The only Female lawmaker representing the Republic of Gambia in the Community Parliament, Fatoumatta Njai said after her second term in the Gambian Parliament which ends in 2027 she would not long contest but exit the Legislative arm of government. According to the Independent Member of Parliament (MP) from the Gambia, when she exits she would ensure the seat she currently occupies is taken over by a female.
Hon Fatoumatta Njai
As to what figures she was looking at, she revealed that if she can have ten (10) that would be a plus. “In the next election, I am looking at 2027, I would try to get at least 20 female MPs; we hope for the best”. She recounted in an interview that with her campaign that got her re-elected she had a team of fifty-eight (58) and out of that thirty (30) of them were young girls, the eldest in her team was thirty-three years (33). “I believe in catching them young and succession, so I am working on who would take over from me. I am going to make more female MPs rather than just me seating in the Parliament, I would create three or four me that is what I believe in anyway rather than occupy one seat, I believe in having more seats that I would create”. Madam Fatoumatta Njai after holding on and not granting interviews after her victory, opened up in Abuja – Nigeria at the 2022 Frist Ordinary Session and pointed out that, “this is going to be my last in Parliament”, in a very calm voice and smile.
And further added that, she was pleased with how ECOFEPA is going now by reaching out to young girls trying to encourage them to walk the talk and look up to them, and we are also doing it in our individual countries. Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com/Abuja-Nigeria
Minister for Trade and Industries, Alan Kojo Kyeremateng has attributed the high cost of cement in the country to external factors.
The Minister told Parliament that clinker which is a raw material mainly imported into the country has witnessed significant upward adjustment in recent times.
According to him in the recent past, freight globally has also seen very significant increase which has resulted in the disruption of the global supply chain initially caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequently by the Russia Ukraine conflict. He made this know on the floor of the House on Tuesday, June 28, 2022 when he came to the House to answer question posed by Member of Parliament for Bole Bamboi Yusif Sulemana.
“Furthermore, the depreciation of our local currency against the US Dollar and the increases in petroleum product as well as the cost of electricity has also contributed to the high cost of production of cement”.
In addition to that the supply of bags for cement has also been disrupted as a result of the conflict that have accounted for the increase in cement in the local market.
As to measures government and his Ministry is putting in place to address the problem, he told the House the economic management team and cabinet are currently considering series of measures that would address some of the internal factors.
On the issue of sub-regional cement price on the low side but Ghana has its price higher, the Minister pointed out that per records the Ministry has, the records do not support the MPs claim.
Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com
Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, is attending the International Cyber Security Week in the Israeli capital, Tel Aviv.
Accompanying the Speaker are the Clerk to Parliament, Cyril Nsiah, MP for Ho West and a Member on the ICT Steering Committee of Parliament, Emmanuel Bedzrah, the Director of ICT, Mrs Shirley-Ann Fiagome and her deputy, Leslie Addico and officers from the reforms team of the office of the clerk.
The four-day conference which opened on Monday has participants drawn from academia and industry from over 40 countries across the globe and the Israeli Prime Minister, Naftali Bennett, attending.
It is aimed at readying Parliament and other government institutions to respond to cyber security attacks which are said to be on the increase.
Some of the topics to be discussed at the conference include ‘Bridging International Approaches to Cyber Risk Management’, ‘The Future Landscape of the Cyber Security World – 2030 and Beyond’, Cyber Crisis Management and Readiness, ‘Security in the Quantum Age’, ‘Maritime Cyber Security,’ ‘Data Protection’, ‘Digital Sovereignty and Cyber Security’ amongst others.
Speaking on the topic Cyber Security World – 2030 and Beyond’ on Monday, Brigadier General (Rtd) Rami Efrati, one of the coordinators of the conference said cyber security poses a great danger to the existence to small scale businesses, multinationals and even states.
“Cyber is a big business, it is going to be big business forever because as long as new technologies are coming and as as far as hackers are concerned, there is business to do” Brigadier-General Efrati said.
