African Greens Federation Fourth Congress Proceedings, May 2018, Burkina Faso | Rwanda
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African Greens Federation Fourth Congress Proceedings, May 2018, Burkina Faso

AGF Congress
AGF Congress

The African Greens Federation held its 4th Congress at Hotel RELAX in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso from the 10th to the 12th May 2018, under the theme: « Green Politics for a Sustainable Africa » and adopted several reports as well as electing new office bearers. The following minutes, give a true picture of the congress.

MINUTES OF THE FOURTH AFRICAN GREENS FEDERATION Congress,

HELD ON 10-12 MAY, 2018, Ouagadougou, BURKINA FASO

The African Greens Federation held its 4th congress from 10-12 May 2018 in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

Member Parties from the following countries were present:

Algeria, Burkina-Faso, Burundi, Congo Brazzaville, Democratic Republic of Congo, Chad, Egypt, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Morocco, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Togo, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.  Mauritius had been invited but the delegates had last minutes airport issues which made it impossible for them to come.

Opening Ceremony

The opening ceremony of the 4th ordinary congress started at 09 :00 hrs on 10th May 2018, with opening remarks from the host party leader, Mr.Adama Sere, who was followed by the representative of the governing coalition and thereafter,  the opposition leader. The ceremony continued with remarks from AGF’s Secretary General, Prof.Papa Meisa Dieng, the representative of Green Forum Sweden, Mr.Conny Wahlström, the Vice President of Global Greens, Mr.Ram Ouedraogo. They all welcomed the participants and wished them well.

The congress was officially opened by AGF’s President, Dr.Frank Habineza, who welcomed members, invited guests and the press. He gave a brief history of federation and explained the congress objectives, which included elections of the new Executive Council.

Plenary Sessions

Approving new members:

Eight parties which had submitted their membership applications to AGF Executive committee before the congress had their membership requests reviewed.

They are the following:

-        Parti Vert d’Algérie pour le Développement,

-        Mouvement des Ecologistes Congolais-Les Verts,

-        Rassemblement des Verts Ivoiriens (RAVI)

-        Parti de la Gauche Verte du Maroc

-        Green Congres of Kenya

-        UCAD Green Party of Zimbabwe

-        Parti Tunisie Verte pour le Progrès

-        Convergence des Ecologistes du Sénégal

All the new requests were approved after each party made a five minutes presentation, expect for Tunisia which was absent but represented by the Egyptian delegate. New members were also reminded about their obligations, such as payment of membership dues to AGF and Global Greens, in order to have the right to vote or be voted for.

It was also decided that any member party which legally changes its name through a party congress, does not have to request for membership once again, but rather to inform AGF the new changes and submit the new registration certificate. The congress approved the change of name of: Parti Ecologiste Congolais (PECO) of DRC, which is now, Alliance des Ecologistes Congolais-Les Verts (AECO-Les Verts).

Parties that lost their membership status

After evaluation by the Commission of Ethics and the AGF Executive Council, seven parties that lost their membership status, were presented to the congress.

They are the following:

-        Parti Vert Marocain Pour le Développement of Madame Fatima Alaoui, for poor behaviour;

-        Parti Tunisie Verte, of Mr.Zitouni Abdelkader, for failure to pay up membership dues for several years ;

-        Fédération des Ecologistes du Sénégal (FEDES), for poor behaviour;

-        Parti Vert d’Angola, for failure to pay up membership dues for several years;

-        Parti des Verts de Guinée, for absence on the ground and non-participation in activities organised by the West African Regional Federation;

-        Mazingira Green Party of Kenya, for non-payment of membership fees;

-        Mouvement Vert du Gabon, for failure to transform into a political party, since their acceptance in 2012.

AGF Activities Report, 2010-2018

The AGF’s activities report for the last eight years was presented by the Secretary General, Prof.Papa Meisa Dieng.

It contained the following:

- Brief history of AGF

- Activities realised from 2010-2018, with photos

-Relationship with partners

The report was approved by the congress after some amendments.

AGF Financial Report   2015-2018

The financial report was presented by AGF Treasurer, Madam Robinah K. Nanyunja. The report detailed funds received and expenses carried out.

It was approved by the congress.

Internal Audit Report

The Internal Audit report was presented by AGF’s Commissioner of Accounts, Mr.Alassane Toure. The report elaborated areas of improvement and recommendations.

 It was approved by the congress.

External Audit Report

The external audit report done by ACECA International, was presented by AGF’s Executive Secretary, Madam Fatoumata Boussim. The latest audited report has been appreciated by our partners. The report gave details from 2013-2016, where it mentioned areas of improvement and recommendations. The 2017 report was A CLEAN Audit, all areas which needed improvement in the previous years had been dealt with.

It was approved by the congress.

Cooperation with Green Forum-Sweden

The Chairman of Green Forum, Mr. Conny Wahlström, started his presentation by asking members to discus in small groups, their planned priorities in the next ten years. All members parties reported back after ten minutes and he promised to put their priorities into consideration.

AMMENDIMENTS OF OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS

The Constitution

Amendments were accepted on several articles and the preamble. The most notable ones included Article 5, relating to the conditions of eligibility to be elected on AGF’s Executive Council. The article in question, stated that members were eligible to serve on the Executive Council for not more than four years, renewable once. It was amended as follows: a member of the executive council is eligible to serve on the executive council on the same position for a term of office of four years, renewable once.

The duration to hold the congress was also amended from two years to four years.

