: no single institution can carry that workload alone.
Malabo Protocol returns to agenda
The Klottey Korle MP also urged African Union member states to accelerate ratification of the Malabo Protocol, which she said would give the Pan African Parliament stronger legislative authority.
She said a fully functional continental parliament would deepen integration and improve coordination of African laws and policies. T
he conference forms part of the First Ordinary Session of the Pan African Parliament’s Seventh Legislature and is being held from July 31 to August 1 at the institution’s headquarters, according to an official parliamentary advisory.
ECOWAS Parliament backs cooperation
Representatives of regional bodies, including the ECOWAS Parliament, also backed closer cooperation between continental, regional and national legislatures.
They argued that shared ambitions will remain abstract unless parliamentary institutions coordinate implementation and oversight. Agyeman Rawlings’ intervention left little room for ceremonial diplomacy.
Africa, she said, should judge partnerships by whether they improve security, opportunity and public confidence across African communities.
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