Author: Kwaku GhanaMPs

A two term former member of Ghana’s delegation to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Parliament Fredrick Opare-Ansah is confident the Parliament will see its members being elected by universal adult suffrage in the near future.

According to him the sub-regional member states will achieve that and pointed out that the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) has shown the way by electing its members directly.

“It’s important because there are issues which are of community interest especially the direction we are heading right now, where because of the issues of ICT your borders are becoming almost nonsensical”.

He explained that with ICT and technology, one can seat in Togo, Nigeria or Burkina Faso and have an IP address in Ghana and do things as if the person is in Ghana.

And if the person is in Ghana and want to commit a crime in another sub-regional country, the person can easily do that, “so when you do not have a legislative body which has this kind of interest and dealing with the common issues it could pose a problem”.

Mr. Opare-Ansah further noted that European Union (EU) has been able to address some issues in that regard because of their strengthens and commonality of the laws, the EU Parliament has enacted laws to deal with that.

And recounted that whiles in the Community Parliament one of the things he pushed for which eventually got somewhere was the issue of roaming and added that going for a session in Abuja Nigeria one has to carry SIM cards – Glo along likewise other countries.

“We have eventually enacted laws and Ghana has done it, when I was chairman of the communications committee, we passed our laws here which enables me now to land in any of the ECOWAS countries to use my Ghana SIM card on the local networks and get charged what the citizens pay in a member states without going to pay roaming charges”.

As to whether this laudable idea is actually working in the member states of the West African sub-region, he responded by saying that it is important that all member states domesticate these laws after the protocols are signed by Authority of Heads of States and Governments at their summits.

“If Ghana’s president goes out and sign this in a summit and comes back and the Communications Minister in Ghana does not take it upon herself to come to Parliament with it to get a law enacted on it, how would telecommunications in Ghana work on this?” He queried.

He noted that it will only come back to the same point, if it does not get domesticated; adding that local networks would not comply until the domestic laws force them to do so; and Ghana has enacted a low to this effect. When you land in Ghana for 90 days you are free to make calls from a members states of ECOWAS and get charged as you pay back home.

He emphasized further that if the Community Parliament has its own remit and makes laws like EALA, it gets gazzeted and takes effect because automatically the member states domesticate laws made by the regional bloc.

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The Secretary General of the Community Parliament John Azumah is advocating for ECOWAS Parliament’s own dedicated Members of Parliament (MPs) in the wake of crusade to get MPs directly elected to the House.

Though many considered the idea laudable, some critics believe the idea would have financial implications to member states hence are skeptical.

But Mr. John Azumah noted that as the chief administrator of the Community Parliament at the fore front supporting Rt. Hon Speakers to achieve this, “when you talk of directly elected members then it throws out so many issues and those who do not want it pick on the difficult areas of direct election and say it is not possible”.

According to him, people question, how elections of such can be organized for example in a country like Nigeria; while others also look at difficulties some member states face in financing their own elections. As such it would be nearly impossible for such countries to directly elect MPs to come to the regional parliament.

He however emphasized that he is not in any way down playing the lawmakers in the parliament as they are very seasoned and influential and have contributed greatly to moving the integration agenda forward.

Again, as human when you are playing a dual role it sucks up your energy; these are MPs who first and foremost are lawmakers in the various member states National Assemblies, they have to sustain their membership in their national parliament before belonging to the sub-regional parliament.

So, it is automatic that they will give attention to their primary constituency which is their National Parliament and then the other one plays second fiddle.

“So we suffer, when there is crises in the sub-region and we need a full House your guess is as good as mine; especially when sessions are going on in the various member states and critical issues are being discussed. For instance, they are having budget periods; the budget period in the West African sub-region is the same period getting to the end of the year”.

For instance, Ghana and Nigeria are also having their budget sessions in their National Assemblies, how do you get same person in Abuja-Nigeria to have a dedicated time to look critically into Community budget, whiles his or her home country is undergoing same exercise.

