Gabon: the need to train senators on legislative work

Many of them have never been elected before and are therefore not very knowledgeable about parliamentary practices, the senators of the Transition will soon benefit from a training seminar focused on parliamentary work, as the session of laws has recently opened.

Like their colleagues in the National Assembly, they will have a lot to do over the next few months as the session of laws opens, last Friday, March 1. Therefore, former elected officials need capacity building, and for newcomers, they need to become more familiar with the practices and specificities related to their mission. The senators of the Transition will soon benefit from a training seminar on parliamentary work. The announcement was made on Thursday, March 7, by Paulette Missambo, President of the Senate, during the bureau meeting.

At the Omar Bongo Ondimba Palace, there is a need to continue the efforts already initiated in strengthening the capacities of the Transition senators, many of whom were appointed by President Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema without ever having sat in Parliament. Therefore, as explained by Gervais Fabrice Odjouga, head of the print media service at the Senate, these training sessions are intended to enable beneficiaries to understand the practical aspects of a senator’s work. “This seminar aims to provide Transition parliamentarians with the essential basics for their missions in order to better approach this session of laws by mastering the different stages of the legislative procedure”, he explains.

In Gabon, the Senate was rehabilitated shortly after the coup d’état on August 30, 2023. Appointed in September, the Transition senators officially started their work on October 30, two months after the fall of Ali Bongo, during an inaugural session. So far, the newcomers have only had four months of practice.

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