During the Open Government Partnership (OGP) Global Summit in Mexico City, held from October 27 to 29, NDI President Ken Wollack met with the President of the Pan African Parliament, H.E. Roger Nkodo Dang, to sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU). The MOU will enable the two organizations to coordinate more closely on a broad range of issues, including women’s and youth participation, good governance, rule of law and other areas of common interest.

The OGP Summit, which brought together governments and civil society groups from around the world to advance government transparency and citizen participation, was a fitting location for the signing, which will increase opportunities for coordination and collaboration between the two organizations. More than 1,500 open government champions from government, parliament, and civil society attended the Summit.

NDI and the Pan African Parliament agreed to share relevant information relating to the activities of their respective organizations and establish mechanisms for joint action on these agreed matters of common interest. The MOU builds on a previous agreement signed with the African Union (AU) in June of 2015, strengthening cooperation on youth-related activities and programs along the AU’s five thematic clusters: democracy, human rights and transitional justice, governance, constitutionalism and rule of law.

While in Mexico, Nkodo Dang and Wollack appeared together on a mainstage panel at the OGP Global Summit. The panel, which was called “Engaging Legislatures more Deeply in OGP: Recent Developments,” considered how parliaments can participate more fully in the Open Government Partnership and why legislative transparency is an important issue for democratic governance. Panelists were in agreement that a larger role for parliaments in OGP will improve the quality and sustainability of the open government reforms achieved through OGP.

“If OGP is to reach its potential, the role of legislatures will likely have to expand,” said Scott Hubli, NDI’s director of governance programs and the Institute’s lead on the Legislative Openness Working Group. “Regional parliamentary associations, such as the Pan African Parliament, can play a key role in deepening and expanding legislative participation in OGP.”  

During the panel, Wollack also noted that the leadership of South Africa, which recently became lead chair of the OGP Steering Committee, provides an opportunity to deepen sharing of experience on open government and open parliament on the African continent. Echoing these sentiments, Nkodo Dang noted that the Pan African Parliament provides an excellent forum for sharing knowledge and experience on these issues within the national parliaments of the AU member states. As such, there are a number of opportunities for greater collaboration around issues of legislative openness going forward.

The Pan African Parliament is an organ of the African Union (AU). Each of the 54 member states of the African Union are represented in the Pan African Parliament by five national members of parliament, at least one of whom must be a woman. The representation of each AU member state in the Pan African Parliament must also reflect the diverse political opinions of each national parliament, typically by ensuring that some members of each national delegation represent opposition parties. Nkodo Dang, who was named president of the PAP in early 2015, serves as a member of parliament in Cameroon.

A more robust partnership with the Pan African Parliament will support NDI’s mission of strengthening democracy across the African continent. Spreading democracy, good governance, and transparency are key goals of the Pan African Parliament, and NDI looks forward to working with them in pursuit of this important mission.   

Published on November, 6, 2015