News:
December 23, 2019
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