Harare — An alleged plan to unconstitutionally remove Pan-African Parliament (PAP) President Chief Fortune Charumbira from office, apparently led by his second vice president Dr. Ashebiri Gayo, failed after four of the five PAP presidency members didn't support Gayo.
This was revealed in a September 8 letter from Lucia Maria Mendes Goncalves Dos Passos, the third vice president, who was named acting president while Charumbira travelled.
According to Dos Passos, the second Vice President wanted to circumvent the Bureau's rules and processes in order to remove the incumbent, Charumbira, who returned to Zimbabwe for Senate elections and inaugurated on September 7.
"The issue of rotational Acting Presidency was discussed and resolved in a Bureau Meeting convened on 10 May 2023 wherein I indicated my availability for rotation from mid-August into September 2023. Hon. Dr. Gayo did not make any indication of his preferred dates for rotation. Therefore, in line with the principle of rotation and the decisions of the Bureau, the lot fell on me this time to serve as Acting President. Even if we were to ignore the principle of rotation, which is an integral value of the African Union, and use ranking only as the criteria, the 1st Vice President, Hon. Massouda Mohamed Laghdaf, would be the most senior and, hence, the Acting President. So both in terms of ranking and rotation, Hon. Dr. Gayo is not the Acting President," Lucia Maria Mendes Goncalves Dos Passos said.
Charumbira designated Dos Passos, the third vice president, as acting president before departing for Harare. Dos Passos also wrote a second letter to the South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Dr. Naledi Pandor, in which she writes of Gayo's actions, which she said were "borderline criminal", according to The Herald.
"It is regrettable that Hon. Dr. Gayo has unlawfully attempted to place himself above the Constitutive Act of the African Union, the PAP Protocol, the Rules of Procedure of the Parliament and the Plenary. The letter and its contents must, therefore, be dismissed with the contempt that it deserves," Dos Passos wrote.
Dos Passos also addressed corruption allegations against Charumbira, saying that the Pan African Parliament's financial management system is "solid and allegations of embezzlement of funds from the organisation against its president, Chief Fortune Charumbira are a fabrication made out of a malicious vendetta by people with unbridled political ambitions".
Meanwhile, the northern caucus, which currently holds the position of first vice president, backed Charumbira and sent Gayo a letter condemning his alleged attempts to "create instability". The caucus has since sent Gayo a letter of protest in which it is questioned how he has the authority to call for the election of a new first vice president.
In a letter to the African Union (AU) Commission chairperson, Dr. Moussa Faki Mahamat, Charumbira and three of his other vice presidents, Massouda Mohamed Laghdaf (Mauritania), Lucia Maria Mendes Gonçalves dos Passos (Cape Verde), and Francois Ango Ndoutoume (Gabon), criticized Gayo for violating established regulations.
The four make up the Pan-African Parliament's Bureau, which is effectively the PAP presidium and consists of the president and four vice presidents, together with Gayo. All of them were elected to their positions in the middle of 2022 at the fifth parliament's regular session in Midrand, South Africa.
"The issue of rotational Acting Presidency was discussed and resolved in a Bureau Meeting convened on 10 May 2023 wherein I indicated my availability for rotation from mid-August into September 2023. Hon. Dr. Gayo did not make any indication of his preferred dates for rotation. Therefore, in line with the principle of rotation and the decisions of the Bureau, the lot fell on me this time to serve as Acting President. Even if we were to ignore the principle of rotation, which is an integral value of the African Union, and use ranking only as the criteria, the 1st Vice President, Hon. Massouda Mohamed Laghdaf, would be the most senior and, hence, the Acting President. So both in terms of ranking and rotation, Hon. Dr. Gayo is not the Acting President," Lucia Maria Mendes Goncalves Dos Passos said.
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The bureau is in charge of, among other things, managing the PAP and its organs' affairs and facilities, enforcing regulations relating to the body's financial, organizational, and administrative needs, and deciding the proposed agenda and programs for legislative sessions.