According to him, cyber security criminals are adopting new trends to enhance their nefarious activities which require that institutions of state and businesses upped their games to combat such attacks which are expected to increase in the near future.
Some of these attacks, Brigadier General (Rtd) Efrati said are not to make money but to generate fake news and misinformation to change minds negatively to undertake a course.
Using a health facility in Israel which he said has been attacked recently as an example, the retired soldier said the world must come together to nib cyber security in the bud as areas such as oil and gas, maritime, governance, telecommunication, banking amongst others remain susceptible to cyber criminals.
In an interview on the relevance of the conference to the operations of Parliament, Mrs Fiagome said it would help enhance Parliament’s preparedness to the increasing cases of attacks on the legislature’s systems..
“We do have cyber security attacks mostly on our emails. Very often, our subscribers receive email from [attackers] pretending to be coming from parliament and ask them to sign in.
“Once they do that, the attackers have access to our system, change the password and attack the system and results in denial of service because our servers are blocked from sending emails until the issue is resolved,” she revealed.
Stating that these incidents have impact on the operations of Parliament, Mrs Fiagome said, measures, including preventing an email from sending a certain number of mails per day, have been taken to end the attacks.
With the attackers getting sophisticated by the day, Mrs Fiagome urged other institutions to adopt continual user-awareness trainings to their staff to be current on the trends of cyber-attacks and how to detect them.
Leader of the Gambian delegation to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliament, Billay G. Tunkara has acknowledged that the in-coming President of the Commission Dr. Omar Alieu Touray has a huge task ahead. According to him the president is coming at a time that commissioners to assist him have been reduced from fifteen (15) to Seven (7), a situation that calls for hard work if there would be any transformation.
And added in an interview that to him who much is given much is expected and needs to focus and learn from the mistakes of the out-going president and should work hard to leave a good legacy, by “making Gambia proud”. On the political situation in the West Africa sub-region, he noted that it’s unfortunate that in the 21st century there are still military take overs, and more worrying is the juntas quest to extend their stay in power by thirty-six months without recourse to the Authority of Heads of States and Government.
Dr Omar Alieu Touray
“Dr. Omar Alieu Touray’s presidency should learn from this rampant military take overs and act on the security intelligence reports on member states. Once you see the early warning signs, you should address it before it gets out of hand”. And gave an example of a fact finding mission of the ECOWAS Parliament to the Mali where the then Malian Parliament’s Speaker swore heaven and earth that the country did not have any difficulties but the following day, there was a coup.
“He should be realistic by acting on intelligence reports; the stay in power by the juntas is too much, ECOWAS should set a good example so that others who have coup mentality do not emulate it. If you keep silence it would open the flood gate for others to also attempt”. In addition, ECOWAS should stand resolute to ensure there is a deterrent and that would stop potential coup plotters.
Hon Fatoumatta Njai,
Mr. Billay G. Tunkara, underscored the need for the new administration to have constant engagement with the Community lawmakers as it came out during joint Committee meetings at the 2022 First Ordinary meeting that there were a lot of activities from the Commission were not known to the MPs. “We are the direct representatives of the people, therefore decisions that would affect them we should be involved with it and we should also play a lead role in that advocacy. We from the Gambia would also engage the in-coming Commissioner to let him know what the MPs expect of him”.
On issues to do with elections within the sub-region, he pointed out that, MPs should be brought into the picture and it should not be at the last hour, then the Commission would turn to them to give favorable opinion on documents they bring before them.
The 2022 First Ordinary Session of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliament, ended on Monday, June 27, 2022 with the adoption of reports of standing committees, joint and Ad Hoc Committees. Adoption of the draft texts was made by the Council of Ministers of ECOWAS Authority of Heads of States and Governments. First Deputy Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament Ahmed Idris Wase who closed the session on behalf of the Rt. Hon. Sidie Mohamed Tunis was pleased with work done by lawmakers especially in the technical discussions leading to the conclusion of Parliament’s Advisory Opinion on the referrals made by the ECOWAS Commission, covering a variety of subjects.
