BY THEMBA ZWANE
EZULWINI – The Chairperson of the OACPS East Africa Region Parliamentary Group, Hon. Churchill Gill, has encouraged Eswatini and other members of the organisation to conform to the rectification of the Samoa Agreement.
The Seychelles legislator was addressing member states of the East African Region Parliamentary Group at a meeting held at Ezulwini Palazzo on May 7, 2026.
Gill also called for strengthening engagement within the East African region on top of the ratification of the Samoa Agreement.
“I wish to express my appreciation to the Secretariat for providing us with this platform for engagement. As long as this arrangement remains in place, I hope it will continue to offer us a valuable opportunity to exchange views and enhance coordination among ourselves as a region,” he said.
Gill proposed that they make practical use of the platform by establishing a simple communication mechanism through email and WhatsApp to facilitate timely information sharing. Additionally, he said it would be useful to compile a contact list of all officers supporting their work in order to strengthen communication between the Secretariat and members.
“The ratification of the Samoa Agreement remains a key priority. I therefore encourage all members to ensure that their respective countries have either completed or initiated the ratification process.
To date, only 12 OACPS member states have ratified the Agreement, some of which are Seychelles, Mozambique, Botswana, Cameroon, Madagascar, Côte d’Ivoire, Angola, Mauritius, and Uganda among others of which only four are from our region,” he said.
The chairperson added that the 11th OACPS Summit called for accelerated efforts by member states to complete ratification at the earliest opportunity.
On the part of the European Union, nine ratifications have been deposited, namely: Bulgaria, Czechia, Estonia, Denmark, Slovenia, Poland, Hungary, Spain, and Slovakia.
“I trust that through strengthened coordination and renewed commitment, we will be able to advance our region’s engagement and contribute meaningfully to the effective implementation of the Samoa Agreement.”
He said the Assembly was now tasked with working on the key priorities for the African region that will guide the work of Parliament and it was important to ensure that this process is inclusive and takes into account the specificities of each subregion.
As is the case with other subregions, he said, this exchange is intended to help identify the priorities and concerns that should inform their broader reflections at the level of the OACPS African Regional Parliamentary Group.
In particular, he said, members may wish to share their views on:
*the main priorities for East Africa within the framework of the Samoa Agreement;
*the key challenges affecting its implementation; and
the areas where parliamentary engagement may be most needed.
He said their objective on the day was therefore to identify the principal concerns and priorities of the subregion so as to help inform their broader regional engagement going forward.
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