Month: July 2020

Speaker of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliament, Rt. Honorable Sidie Mohamed Tunis has urged lawmakers not to restrict their duties only to parliamentary meetings and other activities.

According to him, they should remain Community lawmakers wherever they find themselves and endeavor to preach the ideals of ECOWAS at all times and in all places.

He made this remarks on Saturday, July 25, 2020 when he drew down the curtains to the Second Extra Ordinary meeting which was held virtually via Zoom from July 20 to 25, 2020 to consider some referrals made to the Parliament by the ECOWAS Commission.

Mr. Tunis thanked the President of the Commission, Community lawmakers, Secretary-General, Directors and staff of the Parliament for making the virtual session a success.

The Speaker pointed out that resumption in flight operations leading to the continuation of Parliamentary activities is not a guarantee that life has returned to normal, as the coronavirus is very much present and has the capacity to wreak havoc.

He further noted that, the world is reopening due to additional knowledge about how the virus spreads, leading to more knowledge about preventive measures.

“Should the situation permit us to resume executing our programmes, which I hope would be soon, we would devise our own internal preventive mechanisms in addition to what is already in place. As we desire to serve our people, we are determined to ensure that we protect the individual MPs from likely infection in the course of discharging their community responsibilities, and I pledge to do the needful in that regard”.

As it is difficult for Parliament to predict when the situation would improve significantly enough for annual activities of the Parliament to commence, despite infection rates, the world is ready to co-exist with the virus pending the discovery of a vaccine, he added.

And noted that, economic activities are opening up, with several airports around the world and the sub-region inclusive have reopened especially for local operations.

“We are expecting that in the coming weeks, international operations may commence and air links between our member states would be restored. Only when that happens can we as a Parliament take another look at our activities and determine those that can be executed in the remaining part of the year”.

The Speaker in his closing speech acknowledged that there is a lot of work to be done out there, as the Community citizens are wallowing in poverty which has further been compounded by the downward trend in economic activities occasioned by the prevailing pandemic.

In addition, the sub-region is under the threat of hunger, despite being in the rainy season, restriction is occasioned by the pandemic and farming activities have become difficult.

He urged the Community lawmakers to fashion out a way of proposing cushioning the effects as the remaining part of this year and early next year would be highly challenging economically and socially.

Mr. Tunis also called on lawmakers to collaborate with their governments both at the national and regional levels to ensure that they protect the interest of the Community people and work towards easing affairs during the anticipated difficult period.

Rt. Honorable Tunis further underscored the need for medical workers to be protected to enable them discharge their duties and appealed to governments, donor organisation and wealthy individuals to assist in providing Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs).

This, he noted, would boost the morale of health workers and give them adequate attitude to give their best as it would help in mitigating fatalities during this very difficult times.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

Community lawmakers, who were not present at the inauguration of the fifth Community Parliament in Niger at the early part of this year, were sworn in on Saturday, July 25, 2020 at the end of the Second Extra Ordinary Session which was conducted virtually via Zoom.

They included Califa Seidi from the Republic of Guinea-Bissau, Prince Yormie Johnson from Liberia and Woraye Sarr from Senegal.

The rest are from Mali and included Ibrahim Yara, Amadou Diepkile, Mariam Kagnassy, Siaka Batouta Bagayoko, and Dieminatou Fomba.

At the start of the plenary it was made clear that Community lawmakers who had not been sworn in could not participate in voting and deliberations of the virtual meeting via Zoom as it is in the Supplementary Act, thus, their swearing in was deferred to the last day.

In the Supplementary Act A/SA.1/12/16 Article 29, clause (1,2 &3) states that;  “During the first sitting of the inaugural session and before assuming their duty, a Reprehensive shall affirm before the chairman of the Authority as follow:

“I declare on my honor that I will faithfully serve the interest of the peoples of the Community and that I will not submit to any direct or indirect pressures from any Member State or group.

During subsequent or future sittings, swearing-in of members shall be done before the Speaker of Parliament.

And this declaration, which shall be in writing and signed by every Representative, shall be recorded in the proceedings of the Parliament and may be referred to as and when necessary”.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

After a presentation made by  the  Commissioner of Finance at the opening of the virtual meeting of the  Second Extra Ordinary Session to the Community Parliament, a   representative of Ghana at the  Parliament, Clement Kofi Humado has said it is now clear countries that are lagging behind in paying the Community Levy.

According to him, it is clear that most of the West African sub-regional countries are not adhering to the protocol procedure of collecting the levies and sending them to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) account in their respective central banks.

He indicated the need to interrogate the issue at the Committee level and the Plenary and what he had heard from the Finance Commissioner the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic had affected the volume of imports in various countries and by extension affected the Community levy.

Mr. Humado in an interview pointed out that the extent to which the coronavirus has affected levies of countries did not come out clearly and added that at the plenary when the referrals from the Commission is being taken justice would be done to the referrals.

He urged lawmakers in the sub-region in their various national parliament to make statements drawing the attention of their governments and finance ministers to respond to their performance of the ECOWAS levy.

“I am happy Ghana is doing very well along side Ivory Coast. We are meeting most of our targets, I think the problem is with other smaller countries in the Sahel COVID-19 is affecting their imports. And their economies are not strong because of the adverse security situation they spend more on security hence the inability to remit proper amount of their ECOWAS levy”.

On the inability of Nigeria to meet its target, he noted that it is a bit confusing. “I think the levy has been collected but being stored in a certain Central Account that is not being released to the ECOWAS Commission. I do not understand why it is so, we should be able to deal with that when we come to the plenary”.

Mr. Kofi Humado commended the way the virtual meeting started despite few challenges and considering that the opening was the first time and looking at the number that participated including lawmakers, journalists and staff, and was very much impressed.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

Speaker of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliament Rt. Hon Sidie Mohamed Tunis has commended Heads of States in the sub-region for measures taken collectively and individually in addressing the spread of the coronavirus.

According to him he was invited virtually to participate in the Extra Ordinary Summit of Heads of States and Government on COVID-19 held on April 22, 2020, an evidence of the commitment of the Heads of States towards the fight of the pandemic.

He further noted that pictures of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is not entirely gloomy though admittedly, infection rates are growing daily and deaths are still being recorded from complication associated with  the virus.

He noted that across the globe, the sub-region inclusive are becoming more familiar with the nature of complications that lead to death. Consequently, they are working towards ensuring that they treat symptoms as they appear and also identify certain existing drugs meant for other ailments to assist limit damages to infected patients.

The economic effects are yet to be determined, since the pandemic is still raging, there is hope that with collaboration and togetherness, we shall come out and tell the story one day, he emphasised.

The Speaker noted that the second extra ordinary session essentially was to consider some important referrals from the ECOWAS Commission and added that he expects that relevant standing committees would work assiduously to ensure that the view of the people are reflected in their decision making.

“I am aware that the draft Strategic Plan for the 5th Legislature is about being concluded by the General Secretariat for onward presentation to us. While we patiently await its submission for our consideration, we will also pursue the 2020 work plan as vigorously as the situation permits us to. In collaboration with the General Secretariat, we are watching unfolding events as they relate to the safety of holding physical meetings”.

And added that, the task of representing the people, embarking on oversight functions, conducting parliamentary interpellation, and providing a voice for the voiceless is beyond holding virtual meetings; ECOWAS Parliament, he added, would do its best to discharge its duty.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com