Mr. John Azumah added that it is a gray area that needs attention, either than that the lawmakers are wonderful, intelligent and experience people who make very valuable contributions so far to the agenda of moving the integration process forward.

He disclosed that similar thing occurred in the European Parliament (EU), where they used their national parliament’s electoral college system which accommodated its citizens interested in being the EU Parliament.

EU Parliament also faced the issues of finance but they were able to put themselves together and started having direct elections and were no longer passing it through a national college system. It’s something the sub-region can look at; no need to reinvent the wheels.

He was however quick to point out that the situation on the ground currently is not the best; saying there are economic difficulties as a result of COVID-19 outbreak, the Ukraine-Russia war and the economic meltdown of the United States of America which has affected us.

And further added that as a bloc we cannot continue with the dual role where we have lawmakers who belong to their National Assembly at the same time serving the Community bloc, hence the need for dedicated law makers.

Mr. John Azumah further revealed and showed Ghanamps.com a photo album of a good gesture showed by the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, under former President Buhari and praised him for single handedly building a befitting edifies for the Community Parliament in Abuja Nigeria when he was called upon way back in 2019.

“That is a great man, he did not sink that amount of money to build the edifies for wall geckos to inhabit; he had something at the back of his mind that he will put people who would work for the region and would work and pay for the resources that is being committed to it”.

“Also you need people who are committed, you cannot continue this way and get results and “for me the fact that one Head of State has agreed to do this thing for us means that we are getting towards direct election where we would have our own dedicated place and longer sessions where we would revisit all the protocols since the bloc was establish in 1975”.

Some of the protocols have been overtaken by technology; when it comes to climate change, if you look at those protocols they do not stand again. They have been washed away, we need a group that can seat down and go through using the current situation to come up with proper laws, proper Acts to bind our dealings with climate change.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

The clerk of Ghana’s Parliament Cyril Kwabena Oteng Nsiah per section 3 of the constitution of Ghana (Amendment) Act, 1996 (Act 527) has formerly written to the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission Jean A. Mensah formally notifying her of occurrence of a vacancy in the Assin North constituency.

According to him this was necessitated by the judgment of the Supreme Court on Wednesday, May 17, 2023 with writ No J1/11/2022 issued in respect of James Gyakye Quayson in the case of Michael Ankomah Nimfah vrs James Gyakye Quayson.

The Electoral Commission of Ghana and The Attorney-General have requested the EC to take appropriate consequential actions as required by law in a letter to the EC.

Ghanamps.com

The Secretary General of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliament, John Azumah, has pointed out that for the blocs’ integration to be successful its very key for the Community citizens to be multilingual especially in the three official languages English, French and Portuguese.

According to him, he has come to realise that language is very critical in a multicultural environment and in the integration process even bringing countries together and bringing peace also to a large extent.

And further added that when you understand each other, the issue of suspicion minimizes and one can communicate with their colleagues when they meet for the first time. “What I would say is that I have met my brother or sister; where you cannot communicate you need to get a third party and that breeds suspicion”.

Again, you would question; am I dealing with the right person, am I at the right place? These, the administrative head of the Community Parliament emphasized make language very essential in the integration architecture and agenda.

He thus advised that it is important to encourage member states to deepen the study of language especially the three languages that are our official languages. Again Ghana and Nigeria we are lackadaisical in the learning of language, saying we think that probably we are okay; maybe it is the British attitude that English is ruling the world and if you can speak the Queens language and you have the right words then you are good to go.

He expressed worry that the French speaking countries (Francophone) in the sub-region take the study of language more seriously such that English is compulsory up to the University level but it’s not the case in the English speaking countries (Anglophones) in the sub-region).

Mr. Azumah further pointed out that Nigeria is the biggest economy in Africa; very powerful and rich; they can stay in their country without moving out and they will be comfortable they have 36 states including the FTC. And if they start trading among themselves in their states, they do not need any body. Despite that, it is not the ideal thing to do.
Recounting his schooling days, Mr. Azumah noted that he started as a language student at the University of Ghana, where he did French in the Six form and Spanish in Legon for one year.

