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The Pan African Parliament (PAP) has noted with grave concern the circulation of a fake story on various social media platforms alleging that the President of the Pan African Parliament, His Excellency, Chief Fortune Zephania Charumbira, has been fired from the Pan African Parliament on allegations of embezzling close to USD 1.2 million.
The continental legislative body is of the view that the article bafflingly draws its conclusions from a Memo written to the Clerk of Parliament, Madam Lindiwe Khumalo, by the illegally appointed “Director of the Bureau”, Mr. Emmanuel Afedor, instructing the Clerk to initiate preparations for the convening of the Third Ordinary Session of the 6th Parliament of the Pan African Parliament and declaring vacancies in the Bureau.
The Pan-African Parliament dismissed the fake story with the contempt that it deserves and would like to put on record a number of issues.
The PAP emphasised that Chief Charumbira is still the President of the Pan African Parliament until the plenary, and only the Plenary, decides otherwise.
“A power-hungry, self-appointed Acting President does not have the power nor the authority to dismiss anyone at PAP, let alone the President. After being sworn in in the Parliament of Zimbabwe on Thursday 7th September 2023, Chief Charumbira is primed to return and assume his position as PAP President as a Returning Member of PAP and in line with the provisions of Rule 9(3) of the PAP Rules of Procedure. Therefore, there is no vacancy in the position of PAP
“The allegations of embezzling USD1.2 million are nothing more than a malicious vendetta of vilification and character assassination driven by the shameless political ambitions of the 2nd Vice President, Hon. Dr. Ashebir Woldegiorgis Gayo, and his cohort. There is no substance at all to the allegations. In fact, Hon. Dr. Gayo and his team are frantically trying to ‘cook up’ evidence to back that claim and have been harassing staff in the PAP’s Finance Department to give them details of the missions that Chief Charumbira has undertaken since the beginning of the 6th Parliament as well as details of support staff hired during sessions in a desperate bid to find something that can stick,” the PAP said.
The PAP said if at all any charges of misconduct had been levelled against Chief Charumbira, it has adequate internal mechanisms to deal with such issues.
The PAPP notes that for the avoidance of doubt, the removal of a PAP Member for misconduct is provided for under Article 8 (2) of the PAP Rules of Procedure which specifies that the motion has to be decided by secret ballot and supported by a two-thirds majority of the Members present.
As it stands, no such motion has been brought before the Plenary and, in fact, no such charges have been proferred against Chief Charumbira because the whole charade is nothing more than an elaborate smear campaign fronted by shadowy social media activists sponsored by Hon. Dr. Gayo and his cohort.
The PAP clarified that Hon. Dr. Gayo is not the Acting President of the Pan-African Parliament. In line with Articles 12 (4) and 12(7) of the Protocol to the Treaty Establishing the African Economic Community relating to the Pan African Parliament (hereinafter referred to as the PAP Protocol) as read with Rule 19 of the PAP Rules of Procedure, the 3rd Vice President, Hon. Lucia Maria Mendes Goncalves Dos Passos, is the bonafide Acting President of the Pan African Parliament in line with the principle of rotation and as appointed by the H.E President Fortune Charumbira on 21st August 2023.
“The PAP Plenary Assembly is the supreme decision-making body of the Pan-African Parliament. No individual has the authority to reverse the decisions of the Plenary, not even the substantive President himself. In that context, Hon. Professor Massouda Mohamed Laghdaf, the 1st Vice President, was duly sworn in in plenary after all the necessary verification processes had been conducted by the Rules Committee. She is, therefore, the bona-fide 1st Vice President and representative of the Northern Caucus on the Bureau. There is no vacancy in the position of 1st Vice President,” the statement added.