Speaker of Parliament, Anita Among has urged African countries in the Commonwealth to leverage their numerical strength to advance their African values and aspirations.
Among was speaking at the 86th Executive Committee Meeting of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (Africa Region) at the Protea Hotel in Entebbe on Monday.
While presiding over the meeting, Among said CPA Africa Region is a strategic vehicle for galvanizing African nations towards unity, sustainable growth and development.
“This meeting should remind us about the global challenges and historic colonial distortions that keep us divided, exploited, marginalized and abused as a people. The good news is that Africa enjoys considerable numerical strength in the Commonwealth. However, I think we have not yet leveraged our numerical strength to advance and champion our strategic interests,” Among said.
She urged the rest of the African countries in the Commonwealth to take advantage of the Association to liberate Africa and eliminate major hurdles and challenges afflicting its people.
“Can we champion the advocacy for and realisation of fair, equitable and sustainable trade, industrialization and value addition, sustainable natural resources extraction and processing, the respect for and protection of our cherished common African values especially the African family as the foundation of human existence, equity, inclusivity, equality and shared prosperity and the elimination of human tragedies due to natural and human disasters?” she said.
Among said she is confident that this meeting will serve as a catalyst for positive change.
“To achieve this positive change, we shall need to work as a united team in our negotiations with the wider Commonwealth,” she said.
Among was also emphatic on the need to reject the Status of CPA as a Charity Organization in UK.
“Africa has more charitable causes due to colonialism, imperialism, unfair trade, and climate change disasters than UK. Africa should desist from contributing resources in the form of subscription fees to a Charity Organization in the UK. It is not fair and it is not right. This meeting should decide that enough is enough,” Among said.
She said that African countries should fight for the independence of CPA from UK.
“We need to remain a member of CPA but CPA that is not a charity, but an international parliamentary organization. If UK does not want to enact a law changing the status of CPA from a charity to an international parliamentary organization, and it appears it has refused, Africa should be ready to work with other regions of the commonwealth to rescue the CPA from the control of the UK Government,” she said.
CPA is an organisation of the international community of Commonwealth Parliaments and Legislatures which works to support good governance, democracy and human rights.
On the other hand, CPA Africa Region is a subset of CPA which was founded with a mission to promote and protect the interests and perspectives of CPA Africa Regional Parliaments and countries, in the Commonwealth and beyond, and to promote gender equality, emancipation of women, and respect for human rights, freedoms, democracy and good governance.