As Members of Parliament, their major responsibility is to represent the people and work towards the transformation of the Community into a self-sufficient, sustainable, prosperous, and peaceful sub-region. He underscored the need, to take back control of lives and the future of the sub-region. Consequently, Community Institutions, as vehicles of the integration process, must be made to function efficiently towards fulfilling their respective mandates to the people.
“The first step towards attaining full parliamentary status is the direct election of members to the ECOWAS Parliament. This also means that we must step up the task at hand. We must work relentlessly to ensure that our efforts yield the needed dividend”.
“Permit me to send hearty congratulations to all Honorable Members who won their respective seats at the just concluded parliamentary elections in some of our Member States. I employ you to never betray the trust. Serve well, lead well, and represent adequately”, he advised.
The Independent lawmaker in the Gambia National Assembly and a member of the delegation to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliament, Fatoumata Njai said country reports presented at the Parliament do not reflect the reality on the ground in various member states.
According to her this came to light at a joint Committee meeting of Political Affairs, Peace, Security and APRM, Legal Affairs and Human Rights, Social Affairs, Gender and Women Empowerment, Administration, Finance and Budget and Public Account at the ongoing 2022 First Ordinary Session in Abuja-Nigeria, where it was pointed out that leaders within the West African sub-region are praised until they are no more.
“I think it is the norm in the sub-region and Africa at large; we are not genuine to ourselves, we just say what people want to hear instead of telling them what should be said. I do not have friends because I do not miss my words; I do not beat around the bush, I say it as it is, I believe it’s the reason why I was given a second term”, she said in an interview.
She further pointed out that, during their engagement with the Commission’s technical team, the former President of Guinea Alpha Conde when the early warnings were identified, reports were written, recommendations were made, he would script them off and say “I do not want to hear this and they would say what he want to hear. For me I do not believe in that. It is just the same in my country –Gambia; example the World Bank would come and praise Yahya Jammeh when he was a dictator, until now when the report started coming, they all said they knew it, and did not say so”. As to what her point was, she pointed that it is the same thing with reading reports. “We praise repots; for me to be honest, most of the reports that we read do not reflect the true and real aspect of the countries”.
“I have said and always say but then we adopted the Senegal report and not address the real issues. Three people have died already. Last year 11 people died, it’s never mentioned, we are not being genuine and honest to our citizens by coming here”, he lamented.
She added that, she would not blame the government for what is happening in Senegal neither would she blame the opposition but then again, if an opposition leader who has been in Parliament for that long witnesses the passing of the parity law.
Like she said during the joint Committee meeting, is it deliberate to make a mistake on the list or was it a genuine error? No one can tell. You cannot have your cake and eat it. As a law maker you know the parity laws, respect them and have your list approved. If you do not respect it, face the law.
She called for respect for the law in our respective countries, so it does not give the government the right to impose sanction on us or to send the military or security person on citizens.
On whether if technical experts are allowed to present the country reports would change the dynamics, she responded saying; “it is Members of Parliament who would adopt the reports; and if the experts give their honest opinions, MPs would be the ones to defend their countries.
“Most of us are not here to represent our people, they are rather here to defend the government; as fortunately for me, I am in opposition, that is why i can speak my honest opinion and I am also independent. It means I do not have a party, it’s my people that are my party, citizens of the Community should be awaken to this fact and try to control the powers that the government would have by making sure that Parliament always has opposition and independent majority”.
That way, the government’s power can be controlled, otherwise even if experts present, nothing would happen. You see as it is in Guinea, they had observers report but still the majority of representation there were part of the government, and they would stand and defend and deny any wrong doing.
A member of the Gambian delegation to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliament, Fatoumata Njai has said the crusade to directly elect lawmakers to the Parliament directly is wishful thinking, “my view”.
