Interview

I don’t Run the Pan-African Parliament’s Budget

Hon. Nkodo Dang, President of Pan-African Parliament

-Hon. Nkodo Dang, President of Pan-African Parliament

Ahead of the recent conference of heads of states of the AU that held in Mauritania, Foreign Ministers of Member countries suggested to the heads of states to suspend the budget of the Pan-African Parliament pending an audit into what they considered as the scandalous management of the President of the Parliament, Cameroonian-born Roger Nkodo Dang. But in this outing with the press, Hon. Nkodo Dang says the Heads of states absolved him of all the allegations of wrong-doing. 

**African heads of state have finally adopted the budget for the continent. They did not say anything about the proposal by African Foreign Ministers for the 2019 budget of the Pan-African Parliament to be suspended. What’s your take on this?

--I think the African heads of state have taken a good decision. Normally the June-July session of the African Parliament is consecrated to the examination and adoption of the budget of the African Union. And the budget is not voted in bits. It is voted whole. True, some Foreign Affairs Ministers wanted to force the suspension of the Parliament’s budget, but that was not on the agenda of the session. Some ministers were relying on information relayed in the press to the effect that there were some financial improprieties at the Parliament that needed to be looked into before the budget is voted. Unfortunately for them, the budget was voted in its entirety. At least, that is what I know.

**What is the role of the President of the African Parliament that you are in terms of recruitments and management of the budget?

Recruitments at the Parliament are through consultants who proceed by way of published tenders. It is the consultants who are in charge of the entire recruitment process. And like the AU statutes stipulate, a list of three qualified candidates is sent to me. From this shortlist of qualified candidates with an average above 60%, i have the latitude to choose one. As for the management of the budget article 21 of the internal regulations stipulates that the SG of the AU renders account of the financial management at the plenary. This is to say that it is the SG who runs the budget; he is the vote holder, the liquidator, accountant and cashier. Firstly, never has the President of the Parliament been implicated in the management of the budget. Secondly, it is not the President of the Pan-African Parliament that defends the Parliament’s budget. So as we speak I don’t even know how much we have as budget, neither do I have a cash safe in my office. All what is used in my office is furnished by the SG.

**Some people believe that the request for the suspension of the Parliament’s budget is not unconnected to the post-electoral battles going on at the institution. Do you agree with this?

--That is just what it is about. Even the heads of state of West African states made a remark in that regard. Seeing that there is no link between bad management of the President and the running of the budget, some African heads of state came to me and confessed that they were not given the good information. They said they would not support the call for suspension of the budget. And that was just what they did during the conference of heads of states. Most of the Heads of states changed their minds when they realized that the President had nothing to do with the running of the budget.

**But the AU has still commanded an audit of the performance of the Pan-African Parliament. What is that suppose to mean?

--The audit was not commanded for the Parliament alone; it for all the organs to which a budget is allocated. It is performance audit and this is welcome because I have since been crying loud that the personnel are not competent. Financial audits will also be done and this concerns all the other organs that also run a budget.

**What message do you have for the public concerning this saga?

-My message is that people should not rely solely on information from the internet to draw conclusions. Before a budget is voted there is prior debate and proposals. The African Foreign Ministers might have put their proposal for suspension in the press. But there was no talk of embezzlement of funds or corruption during the debates leading to the adoption of the budget. I was never indicted; nobody pointed a finger at me.