African Union Commission - Uganda Multimedia News & Information

African Union vote differed to January 2017

Samuel Wamuttu — Mon, 18 Jul 2016 15:39:25 +0000

Dr. Kazibwe a former Vice-President was among the 3 candidates who had spent several weeks canvassing for votes from other African members.

The highly anticipated elections of a new chairperson to head the AU Commission has hit a snug after none of the aspiring candidates contesting for the position garnered the required majority votes in the initial stages of voting that took place in the Rwanda capital Kigali, Monday 18 July,2016.

Uganda’s Dr. Specioza Wandira Kazibwe who is also a former Vice-President, Botswana’s former Foreign Minister Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi and Equatorial Guinea’s former Foreign Minister Agapito Mba Mokuy had each hoped to replace South Africa’s Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma who is stepping down after fours of steering the African founded body.

Uganda’s Kazibwe is said to have got the least of the votes with 23 out of 53 voting in favour of Botswana’s Pelonomi Benson
Reports from Kigali indicate that after three rounds of voting, none of the three candidates could secure the required two-thirds majority for the top job.

According to Rule 42 of the rules of procedure, the deputy chairperson takes responsibility in case of suspension of elections.

Following Monday’s unsuccessful process, the new Commission chair will be elected at the next summit in January next year in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa.

Earlier, some member states had proposed that the elections be pushed to January with some members especially from the west African countries arguing that none of the 3 candidates meets to required qualification to clinch the job.

President Idris Derby of Chad, who is the chairperson of the AU, presented the matter of postponement which he said had come from some member states. But after discussion, he said rules must be followed, not bent.

Dlamini-Zuma, who is stepping down from the chair, is the ex-wife of South African president Jacob Zuma.

The post African Union vote differed to January 2017 first appeared on Uganda Multimedia News & Information.

Kazibwe, Oulanyah discuss bid for the Chair of the AU Commission

Isaac Senabulya — Fri, 24 Jun 2016 07:49:19 +0000

Former VP Kazibwe and Deputy Speaker Jacob Oulanyah

Former Vice President, Dr. Speciosa Wandira Kazibwe has met the Deputy Speaker Jacob Oulanyah and briefed him on her bid for the Chair of the African Union Commission. Kazibwe who met the Deputy Speaker in his Chambers said that she was committed to representing Uganda and also serve the Ugandans and Africans as a whole.
“Leadership is a service to the people. We have a big job of re-orienting young people ideologically,” Kazibwe said. Kazibwe who is a member of the Panel of the Wise (PoW), one of the critical pillars of the Peace and Security Architecture of the African Union (APSA), said peace, security and infrastructural development are key to Africa’s progress.

“We need to optimise use of Africa’s resources for the benefit of all Africans,” she noted, promising to fast-track the implementation of “Agenda 2063”.

“Agenda 2063” is an approach to how the continent should effectively learn from the lessons of the past, build on the progress now underway and strategically exploit all possible opportunities available in the immediate and medium term, so as to ensure positive socioeconomic transformation within the next 50 years. She observed that the African continent has enough resources to deal with her peace and security work through prioritisation.

Oulanyah pointed out that Africa must put into perspective the dynamic of youth unemployment in relation to peace and security. Using Uganda as an example, he said that public service jobs are not more than 350,000.
“Even if all the 350,000 jobs were given to the youth, it would not satisfy the demand for employment by the tens of thousands who graduate every year from institutions of higher learning,” he said.

Dr Kazibwe suggested that the Ministers of Youth, Trade and Labour work in close coordination to address unemployment issues through supporting innovation, entrepreneurship and spurring industrial growth.
She added that she was keen on working with African parliaments and all institutions pertinent to mobilising populations to relate with the African Union in its vision of an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa, driven by its own citizens. She called for the rekindling of the Pan-African Movement and creation of a Parliamentary Committee on the African Union.