According to her she always laugh when the issue of directly electing MPs comes up when questioned by Ecowasnews.com, when asked if MPs are elected the dynamics would change, “we are elected from our various countries, we come here as elected members by extension I do not believe it would be easy to directly elect MPs to come and represent us at the ECOWAS Parliament”.
Again, she pointed out that as a sub-region, we have different forms of elections and gave an example the way MPs are elected in Senegal is different from the Gambia her country. In her country, you present yourself, “in Senegal you present a list, so how are we going to have a uniform form of election to be able to represent us in the Parliament?”
“We look at the EU Parliament, is different because they have structures and strong electoral laws, but in our part of the world it’s your pocket which determines whether you get elected; the one with the heaviest pocket. I do not see it coming, in fact I would not even support. We were elected through our national Assemblies”.
She further vehemently kicked against monetization of politics within the West Africa sub-region.
On the issue of divided attention and allegiance, as some of the problems confronting the current parliament; she noted that it has to do with the individuals. For example, their sessions are quarterly in the Gambia and in some Parliaments they seat daily so if they should come they would have decided attention, “yet that does not call for us to be directly elected because what we decide here should be taken back to our home Assemblies to be acted on”.
She is of a firm believe and still against MPs being elected directly by the people because, they are already the ones who elect us in our Parliaments’, it would be more expensive for any one because you have to be based in Abuja, you would lose touch in your home country”.
Also, you would not be a local politician, you would be a regional politician, you would be based here in Abuja-Nigeria, you would still have divided attention going and coming to your country. “We are connected in our communities”.
“I do not see it coming, we are already half way into this Legislature, I would not blame it on COVID-19 because even that era business was going on; we have resumed a year ago, I believe that with every leadership comes a theme; I believe a theme should be genuine from the heart and realistic and measurable, when we do something it should be smart”.
Madam Njai noted that instead of directly electing ECOWAS MP, the focus should rather be on strengthening democracy and making sure that enacted laws by the parliament are adopted in the sub-region.
“We look at the East Africa Legislature, African Parliament, they make laws and when those laws are made in their regional Parliament, they are implemented in their home countries; that should have been more realistic. Let us work on term limit within our region. That would have been more realistic than saying we are going to be elected directly, who is going to organise those elections, its wishful thinking”.
Dr Omar Alieu Touray, a Gambian diplomat and economic development expert should normally be excited as he gets set to assume the Presidency of the Commission of the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in the first week of July 2022. But that excitement will be diluted by the burden of the leadership deficit he inherits from the outgoing management of the regional bloc set up in 1975 to foster economic integration.
The fact that Dr Touray is coming with a slimmer seven-Commissioner management, from the wieldy and wasteful 15-Commissioner structure could be a source for hope however. If he succeeds in repositioning the wobbly organization, he will etch his name in gold, but it is a tough call given the level of rot and reputational damage suffered in the last decade by an organization, which hitherto was internationally acclaimed for its peace-keeping, conflict management and resolution credentials.
When he hands over to Touray, and moves on to the Central Bank of West African States, BCEAO as Governor, Cote d’Ivoire’s Jean-Claude Kassi Brou, the out-going ECOWAS Commission President, would be leaving the organization certainly worse than he and his management team met it four years ago.
Some of the major criticisms of the ECOWAS management include lack of capacity, vision and proactivity, and the allegation that many top-level personnel have become laser-focused on pursuing the narrow interests of their home governments instead of the desired wider, regional, and supranational agendas.
This phenomenon has dealt a dangerous blow to the delivery of community projects, with many senior officials more interested in embarking on back-to-back missions that produce little or no benefits for the community other than travel allowances in private pockets.
Consequently, it has become commonplace for development partners to complain about ECOWAS’ “lack of absorptive capacity” even when the organization is saturated with “square pegs in round holes.”
Hopefully, Dr Touray is well-informed and has come prepared for the monumental task ahead of him. In his Manifesto for the ECOWAS job, entitled “Towards Shared Prosperity,” he acknowledges “prosperity as the security from want with respect to food, shelter, safety of persons, property and the environment.”
