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KEYNOTE ADDRESS BY PRESIDENT JOHN DRAMANI MAHAMA, TO OPEN THE SECOND ORDINARY SESSION OF THE THIRD PARLIAMENT OF THE PAN--‐AFRICAN PARLIAMENT, AT MIDRAND, SOUTH AFRICA. Mr. President, Your Excellence Colleagues, Friends and Members of this Honourable House Distinguished Guests Ladies and Gentlemen Good afternoon. It is, indeed, a tremendous honour for me to be granted the rare privilege of being invited, once again, to address a session of this August Assembly. Mr. President, conventional wisdom says that a house is not automatically a home. But in this case, in this House, I feel very much at home. I was a part of this House when it was inaugurated in Addis Ababa in 2004 and I remained a Member until 2008. Even after my departure, during my tenure as Vice President, and now as President of Ghana, I have always maintained a deep reverence for this House, and a sense of fellowship with its Members as they strive, quite admirably, to attain its goals. It is no coincidence that this address follows a number of enthusiastic statements of support and solidarity read this morning on the floor of this house. I would like to add my voice to that chorus and speak to the theme of solidarity as a goal of this House, and solidarity as a necessity for Africa. In 1963 when the Organisation of African Unity was established, one of its primary functions was to serve as a home for the people of Africa. A home that was not beholden to the artificial boundaries that had kept us divided for so long, boundaries that had kept us from fully recognizing that we are one family, brothers and sisters, bound together by a shared destiny. This was a visionary undertaking: a home built not with brick and mortar, but with the desire for Pan--‐African progress. It was especially visionary at that time in African history because after generations of domination, colonies were finally becoming independent and struggling to find answers to the various questions and problems of leadership and development that came with liberation. Those post--‐colonial years�the lost decades, as they have been called� were full of turbulence and instability. The forward motion of our continent and its fledgling democracies was often undermined by dictatorships, coups, and civil wars. This undermined the priorities and objectives of the Organisation of African Unity. The myopia of that moment in Africa�s growth was necessary. It afforded each nation and its people the opportunity to find a way to start fulfilling the promise that independence offered the promises that had been broken by corruption, mismanagement and poor leadership. Despite those difficult times, Mr. President, the Organisation of African Unity remained. Its presence, however minimal or seemingly inconsequential in the day--‐to--‐day lives of African people, was in itself another promise of independence that was yet to be fulfilled. It has been said that the measure of an individual is evidenced not by the number of times he or she has fallen, but rather the number of times that he or she has been able to rise and stand tall after a fall. It stands to reason that the same could be said of a nation, or of a continent. The same can be said of Africa. Africans are a resilient people. We have always risen and stood again, after slavery, colonization, civil wars, drought and hunger. We have watched as nations, one after the other, have transitioned from war to peace, from dictatorship to democracy, from poverty to economic stability. The world has watched as Africa has transitioned from a continent to be pitied, patronised and negatively portrayed, into a continent whose nations now command attention and respect on the international stage. In other words, Africa has transitioned itself into a force to be reckoned with. The more confident that we Africans, and the world at large, have become of our social, political and economic institutions, the more relevant that common home, the Organisation of African Unity�which over the years also made its own transition into the African Union�has become to our future. Mr. President, at this crucial moment in Africa�s development, the importance of a continental legislative forum such as the Pan--‐African Parliament cannot be overstated. There is only one word that comes to mind when I consider the consolidation of democracy that has taken place over the last decade alone; when I look at the sub--‐regional integration that has taken place and the steady movement toward a continent--‐wide integration, and that word is �inspiring.� It is inspiring because it indicates that Africa�s possibilities are limitless. It is inspiring because it proves to us and to the world that Africans should not be underestimated and that Africa should never be counted out. If ever we should fall, we will, without a doubt, rise and stand taller, and stronger than before. This is an exciting time for Africa. This is an exciting time to be in Africa. It is an exciting time to be an African. Mr. President, now is the time for the Pan African Parliament to make its own transition, from that of a deliberative body to that of a legislative one. Now is the time for the Pan African Parliament to solidify the energy of solidarity and hope that is sweeping across the continent. The African Union must hasten its evolution into a union of people, and not merely a union of governments. The Pan African Parliament can contribute to that process by organising the election of its members through Universal Adult Suffrage in our member countries. Believe that this major step, when taken, will put an end to the delay in granting this House full legislative power. I have been a fervent advocate of the House being granted full legislative powers because the challenges facing our nations are increasingly becoming ones that have no regard for national boundaries. Challenges such as effectively enforcing laws to end the trafficking of drugs and the trafficking of human beings; addressing the impact of climate change, deforestation, desertification, and land degradation. We would be bette rabble to prevent, regulate, and even reverse these situations if we handled them as one unified body as opposed to many individual countries, some with limited reach or resources. Mr. President, there are a number of other benefits to this House having full legislative powers, one of which is the complete erasure of the final vestiges of colonization, the most pervasive of which are the artificial boundaries that still threaten to keep us divided. We must work towards achieving a system of governance in which no African, for the purpose of short--‐term passage, is considered a foreigner in another African country. We must enact laws that allow people, goods and services to move freely across the continent so as to establish and integrate free trade areas. This can only be of benefit to individual nations and to the continent as a whole. Mr. President, with the Pan--‐African Parliament having full legislative powers, we can, at last, turn the vision our founding fathers had nearly 50 years ago, on May 25th, 1963, when they established the Organisation of African Unity into a reality; the vision of Pan--‐African progress, of one home under whose roof our brotherhood and sisterhood is reinforced through the promotion and protection of our mutual interests. There is strength in unity. Our founding fathers recognised this simple fact. Long before there was a European Union, there was the Organisation of African Unity. They knew that it would be our way forward. And Mr. President, despite minor differences of opinion as to how precisely this House and the overall Union should be empowered, We know it as well. That is why we have assembled regularly over the years; that is why we are gathered here again today. It is because we understand that Africa�s solidarity is the key to Africa�s continued success and survival. Thank you for your time.