Hon. Bethel Amadi is the President of Pan African Parliament which seats in Mitterrand, South Africa. He is a three-time member of the House of Representatives from Mbaitoli/Ikeduru constituency area of Imo State. In this interview with Amby Uneze, he spoke on the activities of the Pan African Parliament, Nigeria's democracy and efforts of PDP to recapture Imo State in 2015. Excerpts:

Pan African parliament appears a new creation, what is it all about?

Pan African Parliament is an organ of the African Union which started in 2004 as a platform for African people to make input to the decision-making process in finding solutions to problems in our continent. The membership was drawn from all the African Union member states that have parliaments and each international parliament contributes five members at the national parliaments that are elected or nominated to attend Pan African Parliament sessions on behalf of the country and decisions or resolutions of parliament are now tabled before the heads of states of the African Union for adoption and implementation.

Each national delegation of parliament of five would reflect the composition of opposition party, majority party and other parties represented in that parliament. So, in the Nigerian delegation, we have five members; two from the senate and three from the House of Representatives. We also have members of the opposition parties and of course, issue of gender was also taken care, to ensure that women were also represented. The Parliament seats in Mitterrand, South Africa and it seats four times a year. Is it mandatory on the African heads of state to work on issues resolved by the Parliament, given the fact that some African countries do not practise democracy?

From the last question, yes, member states that are not having democratically elected government are not allowed to bring in members. Right now Mali has been suspended; Guinea Bissau is on suspension, most recently, Central African Republic, had a coup the other day and has been suspended. A country like Madagascar is on suspension. Delegation from Libya is also not present in the parliament presently. It is only countries that have parliament, elected parliament or some other deliberative organ that is elected can be represented in the parliament. Today even Egypt, her members are on suspension because her parliament was dissolved. That is the issue of membership. You have to belong to a parliamentary body of member states.

You mentioned the issue of deliberations; the Pan African Parliament as presently constituted is an advisory and consultative body to the African Union. It was agreed in the initial protocol that five years after its inception, the protocol will be reviewed to enhance the powers. That review process started in the year 2009 and it is still on-going and we are still having several validations, workshops, and legal experts from across the member states, and a final document of an amended protocol has been produced and that has been passed and adopted by the Attorneys-General and Ministers of Justice of member states. It is now before the African Union heads of state and it will be deliberated on January 2014 and hopefully if it is adopted. The Pan African Parliament would have been given enhanced powers to make enhanced model laws in very clear areas as recommended by heads of government.

Who's responsible for the funding?

The parliament is funded by the African Union, and then member states fund the participation of their delegations. The National Assembly is expected to pay for our tickets, padiems and allowances for the sessions. So each member state takes care of its member delegation and the African Union pays for the secretariat's staff salaries and South African government provides some support in terms of facilities, building, security, transport, diplomatic access, and other services. Of course, we also get a lot of support from donor agencies.

Back home in Nigeria, as a three-time federal legislator, do you think democracy has taken roots in the country?

I believe that Nigeria has improved in its democratic culture over the years. You see now that we have freer and fairer elections in more recent times than we had at the beginning. And this process will continue to grow inevitably; we cannot stop it. People are now aware of the role they play in the electoral process. People are now ready to participate. More people are coming out more than the beginning when they were not sure how long this experience would last. In fact, it is only those who were strong-willed and bold that were able to come out at the very beginning, but today more people are coming out to seek to represent their people.

This is good development. We need to continue to entrench and strengthen democratic institutions; democracy should be built around institutions not on individuals, not only at the national level but at the state level. Democratic institutions like the local governments must be entrenched at the grassroots level. The constitution provides for it, it must be implemented that local governments must be elected and that is very crucial, so that we can continue to grow democracy at the grassroots level.

How can the leadership tackle issues like corruption, insecurity and other vices?

I think the issue of corruption seems to be as a result of culture of impunity. This has taken over our political space, even our private space and public space. There should be measured punishment for crime. People need to understand that crime does not pay because what is happening today is that people do these things and get away with it, and once that culture is entrenched it becomes more difficult. We need to find way to ensure there is more transparency, more openness to help to ensure accountability.

There needs to be public access to information so that they will know who has what, who suppose to do what; a lot of it is in the realm of rumours and stories many unconfirmed. There should be more public awareness created, so that people who are entitled to creating amenities when they do not count, and they have been budgeted for. That information should be allowed to galvanise our people to be the watchdog of the society. If we are able to curb corruption and also to set the right example so that those who commit crimes are punished not just a slap on the wrist so that they can now go and sit down and enjoy their loot.

Giving adequate punishment that is commensurate with the offence committed and that is why in other societies, crime is controlled. Normal people try to avoid it because they know that the chances of getting cut are high. If you are caught, the chance that you get punished is very high. But here chances of being caught are slim and if you are caught chances of being prosecuted or punished are even slimmer. So there is a problem and that problem is growing.

As 2015 is drawing close, how do you see the political articulation in Imo state?

As you know, Imo is very political and dynamic populated by very well educated people that are very well informed and people who know what they want at all times. We the political class need to come together and ensure that there is peace, security, development and the interest of Imo people is paramount on our agenda. I belong to the Peoples Democratic Party, and as a party, we have resolved the issue of 2015 and governance.

We would ensure that the PDP government is restored back to power in Imo. The leaders of our party are committed to that. We have made mistakes in the past; we have learnt from those mistakes and we tend to give a better account of ourselves and we have promised Imo people that we will provide an inclusive development-oriented governance that respects law and order, and respects people and we will equally do those things that will enhance the quality of lives of Imo people.