Month: December 2019

Former Speaker of the Liberian Parliament and Leader of the delegation to the Community Parliament, Rt. Hon. Edwin Melvin Snowe Junior has said outgoing Speaker Mustapha Cisse Lo’s approach of scolding French President Emmanuel Macron on the floor of the House was wrong.

According to Snow Junior if the Speaker has something against the French President that should be put on the agenda of the just ended second ordinary session in Abuja Nigeria for lawmakers to debate rather than using the ECOWAS Parliament platform to criticize another head of state.

“Parliamentary procedures does not allow him to do that, if you have an issue we can come here to talk about it, if the Speaker or any MP is not satisfied with anything Emmanuel Macron or Presidents George Weah, Buhari or Akufo-Addo has done you put it on the agenda bring it to the floor for us to debate the issue”.

He lamented over the platform used not only to condemn Macron but heads of states in West Africa, “I think it is not right”, he said in an interview with journalists in Abuja Nigeria.

Speaker Mustapha Cisse Lo at the closing of the second ordinary session of ECOWAS Parliament took a swipe at the French President for dictating to Francophone sub-regional leaders and was unhappy that heads of states could not stand up to him.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com/Abuja

Outspoken member of the Nigerian delegation to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliament, Senator Ohuabunwa A.  Mao has said lawmakers within the sub-region should be blamed for President’s wanting to change the constitution to elongate their tenure in office.

According him, most Presidents towards the end of their tenure have the penchant of coming to their National Assemblies with constitutional amendment to extend their tenure.

“It is not right, you can’t change the goal poles at the middle of the game, MPs should have Parliamentary strength to resist that. Once you encourage that you are sowing a seed of discord that is how crises and war come about, because the opposition would resist that”.

He said this in an interview a day before the closing session of the second ordinary session of ECOWA Parliament, when there was some indications that the President of Guinea wants to amend the constitution to elongate his tenure.

“People are saying we are resisting third or fourth term, you saw what happened in the case of Togo, those are the issues, I am raising that the Community Parliament should wake up to its responsibilities”, he said.

And underscored the need for National Assemblies to be independent as it is all over the world, “but unfortunately in Africa and the sub-region it is not so because of the level of poverty they take in everything said by the Executive arm of government”.

He also noted that a visit by the ECOWAS Parliament’s Committee on Peace, Security and Political Affairs to Guinea when the President is called up with the involvement of MPs from Guinea, “you speak against the attempt to amend the constitution when you do that you strengthen the local lawmakers”.

He again pointed out in an interview that when Parliament is not there, the people are not involved and added that this part of the world Parliament is not functioning well.

“We in Nigeria have been able to establish seventy-five (75) percent of our independence in the 8th Parliament. The relationship between Parliament and the Executive that is how it is suppose to be, there should be check and balances”.

As former chair of the Committee of Peace, Security and Political Affairs, he noted that in the previous Parliament, a lawmaker from Togo was stripped off his Parliamentary immunities, they had to move to Togo to meet with the late Togolese President.

“He was tough and feared, not the current President, then we achieved results and even our powers were not enhanced, we moved around the sub-region, the Guinea President then Kumbalaya used his powers to close down schools, we met him, he was fuming, but at the end of the day we arrived at a decision”.

He added that the peace and stability Liberia is enjoying today they started it before the Akosombo agreement, “we went several times and asked former President Taylor to share power, he refused, and we took bullets”.

“When you have done all that and people do as if nothing can be done this time around when there are emerging crises it is painful, people must stand up”, he lamented.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com/Abuja

The Minority in Parliament has welcomed the change in date for the vetting of the President’s nominee for the position of Chief Justice, Justice Anin Yeboah.

According to a statement signed by the Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu this follows further consultation and intervention by the leadership of Parliament, where an understanding was reached for them to reconsider their decision to boycott the vetting.

The Minority Leader noted that Ghanaians should expect them to discharge their constitutional duty diligently and thoroughly especially considering their high regard for the eminent office the nominee will be occupying as head of the judicial arm of government if approved.

“As we have emphasised earlier, our position on this matter is borne out of respect for our practice and processes without any prejudice whatsoever to the nominee in question”, he said in a statement.

Mr. Haruna Iddrisu further pointed out that the Minority will continue to place first the larger interest of the nation and insist on strict adherence to credible parliamentary democracy.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com

Parliaments Appointment Committee has rescheduled the vetting of President Nana Akufo-Addo’s nominee for Chief Justice, Justice Anin Yeboah to Monday 23rd December 2019 at 9:00am.

