Below is a full letter by the European Parliament to the Pan African Parliament over the sex scandals linking Chief Fortune Charumbira.

We would like to thank you for the invitation letter dated 3 April, the cooperation in view of holding an Interparliamentary Meeting (IPM) at the Pan-African Parliament in Midrand, 17-19 May and the preparatory work by the PAP secretariat.

As you know, the European Parliament attaches great importance to developing the inter-parliamentary relations with the PAP and wishes to see parliamentary institutions strengthened in Africa and at African Union level in particular. We believe that our first IPM in several years, hosted by the European Parliament in Brussels last December, was a clear indication of the political will in both Parliaments to move forward jointly. We were therefore very much looking forward to next week’s IPM in Midrand and to fruitful exchanges on important topics of mutual interest.

The charges recently brought against the President of the Pan-African Parliament, widely covered by media reports and potentially impacting the Pan-African Parliament as an institution, have been noted by the Members of the European Parliament with great concern and cast doubts on the appropriateness of holding this IPM at the current juncture.

The Members of our Delegation for Relations with the Pan-African Parliament are concerned that the issues that have been reported are likely to overshadow and negatively impact the deliberations as well as divert the attention from important diplomatic and political topics during the IPM at this point in time.

We consider that it is therefore advisable to wait until there is more clarity on the outcome of ongoing investigations and potential judicial proceedings, and to give your institution the necessary time to decide on the measures you will deem appropriate to take with a view to ensuring the credibility and the functioning of the Pan-African Parliament.

For this reason, very regretfully, we have come to the conclusion that it would be best to postpone the IPM foreseen for next week and to organise it once the circumstances will allow to dedicate our undivided attention to the issues on which we wish to build and further enhance our cooperation.