By Kumba Leigh
Honorable Alhagie Mbowe, National Assembly Member, who headed the Gambian delegation to the Pan African Parliament (PAP), has been elected chairperson of the West African Caucus (West African Countries) from 2022 to 2025. Hon. Mbowe is supported by a vice chair from Benin and a Rappateur from Sierra Leone.
The West African caucus is among five regional blocs working closely with the main PAP bureau where the president and four vice presidents spearheaded the governance of the continent’s consultative parliament.
Statement from the Communication Unit of the Gambia National Assembly, Hon. Mbowe had served as a rappateur of the Committee on Transport, Industry, Communication, Energy, and Science and Technology and later as the acting Chairman of the Committee at the Pan-African Parliament.
He was also nominated by the West African countries in 2021 to represent them on the Ad-hoc Committee of the Bureau Elections.
The West African caucus was chaired by a Ghanaian Member of Parliament, Hon. Cynthia, who recalled for a ministerial position after which a Gambian former lawmaker, Hon Sidia Jatta took over as an acting chairman.
Reacting to his election into the chairmanship position, Honourable Mbowe told Gambia Daily expressed gratitude his colleagues National Assembly members in The Gambia, the Senegalese and Sierra Leonean delegations, the speaker of The Gambia’s Parliament, office of the clerk, The Gambian Embassy in South Africa, and Ethiopia and the President of the Republic of The Gambia for their tremendous support. “I am very excited for the overall experience within, and outside my region,’’ he remarked.
Additional information was culled from NA’s Communication Unit