“Shared prosperity therefore implies prosperity that is inclusive in a manner that cuts across geographical, political, social, gender, religious, and generational divide,” the in-coming President said, adding: “It is my strong conviction that delivering shared prosperity must constitute the raison d’etre of ECOWAS. To this end, I undertake to focus on streamlined initiatives that will, deepen integration; build and strengthen peace and security; promote sustainable productivity and inclusive development; entrench good governance; (and) foster equitable partnerships.”
ECOWAS CHAIR
But manifesto and reality are two different animals. For instance, Dr Touray acknowledges that intra-Community trade, economic and monetary integration, and social integration in terms of freedom of movement, residence and establishment would be difficult, when “Intra-community trade within ECOWAS hovers around USD$180 billion per year, representing barely 28% of regional Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and around 12% of the external trade of the region.
No thanks to the foot-dragging by some ECOWAS member States on customs union and other convergence criteria for economic and monetary union, France in cahoots with some francophone countries led by Cote d’Ivoire, has hijacked the ECO, which ECOWAS has been positioning as the regional currency. This means further delay to the realization of the common currency project.
Also, without operationalization of the customs union protocols, especially the Common External Tariffs (CET) regime and a harmonized regional approach, ECOWAS risks losing out on the benefits of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
Although the organization has recorded considerable achievements in free movement of persons, Dr Touray reckons that “a lot more is required to consolidate the gains in the area of social integration.”
Peace and security and political governance are areas where ECOWAS has fared so poorly in the past decade, especially under the leadership of Brou and the almost two-year tenure of Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo as Chair of the Authority of Heads of State and Government.
When tenure elongation is causing political instability in the region, the management of ECOWAS institutions requested and got three months’ extension this year. Long-overdue institutional reforms linger, while recruitment of new staff is taking place at a time of leadership transition.
In 2012, ECOWAS launched an ill-advised expansion of the Commission from nine to 15 Commissioners, with all the financial implications. That decision has now been revised to a seven-member Commission.
Dr Touray and his team must prove that a smaller structure is more cost-effective. Another unresolved issue is harmonizing the leadership recruitment processes for the Commission’s Presidency and Chairmanship of the Authority. While the former has been changed to alphabetical order, the latter is based on language group. For instance, while the Commission has been headed by candidates from one of the region’s three linguistic groups since 2011, the rotational chair of the authority has followed the language group criterion.
Furthermore, ECOWAS, which was widely praised for ending the civil wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone, and managing the political conflicts in member states such as Guinea, Niger, Cote d’Ivoire and Guinea Bissau with effectiveness, has fallen short of its standards in the past decade.
With the death of Libyan leader Col. Moammar Ghaddafi in 2011, the Western Sahel has become the epicenter of insecurity exacerbated by terrorism, jihadist and separatist insurgencies, which have spilled into much of the ECOWAS region.
Instead of leading by example to consolidate democracy in West Africa some leaders have used the so-called democratic principles to undo democracy. They have combined corruption with greed, nepotism, violation of human rights, and disrespect for the rule of law, election rigging, and manipulation of national constitutions to undo the democratic gains of the early 2000s.
The region’s inability to deal with insecurity, bad governance and tenure elongation by its leaders have resulted in the resurgence of military incursions with three ECOWAS member States – Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso – currently under military rule.
Dr Touray’s management must find an effective solution to the unfinished business in these three countries, which have been suspended from ECOWAS and with stifling sanctions imposed on Mali.
Some analysts also believe that Nigeria, as the regional power and biggest financial contributor to the ECOWAS budget should not standby and allow the organization to be run aground.
Meanwhile, the West African civil society, under the auspices of the ECOWAS Community Citizens has in an open letter to the ECOWAS Chairman condemned the refusal by Togo, Cote d’Ivoire and Senegal to support 12 other member States on the proposed amendment of the regional Supplementary Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance to compel countries to insert in their constitutions provisions for a limit of two terms for the presidency.