Years back Ghana had a language college at Somanya, which taught French and was supported by the French government and others. But governments came and did not give it priority and was converted into one of the post secondary schools.

So specialization was taken away and it turns out that, only people who are interested in language would try to find where to get the learning done, except those at the frontiers of our countries, they make the efforts. For instance, Ewes in Togo and Ghana, same with Northern Ghana and Burkina Faso. So they are able to express interest in it. It is not the same with those in the interior.

He also noted that Gambia is doing well because of Senegal, and re-emphaised the need to do something because moving forward and with the coming of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) that people need to have the opportunity of doing business without difficulties, language comes very handy.

According to him though there are interpreters, they are not sufficient and if we can have a staff speaking Portuguese, English and French you would see how much productivity we would come out with and we would save cost because you will understand documents coming in Portuguese and act on them.

Mr. Azumah recounted how the immediate past president of the ECOWAS Commission, Jean-Claude Kassi Brou when he appeared before the Community Parliament could express himself in French, English and Portuguese and was given standing ovation. He did not need to pay and engage an interpreter hugely to work on Portuguese document that is important”.

He gave another example when he visited the European Union Parliament somewhere in 2012 in their interaction with their fellow staffs there, each of them could speak a minimum of four European languages.

“One young man came in and spoke so well and beautifully, when I ask he said he is a Polish, so for integration process to work language is very key”, he emphasised.

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The only female member on the Gambian delegation to the Community Parliament, Fatoumatta Njai has slammed the Authority of Heads of States and Governments and the sub-regional bloc for ignoring early warning signs that leads to coups in the wake of the high political tension currently in Senegal.

According to her the Authority of Heads of States has become a fifteen (15) member club that only seek to protect the interest of ruling governments and to entrench themselves in power at the expense of ordinary community citizens.

“I think as Parliament, we should look into that and ensure that every citizen of the Community is protected and irrespective of their party affiliation. We come to the Community Parliament read and adopt reports, we never follow up on those reports, the plight of our citizens are ignored, – what is happening in Senegal?”

Madam Njai made the observations on Tuesday, May 23, 2023 at the closing of the 2023 first Ordinary Session in Abuja Nigeria when the joint Committees of Political Affairs, Peace, Security & APRM / Legal Affairs and Human Rights report was being presented for adoption at the plenary.

It was however, stated during contributions towards the debate on the floor that ECOWAS as a bloc is doing a lot of close door engagements to prevent coups in the sub-regional bloc.

There is political tension currently in Senegal, where a case of rape is pending in the court against the opposition leader Ousmane Sonko and this has heightened political tensions in the country.

She argued that currently three member states that experience coup – Mali, Guinea, and Burkina Faso are in transition to constitutional rule, but the way things are going, as a sub-regional bloc, we might have more all because ECOWAS is not proactive in stopping the root causes of constitutional changes, “they ignore the root cause”, she lamented.

Additionally, she pointed out that her home Country just came out of a local level election and the amount of disrespect that government officials with the security have inflicted on civilians if they had reacted there would have been chaos.

“ECOWAS should recognise and respect the right of the opposition”.

On the debate and adoption of the joint Committees report, she pointed out that on the Senegal political situation all she sees is colleagues from Senegal reacting and stating points in the interest of their political afflations’ ignoring the obvious signs”.

The Banjul South lawmaker in the Gambia who is a neighbour to Senegal, told the plenary she does not see her colleagues speaking in the interest of their citizens on the floor. Again she supports the idea of sending fact finding missions to member states when there are issues to be addressed.

But was quick to point out that, when they go they go and seat with the ruling government and they tell them what they want them to know instead of going to the citizens to verify what is on the ground.

She said instead of spending weeks, they go there for a day or two; they rather wine and dine with the authorities and at the end of the day come out with reports, “for us to adopt that do not reflect realities on the ground”.