Initially the vetting of the Chief Justice nominee was supposed to take place on Saturday 21st of December 2019, a date the Minority members on the Appointment Committee were not in favor of and indicated their intention not to participate.

In a release signed by the Acting Director of Public Affairs Kate Addo noted that the vetting will be held at Committee room 1 and 2 of the new administration block of Parliament and is strictly by invitation.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com

As Sierra Leone, prepares to take up the Speakership mantle of the fifth Legislature, of the Economic Community of West African States ECOWAS, leader of the Sierra Leonean delegation to the Community Parliament, Chernor Maju Bah has said he want to see more interactions between the Council of Ministers and Authority of Heads of States.

According to Mr. Bah without the collaboration of the peoples’ representative in the sub-region a lot cannot be achieved as there has been discussion with few stakeholders, Heads of States, Council of Ministers and the Commission.

In an interview, though he did not mention the names of the stakeholders, he indicated that Sierra Leone gave the stakeholders assurance of the fifth Parliament of ECOWAS working hand in hand to achieve a lot, in the wake of terrorist attacks and other security concerns in the sub-region.

“We should see increase in synergy between Parliament, Council of Ministers, Authority of Heads of States and the Commission. At the end of the day, whatever they do we are aware, same with us, so that we complement each other”.

Mr. Chernor Maju Bah further pointed out that despite half of the lawmakers in the fourth legislature would not be coming back to the fifth parliament, their interaction has been good and would work collectively as a team in the next Parliament.

When questioned as to what they will be doing as delegates from Sierra Leone to ensure that the next Speaker succeeds, he noted that whatever they do will be in the name of their country and would give their utmost support.

“If he succeeds, the pride goes to Sierra Leone, God forbid if it happens the opposite, we will blame ourselves. I want to assure you we would not arrive at the junction of not succeeding, all we would be doing is to project the good image of our country and eventually the sub-region as a whole”, he said.

On his assessment on outgoing Speaker Mustapha Cisse Lo, he noted that he has done his own bit and leadership styles are different.

“Whatever we say he has his own plus and minuses, the fifth legislature should rather build on his positive side, and we do not repeat whatever we see as his minuses. I can assure you we would bring the best practices from different jurisdictions”.

He emphasized that what is important is that, the Speaker listens more to the lawmakers, “We lead by listening, we do not lead by dictating, there would be more engagement and consultation before arriving at conclusions”.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com/Abuja

Outgoing Speaker of the fourth Legislature of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Mustapha Cisse Lo on Thursday 12th of December 2019 served notice to lawmakers that he would become an activist after office.

According to the outgoing Speaker, he would be criticizing things, and pointed out that he contributed to put in place a President in Senegal for two terms but things have not changed.

“We need a paradigm shift, we need to make progress our youths are suffering they are unemployed, Nigeria you are the richest country in the sub-region and Africa many people are not eating to their fullest.

Ask the police how much they earn, we would face God’s judgment tomorrow and face God’s court of judgment where there would not be a lawyer?”

In an emotionally emphatic gesture, he touted his record as a Speaker who has not stolen from the Community Parliament as others in his position would have stolen money, and I have been forthright about this.

“Frankly I am going to leave and I want to leave proud of myself, if anybody knows anything untoward about me, my stewardship let them say it and come out with documents, I have to say all these I am with a heavy heart if someone is working and making sacrifices for a nation they should be congratulated so that their action can be consolidated”.

He further revealed that he is not in the business of “stealing” and urged all African leaders to emulate him. I can “beat my chest I do not want to stay longer”.

“I am clear in my mind President Buhari and Macky Sall cannot do anything against me, I have complied with directives and dictates with almighty Allah, it does not mean I do not need money, but I do not steal money”.

Again, I was very tough at the National Parliament in Senegal and added that he went against his own party if he did not agree with Macky Sall on some issues, “I was straight forward about issues”.

He told the House, the fifth legislature should invite him he would come without they paying his ticket and added that he is an agriculture expect, “I can help develop Africa with the kind of system I have put in place.

“My children are involved in agriculture production and do not have any government job, there is a journalist who said I got millions of public procurement yet I am criticizing those in power, this is not true, if I had obtained that it is through a legal means, I am an economic operator, I sell agriculture products”.

He explained that he sold goods to Burkina Faso and the government is owning him millions and “I am being criticized, that is funny.

“I did not have a good night sleep, I would want to see peace return to Burkina Faso  and Guinea Bissau, Guineas election process is underway we would send people to monitor the democratic process system”.

He also advocated that there is the need to build a consensus to have a constitution that cannot be amended.