“I would be glad to see the AU flag flown alongside those of Uganda and the East African Community,” Kazibwe

The Deputy Speaker pledged that the matter of the Parliamentary Committee on matters of AU would be considered as “we review the rules”.He expressed total support for Kazibwe’s bid, which is themed on six areas; “peacebuilding and conflict resolution; infrastructure development; resource mobilisation; research, communication and people empowerment; member-state and partner engagement and reinforcing existing AU systems.”

The post Kazibwe, Oulanyah discuss bid for the Chair of the AU Commission first appeared on Uganda Multimedia News & Information.

Pan African Parliament passes 2016 AU Budget

Isaac Senabulya — Sat, 28 Mar 2015 15:10:07 +0000

Members of Pan African Parliament debated and passed the African Union 2016 Budget as read by H.E Erastus Mwencha the Deputy Chairperson of the African Union.

This was in line with Rule 28(b) of the PAP Rules of Procedure which stipulates that “Parliament shall discuss the budget of the Union and make recommendations through the Permanent Committee on Monetary and Financial Affairs to the Assembly.”

The 2016 draft budget is based on priorities of the Organs of the Union. Guided by the Agenda 2063, it is aimed at spearheading Africa’s rapid integration, prosperity and sustainable development by promoting unity, solidarity, cohesion and cooperation among the peoples of Africa and African states.

The 2016 Budget was the first budget to be submitted after the adoption of the new Financial Rules and Regulations (FRR) which include implementation of the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS).

It is also the first budget to be submitted under the newly composed Internal Budget Review Committee which is made up of all the heads of AU organs and agencies and is chaired by the Deputy Chairperson of the African Union Commission.

The Committee on Monetary and Financial Affairs made recommendations which were adopted by the Committee of the whole house. The order of priorities in the2016 budget is to promote peace, security and stability; promote human rights, democracy and good governance in Africa.

Additionally, PAP should take a lead role in the campaign for alternative sources of funding for the AU programmes. This translates into, the need for member states to be more committed to contributions to attract partner funding among others.

The post Pan African Parliament passes 2016 AU Budget first appeared on Uganda Multimedia News & Information.

New project to brand Africa on cyberspace and provide African community with a continental mark on the interment

Gerald Businge — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 09:07:21 +0000

The Headquarters of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), Addis-Ababa, Ethiopia was the venue of a two days Experts’ meeting on .Africa gTLD project.

This project aims at branding the African continent on the cyberspace and providing

African community with a continental mark on the Internet.

The meeting was organized by the African Union Commission (AUC), through its Infrastructure and Energy Department.

It was attended by Thirteen (13) experts from various countries and organizations who discussed all relevant issues regarding .Africa gTLD project.

This meeting was a follow up of the Declaration of the AU Heads of States Summit held in February 2010 in Addis Ababa and the Recommendation of the African Union

Communication and Information Technologies Ministerial Conference (CITMC) held in

Johannesburg and Abuja in November 2009 and August 2010 respectively, to carry out the required steps to secure scare resources such as .Africa gTLD.

The outcomes present different scenarios and actions taking into consideration the tight timeline remaining for Africa before the forthcoming round of applications in Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). These scenarios covered the issues of the potential institutional structure, Technical and Financial modules. The following points have been recommended as immediate actions to be taken:

1- Announcing the intention in the public forum of ICANN and in all Technical,

Business and Policy forums;

2- Signing the Guide Book Letter;

3- Writing a message to the Government Advisory Committee (GAC);

4- Formalizing project Task Force;

5- Preparing and submitting the required documents to ICANN.

In that view, the meeting recommended all participating Experts to be members of the Task Force and also to speed up the process.

In order to facilitate the exchange, a temporary mailing address of the Task force has been created: audotafrica@googlegroups.com.

The post New project to brand Africa on cyberspace and provide African community with a continental mark on the interment first appeared on Uganda Multimedia News & Information.