The Speaker of the Parliament of Malawi and Chair of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, Africa Region, Rt. Hon. Catherine Gotani Hara, has emphasized the essential role of African parliaments in shaping the continent’s future.
In a goodwill message delivered via video call at the second General Assembly of the Conference of Speakers and Presidents of African Legislatures (COSPAL) in Accra on Saturday, October 26, 2024, Catherine Gotani underscored COSPAL’s mission to drive collaborative action for Africa’s sustainable development.
Reflecting on COSPAL’s progress since its virtual inception in 2020 and first in-person meeting in Abuja, Nigeria in 2022, she described the forum as ‘a vital platform for deliberation, collaboration, and the pursuit of joint solutions to our continent’s shared challenges.’
Speaker Gatoni Hara inspired her colleagues to embrace their responsibility to craft Africa’s future and quoted Nelson Mandela: “It is in your hands to create a better world for all who live in it.”
With a vision for an inclusive, people-centred development agenda, Gotani Hara urged her colleagues to work collectively to build a brighter future for the continent.
She stated that Africa is at a time of profound transformation and her parliaments play a crucial role in ensuring that the development agenda is people-centered, sustainable, and inclusive.
She stressed the significance of COSPAL’s work labelling the Assembly as a ‘beacon of hope’ aimed at empowering African legislatures to become ‘agents of progress, stability, and prosperity.’
The forum’s conversations, she said, would strengthen legislative structures, processes, and funding mechanisms, thereby ensuring COSPAL’s success.
These conversations are not merely technical. They are building blocks for an institution that will help safeguard our democratic values and further the aspirations of the African people.
A major agenda item for the assembly is developing recommendations for COSPAL’s draft constitution, a task Gotani Hara described as both a legal and a profound responsibility.
She urged attendees to embrace Africa’s unity and resilience, as they work to create an inclusive constitution that would serve as ‘the foundation upon which our shared vision for the future will rest.’
She affirmed the importance of Africa’s pluralism and unity in overcoming shared challenges and stressed, “Let us remember that our diversity is our strength.”
COSPAL’s commitment to good governance, human rights, and the rule of law, she stressed, will guide the assembly toward achieving a prosperous and integrated Africa.
Speaker Gatoni Hara expressed her hopes for the assembly’s impact and prayed for the Assembly’s efforts to resonate in the halls of African parliaments as it continues to lead and champion the causes that matter most to the people.