Members of South Africa’s Portfolio Committee on Energy and their counterparts from the Pan-African Parliament (PAP) have developed an action plan on the role legislators can play to ensure that Africans have access to affordable and sustainable energy.

The members of Parliament (MPs) held a workshop in August and agreed on a broad action plan that aims to harmonise energy policies, laws and regulations, besides other aspects. According to committee chairperson Sisa Njikelana, this harmonisation process should be linked to priority projects of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development.

The need for effective research into the energy sector was strongly highlighted by all the MPs at the workshop. They added that such research outcomes would help empower them to make informed decisions on how to successfully intervene in and provide leadership for this sector. PAP MPs from Burkina Faso, Sudan, Niger, Algeria, Tanzania and Sierra Leone agreed with their South African counterparts on the need for rural electrification and to focus on renewable energy.

The plan also identifies the need for an African conference on energy to map out an all-inclusive approach to energy and other related matters. The plan also identifies a need to focus specifically on African and global energy trade and its impact on the African continent.

Further, the need for the private sector to help to ensure that sustainable energy is implemented and that international treaties are ratified, along with awareness and advocacy campaigns on energy issues, was also highlighted during the workshop as critical elements in ensuring that Africans play their role in ensuring access to energy.

“Poor planning, which is linked to outdated infrastructure, technologies and insufficient expertise and skills to manage existing infrastructure, is among the main causes of energy challenges in Africa,” says Njikelana.

The respective MPs will take these recommendations to their respective Parliaments for adoption and refinement, which will be followed by a postendorsement implementation workshop.