More to that, a new position of Executive Director, to head the Permanent Secretariat was created to deal with reporting demands needed by partners as well as other duties, which were fully discussed and agreed upon by the congress.

The congress accepted harmonisation of all articles and requested the Executive Council and the Secretariat to clean up the document and align the internal rules and regulations to the constitutional amendments made.

Financial and Procedural Manual

The congress mandated the Executive Council to make the necessary amendments on the concerned articles.

Presentation of Regional Reports

The five regional federations, namely: Western Africa, Eastern Africa, North Africa, Central Africa and Southern Africa presented their regional reports to the congress, for activities carried out in the last four years. The activities mentioned were dominated by regional trainings and meetings on elections and campaigns, capacity building for the youth and women, as well as establishing women and youth networks in both West Africa and East Africa.

During the congress, the North African Federation, held an extra-ordinary congress and elected a new Executive Committee. The new Northern Africa Regional President is Dr.Mohamed Fares from Morocco. The new Vice President is Mr.Ali Amara from Algeria, while the new Secretary General is Mr.Monghi Khamasi from Tunisia.

On the contrary, members of the Southern region also held a meeting to replace the actual regional president. That extra-ordinary congress was considered illegal because the sitting president was not a candidate for any elective position on the new Executive Council (the only condition which had been given to change regional leadership). On the other hand, his term of office had not yet expired.

Consequently, the results of that congress have been considered NUL and VOID.

Presentation from Global Young Greens

This presentation was done by Mr.Thompson Luzendi, who represents Africa on the Global Young Greens committee. During his presentation, Mr.Thompson called upon all AGF member parties to involve young people in all political activities.

AGF members promised to work with Global Young Greens members who come from the different political parties, recognised by their respective regional federations.

AGF renewed its commitment to encourage all member parties to establish young greens networks on national level.

Finally, AGF promised to continue ensuring that in all its activities both on regional and continental level, both youth and women will be involved, as had been decided in Ivory Coast in December 2017.

ELECTIONS OF THE NEW EXECUTIVE COUNCIL

During the congress, members elected new Executive Committee members.

The following officials were elected:

President: Mr.Adamou GARBA from Niger was elected by 13 countries, while Mr.Thomas Kentos Bakyayita from Uganda, got 6 votes. The third candidate, Pr.Papa Meissa Dieng from Senegal, pulled out of the race after making his campaign presentation.

1st Vice-President: Madam Robinah NANYUNJA from Uganda, elected by consensus.

2nd Vice-President: Mr.Mohamed Awad, from Egypt, elected by 11 countries, while Mr.Alexandre Georget from Madagascar got 7 votes, whereas, one vote was invalid.

Secretary General: Mr.Adama Sere from Burkina Faso, elected by consensus.

Treasurer:  Mr. Badono Daigou from Chad, elected by consensus.

Communication Secretary: Mr.Tapiwa Chengeta from Zimbabwe, elected by Consensus.

Confirmed Regional Representatives on the Executive Council:

-        Dr.Mohamed Fares from Morocco, representing Northern Africa

-        Ms.Fadimata Bintou Toure from Mali, representing Western Africa

-        Mr.Thomas Kentos Bakyayita from Uganda, representing Eastern Africa

-        Mr.Sylvio Michel from Mauritius, representing Southern Africa

-        Mr.Didas Pembe from Congo-Kinshasa (DRC), representing Central Africa

Elections of 6 Africa Representatives to the Global Greens Coordination

-        Principals

  1. Mr.Adamou Garba from Niger (by consensus)
  2. Dr.Frank Habineza from Rwanda (by consensus)
  3. Ms.Anne Marie Bihirabake from Burundi (after the withdrawal of the candidature of Robinah Nanyunja from Uganda)

-        Substitutes

  1. Mr.Daniel Sichilongo from Zambia (by consensus)
  2. Ms.Fatoumata Boussim from Burkina Faso (by consensus)
  3. Mr.Martin Ogindo from Kenya (by consensus)

 Election of the Commission of Ethics (Put in place by consensus)

1. President:  Mr.Napo Nissao from Togo

2. Vice-President: Mr.Thomas Kentos Bakyayita from Uganda

3. Secretary:  Mr.Clement Tafeni from Zambia   

4.  Member: Mr. Ali Amara from Algeria

 5. Member: Mr.Younous Madzengue from Congo Brazaville

Commissioner of Accounts: Mr. Alassane Touré from Mali, by consensus

Permanent Secretariat

The new elected President, Mr.Adamou Garba, presented to the congress the new team of AGF’s Permanent Secretariat as follows :

-        Executive Director: Dr. Frank Habineza from Rwanda

-        Executive Secretary: Ms.Fatoumata Boussim from Burkina Faso

-        Financial Secretary: Ms.Aida Sore from Burkina Faso

The congress approved the new team.

Next Congress

The 5th Congress of the African Greens Federation will take place in the Democratic Republic of Congo in May 2022.

Conclusion

At the end of the congress, members adopted a motion of appreciation to the Government of Burkina Faso, people of Burkina Faso, leaders and members of the host party ‘Rassemblement des Ecologistes du Burkina Faso’, for good hospitality and quality service that assured the success of the congress.

 

Chairman of the Congress

 

Dr.Frank HABINEZA

AGF Congress
Delegates
Dr.Frank Habineza, AGF President with the Deputy speaker of National Assembly
Meeting with the Deputy Speaker of National Assembly