She gave a classical example of her country report, in the Gambia, stating that at the moment, there is Acute Kidney Infection leading to the death of some 70 children but this was not stated in their country report. “So  are we here enjoying at the expense of our citizens or we should rather go to the grounds and see what is happening rather than sitting here  talking about reports that do not have true reflections of the situation on the ground?”

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A member of the Senegalese delegation to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliament, Abdoulaye Vilane has taken a swipe at the Speaker Dr. Sidie Mohammed Tunis saying he would go down history as “one of the worst Speaker’s the Parliament has had.

According to him the speaker’s remarks that Sierra Leone and Liberia are not affected by the terrorist attacks hence not his business is really unfortunate.

Rather Countries like Senegal, Gambia, Ghana, Togo and Nigeria should be concerned about terrorist attacks, “this is irresponsible comments”.

Mr. Abdoulaye Vilane, a member of the Trade, Customs and Free Movement Committee who attended the joint Committee meeting of Political Affairs, Peace, Security and African Peer Review Mechanism/ Legal Affairs and Human Right on Friday, May, 19, 2023 was unhappy of the absence of the Chairman of the Parliament Affairs Peace, Security and APRM and key persons as well as the Rt. Hon Speaker Dr. Sidie Mohamed Tunis.

He noted in an interview that important matters such as efforts to bring back Countries under sanction because of coup like Mali, Guinea, and Burkina Faso are being discussed and the political situation in Senegal but the Speaker and chairman are nowhere to be found.

Again, he further pointed out that he is reliable informed that the Speaker was supposed to be in Panama for the opening of their Parliament, but did not go because the President of his Country was celebrating his birthday.

Checks done by Ghanamps.com, has revealed that chairman of the Political Affairs Committee Senator Snowe is in Panama Parliament to represent the Speaker Rt. Hon Dr. Sidie Mohammad Tunis.

In addition, “he comes to sign for first week when there is parliamentary work but was nowhere to be seen all because his term is coming to an end, he does not care about anything”, he stated.

When Ghanamps.com reached out to the Speaker’s secretariat on the issue of the terrorist comment, it was revealed that it was meant to be a joke and not serious comment.

And on the issue of absence of the Speaker at the joint committee meeting of Political Affairs Committee of which he is a member, it came up that ahead of next month’s general election in Sierra Leone, the Speaker is back in his home country.

Mr. Abdoulaye Vilane further pointed out that similar situation was witnessed last year during the second Ordinary Session November to December of 2022, “the Speaker came in for few days and was nowhere to be seen”.

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The joint Committees meeting of Political Affairs, Peace, Security and Africa Peer Review Mechanism (APRM)/ Legal Affairs and Human Right involving political issues in Senegal was up for discussion on Friday, May, 19, 2023.

In an interview after the Committee meeting, a friend to the Committee Stephen J. H Zargo noted that Senegal is one of the most flourishing countries in West Africa.

Senegal and Cape Verde are the only two West African countries that have never had coup; so they do want to hear any situation that would lead to that, but the political situation in Senegal is becoming worrying.

Where the Senegalese opposition leader Ousmane Sonko is being tried for alleged rape, the 48-year-old has denied the charges and has accused President Macky Sall of trying to prevent him from running in elections next year.

Mr. Zargo further noted that ECOWAS needs to get involve so that a peace nation like Senegal does not plunge into chaos. “We are happy to be informed by the Commission that there are some back door channels being used that is tapping the expertise of the council of the wise and they should ensure that Senegal is safe and they can continue to enjoy as stable West African state”.

In addition, engagement with the Commission is good, “we all went there with open mind when one person felt short the other person picked up from it. We informed each other, we are cross cutting, we have gotten to know the challenges”, he added.

As to whether the exercise by the Committee would lead to any significant changes, he pointed out that the Parliament has moved from advisory level with their enhanced powers and it’s not only about their opinion as MPs that matter; they also push further.

He was however, quick to point out that they embark on country visitation in some instances and where action has to be taken they do that. “We dispatched some ECOWAS female MPs to Senegal when a female lawmaker was abused; we are making progress”.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com