Should the three countries persist in their objection, the group urged the Chair of the Authority “to invoke Article 20 of the Rules of Procedure of the Conference of Heads of State and Government” and nullify the objection.
They cited Guinea, whose former President Alpha Conde, followed the example of Cote d’Ivoire, to ram through a referendum and constitutional amendment that enabled him to extend his tenure only to be topped by a military junta.
Dr Touray has promised to “give priority to early warning mechanisms and preventive diplomacy that will address risk factors before conflicts break out. Equally, ECOWAS rapid response capability must be strengthened through the operationalization of the regional Standby Force.”
He has also assured that “the peace and security architecture of the Community should equally integrate effective measures to combat terrorism and other crimes including money laundering, cybercrimes, trafficking in small arms and light weapons.”
“If any single factor accounts for peace and security,” Dr Touray said, “it is good governance in the political, economic and corporate spheres. In the political sphere, ECOWAS must entrench good governance, rule of law and respect for human rights in the region. Constitutionalism and constitutional order must be promoted and consolidated. Peoples’ will, as reflected in the national constitutions must be respected. And the integrity of elections and electoral process must not be violated,” he affirmed.
The Gambian diplomat brings to his new job years of experience, having served as his country’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the African Union and Ambassador to Ethiopia with concurrent accreditation as High Commissioner to South Africa and Kenya.
He was the Gambia’s Permanent Representative-designate to the United Nations in New York before being appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. The new ECOWAS boss also worked as Regional Policy Advisor at the Regional Bureau for East and Central Africa of the UN Food Programme; Consultant to the UN Economic Commission for Africa; UNDP, Gambia Country Office, and the Commission of the African Union.
Until his latest appointment, Dr Touray worked at the Islamic Development Bank in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, since 2012. He holds a Ph.D. in International Relations from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, University of Geneva. He also studied Finance and speaks English, French and Arabic. His publications include “The African Union: The First Ten Years” (2016).
It remains to be seen how he matches his manifesto with action on the ECOWAS saddle.
By: Paul Ejime a Global Affairs Analyst, a former War Correspondent and an Independent Consultant on Corporate Strategic Communication, Media, Peace & Security and Elections
The Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, has expressed confidence that Ghana could win the fight against cybercrime activities if only there are stronger systems in place. According to him, those engaged in cybercrime activities are always improving upon their modus operandi, insisting that it is only stronger systems that could counter and triumph over them.
For instance, he said that Ghana’s cyber security machinery should be linked to the Information Communication Technology Department of the Parliament of Ghana, believing that would contribute in curbing the menace. “As we move towards a cashless economy, there is the need to build stronger systems to counter cyber-crime. This is very important as we develop as a country”, he noted.
The Speaker made this observation when a delegation led by the Executive Director of Center for Cyber Watch and Data Protection paid a courtesy call on him. Commenting further on the issue, Rt. Hon. Bagbin said there is also the need to work on the mindset of Ghanaians and as well, raise awareness in order to bring change.
His comments follow a report by the Director of the Center for Cyber Watch and Data Protection, Abubakar Issakar, that cyber crime activities are on the rise in the country. As part of the measures to curb the menace, Mr. Issakar proposed the need to build cyber security system for Parliament.
Further to that, he proposed the need to scale up advocacy for cyber security and capacity building for medium and small scale enterprises.
A member of the Gambian delegation to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliament, Fatoumatta Njai, has advised the Parliament to work on its enhanced powers to make laws that would trickle down to the sub-regional Community citizens. According to her the ECOWAS MPs should be respected as the representatives of the people since they were elected across the member states, and further pointed out that that in some member states presidents are not elected by absolute majority.
As a president can be elected by ten percent of the voters which is not majority but in the case of MPs, they represent the whole nation and their voices should be heard and respected whether female, young or old, he stated. “That is lacking, look at what is happening in Burkina Faso, Mali and Guinea Conakry they are not part of us at the 2022 Frist Ordinary Session, they are not coming back; they have been sanctioned, what are the implications of the sanctions, nothing is coming out of them”.