“I would get involve in other businesses, at seventy (70) if you are not rich forget it, at my age sixty-five (65) I have five years to acquire some billions, I do not have money in my account, meanwhile when people see me nicely dressed, they think I have a lot of money”.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com/Abuja

Speaker of the West African Community Parliament, Mustapha Cisse Lo has taken a swipe at the French President Emmanuel Macron for threatening and dictating to the G5 Sahel countries, Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania and Chad over security matters.

According to Speaker if the Francophone sub-regional countries do not have the right to speak their minds then they are slaves.

“We should be free to express ourselves, how can Macron threaten our heads of states that is not independence, is it the French people who would tell us what we should do for ourselves? I wish was the President of Senegal to tell Macron the truth in the face”.

“I agree that I have not study to a high level, but orally I told them the failure confronting us is because of the bad management and the lack of capacity of our leaders. In terms of management, if you want to manage you should know what you are managing, and this is crucial”.

Again, when it comes to management, it is like a trade, you are given one million to buy a cattle and make profit, in that case you need to know the kind of cattle you are going to buy which would generate profit, he stated.

“Africa is in complete disorder because our leaders are not assuming their responsibilities, they go around with their dispatch riders, and we have good lands, sun, water bodies, and petroleum, our younger generations are suffering. We need to tell each other the truth, let us look each other eye ball to eye ball”.

Morocco does not have all the resources we have in the sub-region, but they told themselves they want to eat what they grow, and have been successful with that, they want to join ECOWAS, but they have all the good roads, high speed train without resources like gas and petroleum.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com/Abuja

The Speaker of the fourth Legislature of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliament, Mustapha Cisse Lo has empathized with the people of Niger after a terrorist attack that killed sixty (60) security forces late Tuesday 10th December 2019.

He made this remarks on Thursday 12th December 2019 on the floor of the Community Parliament in a very charged mood.

On behalf of the community lawmakers, he sent condolence to chairman of ECOWAS President   Mahamadou Issoufou, lawmakers both at the Parliament and back and the entire population.

“They are peaceful population, it is most unfortunate, we need to make more efforts and pay attention to the various signs, indicates a precarious future for our children and family, it would not be right to remain adamant of this issue”.

He wished for Niger to have its peace and stability, and predicted difficult times ahead unless the sub-region muster courage and say to those who are not peace loving people, and pointed to the Western powers who had lost confidence in themselves and are working to ensure that the world is in disorder.

Mr. Souleymane  member of the Senegal Delegation proposed that the House approves for a delegation to be sent to Niger to see for themselves the degree of damage the attack had caused including the death of the sixty security forces.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com/Abuja

President of the ECOWAS Commission, Jean-Claude K. Brou has expressed worry over challenges that the West African sub-region is facing with regards to free movement of persons and goods despite giant strides made.

According to the Commission President, a lot of progress has been made compared to other regional blocs, adding that ECOWAS has dealt with the issues of visa.

He further pointed out that as the Parliament embarked on trips across member states to assess the situation on the ground, their field trips revealed that citizens of the West African sub-region still face harassments.

This, he noted, is something that should be worked on, the Commission is playing its role and the member states are those who are implementing the regional regulations hence the need to work together.

In addition, the Commission did not want to go into details in its report, there are a lot of tariffs but we say we do not pay duties when goods get to the borders. “There are duties put in place which are not recognised at the community level but in reality traders are told they have to pay”. He was responding to questions on the floor after presenting state of the Community to lawmakers.

Mr. Jean-Claude K. Brou pointed out that Regional Integration is one of the priority for forming the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), to bring trade and economic growth.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com/Abuja

Lawmakers in the sub-regional Community Parliament continue to express serious reservations about the continuous border closure by Nigeria with Niger and Benin despite attempts by their colleague from Nigeria to explain that it is temporary to check smuggling and rice importation.

First Deputy Speaker of the Community Parliament, Ahmed Wase and his colleagues during the presentation of the country report addressed a lot of the concerns raised by their colleagues on the border closure.

Majority of questions posed to the President of the ECOWAS Commission Jean-Claude K. Brou, when he presented the state of the Community report to the Parliament, had to do with what the Commission was doing to address the border closure by Nigeria.

In response, he noted, that there is no doubt that the border closure is having an impact, “for us we are not concerned about who to blame, when you are confronted with a problem you should look at ways of addressing it”.

Again, we have a lot of initiatives adopted to address the situation; we have made contacts and it is not everything that is put in the public domain.

“The Commission is assisting to ensure there is a way out of this situation to ensure that the issues are identified and address major concerns quickly to the satisfaction of all the parties, as much as possible”, he stated.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com/Abuja