She proposed looking at the root causes of the problems why these things are happening. People are poor, and when they are poor, they are hungry and outraged, and the only time they can express their outrage is through “Coups, demonstrations, to protests. That is what we need to address; I do not think we are seeing any change in how, we go about our proceedings even as there is a lot of change within the region, with the coups here and there”. Madam Njai, who is granting interview for the first time after her April 2022 victory noted that country reports have been presented at the ongoing Ordinary Session, and the root cause of problems in the sub-region has not been picked out. “We have seen the trajectory the Community is taking when it comes to democratize values it’s a down fall”.
Coups are coming back when the thinking was that the days of coup is over and done with within West Africa as the sub-region even boasted about it five years ago that there would never be a coup again.
After the 2016 elections in Gambian the former President of the Gambia, Yahya Jammeh refused to step down and ECOWAS stepped in and made sure the people’s will was respected. That was a great plus for ECOWAS, but seeing what has happened especially in Guinea, the early warnings were ignored in Guinean, it was written all over the walls.
Talk about, Mali and Burkina Faso, and a failed coup in Bissau, “we also hear of the Parliament being dissolved in Bissau which I think it was addressed during the session, but no decision taken as to what to do as law makers from our countries if we do not come here to ensure the Heads of States do the right thing then there is no need for us to come in here”, she emphasized.
“I believe in catching them young and succession, so I am working on who would take over from me. I am going to make more female MPs rather than just me seating in the Parliament, I would create three or four me that is what I believe in anyway rather than occupy one seat, I believe in having more seats that I would create”. Madam Fatoumatta Njai after holding on and not granting interviews after her victory, opened up in Abuja – Nigeria at the 2022 Frist Ordinary Session and pointed out that, “this is going to be my last in Parliament”, in a very calm voice and smile.
He made this know on the floor of the House on Tuesday, June 28, 2022 when he came to the House to answer question posed by Member of Parliament for Bole Bamboi Yusif Sulemana.
The four-day conference which opened on Monday has participants drawn from academia and industry from over 40 countries across the globe and the Israeli Prime Minister, Naftali Bennett, attending.
Speaking on the topic Cyber Security World – 2030 and Beyond’ on Monday, Brigadier General (Rtd) Rami Efrati, one of the coordinators of the conference said cyber security poses a great danger to the existence to small scale businesses, multinationals and even states.
First Deputy Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament Ahmed Idris Wase who closed the session on behalf of the Rt. Hon. Sidie Mohamed Tunis was pleased with work done by lawmakers especially in the technical discussions leading to the conclusion of Parliament’s Advisory Opinion on the referrals made by the ECOWAS Commission, covering a variety of subjects.
She further pointed out that, during their engagement with the Commission’s technical team, the former President of Guinea Alpha Conde when the early warnings were identified, reports were written, recommendations were made, he would script them off and say “I do not want to hear this and they would say what he want to hear. For me I do not believe in that. It is just the same in my country –Gambia; example the World Bank would come and praise Yahya Jammeh when he was a dictator, until now when the report started coming, they all said they knew it, and did not say so”. As to what her point was, she pointed that it is the same thing with reading reports. “We praise repots; for me to be honest, most of the reports that we read do not reflect the true and real aspect of the countries”.
She further vehemently kicked against monetization of politics within the West Africa sub-region.
She is of a firm believe and still against MPs being elected directly by the people because, they are already the ones who elect us in our Parliaments’, it would be more expensive for any one because you have to be based in Abuja, you would lose touch in your home country”.
Dr Touray and his team must prove that a smaller structure is more cost-effective. Another unresolved issue is harmonizing the leadership recruitment processes for the Commission’s Presidency and Chairmanship of the Authority. While the former has been changed to alphabetical order, the latter is based on language group. For instance, while the Commission has been headed by candidates from one of the region’s three linguistic groups since 2011, the rotational chair of the authority has followed the language group criterion.