Category: General

Despite the enhanced powers of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliament, there are still some areas that needs to be taken care of to ensure it plays its role effectively.

A former member of Ghana’s delegation to the ECOWAS Parliament, Clement Kofi Humado said an area like Peace and Security was not included in the enhanced powers and is still in the domain of the Authority of Heads and Council of Ministers.

His remarks come in the wake of Ghanamps.com wanting to know, why resolutions and recommendations at the plenary, and fact finding missions cannot be forwarded to Authority of Heads of States and Government to be acted upon.

But the he said, “this is a limitation for ECOWAS Parliament, and therefore if we have to surmount that hurdle, then the parliament has to write a special letter to the Authority of Heads of States through the Commission requesting that the dynamics on the ground have changed, the population of West Africa want their representatives to have a say in the governance of their member states in view of the recent situations in Mali, Guinea Conakry, Niger, Togo and Cote d’lvoire”.

In an interview, he pointed out that he does not know if the Authority of Heads of States would approve the request, but was quick to add that pressure must be brought to bear whiles they approve it, it would become law or protocol like an addendum or amendment to the enhanced protocols.

And with that the Community Parliament can send copies of its reports and recommendations straight to the Authority of Heads of States.

As to whether this feat can be achieved by the current fifth Community Parliament, the former Anlo lawmaker pointed out that during the tenure of the immediate past Speaker Moustapha Cisse Lo, the issues came up when there was a debate on the country report of Togo.

“It was at this stage that the Secretary General and the Bureau conferred and realized unless they had an amendment to the enhanced powers, they did not see their way clear in sending their recommendations to the Authority of Heads of States through the Commission, but the tenure of the former speaker was up and left the stage”.

Mr. Humado further noted that now the Rt. Hon Sidie Mohammed Tunis is the speaker, with ECOWAS citizens feeling discontented, as the dynamics on the ground are changing, over the governance style, “if he did not plan it, I think it is something that has emerged and he has to take it on board, work it out with the SG, Bureau as well as with the support of the Parliament”.

In addition, he noted that the current Speaker has taken on board the direct election of ECOWAS MPs with that being his focus, but, “I guess he has to add this one to it if he wants to make a very good impact by the end of his term”.

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Speaker of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliament, Rt. Hon Dr. Sidie Mohammed Tunis said his fact-finding team that visited Cape Verde in view of their upcoming October 17, 2021 presidential election is satisfied with preparations so far, having met with most of the major stakeholders.

According to him, the team observed some challenges, but which he described as normal and expressed hope that with the support of election observers in the sub-region, “we would have a free and fair election”.

At a press conference on Friday, September 24, 2021 as part of concluding their mission, the speaker indicated that the team learnt that but for challenges in their registration process, more citizens in the diaspora would have been registered, “what one of the presidential candidates was saying was that they had challenges in their registration process, we as ECOWAS would now take that on board because we did not know about it”.

Dr. Tunis gave assurance that, in future elections, whatever support is need by Cape Verde, ECOWAS would assist them to ensure that there is a thorough registration process of its citizens, especially those in the diaspora, since elections are also held for those in the diaspora.

He further explained that the team was able to interact with three of the presidential candidates who gave assurance of supporting the democratic process lose or win to ensure peaceful transfer of power, stating that they are “ready to accept the will of the people of Cape Verde as they very much believe in peace and security of the country”.

He noted that it was on the basis of these that the team is confident and concluded that there would be free, fair and transparent elections that would be followed by a smooth democratic transition.

The fact-finding team also visited the Speaker who is currently the acting president, the electoral commission, and the constitutional court.

Rt. Hon Speaker Tunis noted further that since Cape Verde is part of ECOWAS, there would be observers from the institution to observe the election thoroughly through the Island. “We had a lengthy discussion, we met with the justice of the constitutional court and we are encouraged by what we heard from them at the institution, they are much on alert and very ready for the election”, he said.

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Immediate past Member of Parliament for Hohoe, Dr Bernice Adiku Heloo has been awarded a humanitarian award for her valuable contribution and support to human development at the 2021 Humanitarian Awards Global ceremony in Accra.

The former Legislator won the best Humanitarian award in HIV/AIDS and other Communicable Diseases support category through her Non – Governmental Organisation (NGO), Pro-Link Organisation.

 Pro-Link Organisation has for the past twenty (20) years provided places of abode and support to persons living with HIV/ AIDS in nine support groups and other communicable diseases across the country.

The NGO which also aims at preventing gender-based violence and the promotion of education in deprived communities has offices in all the former ten regions of Ghana.

The 2021 Humanitarian Awards Global, held under theme: ‘Celebrating change makers’ is held annually to recognise, honour and celebrate volunteer leaders, NGOs, philanthropists, corporations and professionals with the aim of rewarding their valuable contributions to society.

 Dr Bernice Adiku Heloo who is also a former deputy minister for the ministry of Environment, Science Technology and Innovation expressed gratitude to the organisers for the recognition and stated the award will inspire her to do more now that she is out of Parliament for benefit of the nation.

She challenged young people to brighten the little corners in which they live through what she described as ‘little little service’ to humanity to make the world a better place for all.

The former MP encouraged lawmakers who she noted are already engaged in humanitarian work on daily basis through their numerous developmental initiatives to do more in service to humanity.

The event attracted a large number of humanitarians, stakeholders and change-maker in various fields across the globe.

International Evangelist, Founder and President of Worldwide Miracle Outreach, Rev Dr Lawrence Tetteh in a keynote address abhorred character assassination of the hard-won reputation of people and said it is important for a nation to honour people who distinguish themselves.

He advocates an all-hands-on deck approach and the encouragement of one another since life is a transient.

 “Let us use our position to win friends, encourage people because whatever we have today is transient, we all have a responsibility to let all hands be on deck to make Ghana a better place” he said.

Other award categories includes best Humanitarian Civil Servant of the year, best Humanitarian Health Worker of the year, best Humanitarian Prison Support NGO of the year, best Child Education humanitarian of the year and best Community Child Protection of the year, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and many others.

Organisers of the event say over 500 entries were received for the various categories.

 Guests who graced the event includes the Hungarian Ambassador to Ghana, Tamas Feher, Deputy Director, Embassy of Hungary, David Bekesi, Managing Director Euracare, Mari Ellis among others.

Ghanamps.com

A member of ECOWAS speaker’s delegation to Cape Verde Fatoumatta Njai  said  their fact-finding mission and meetings have  been very productive, as the team has  visited  the constitutional court and the electoral commission today, Thursday, September 23, 2021.

According to her their visit has showed that Cape Verde is ready for their upcoming elections and has demonstrated political maturity from what they have observed so far.

In an interview via mobile phone, she noted that their Wednesday, September 22, 2021 visits took them to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the office in charge of election materials as things were transparently   structed and organised.

“We were impressed and confident, Cape Verde should be a bench mark for all ECOWAS Countries to follow. The type of system I am not too sure if it’s the Portuguese style or whether it has to do with the size of the country”.

She further stated that the team also visited a third intuition, ECOWAS Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE).

Rt. Hon. Tunis paid a courtesy call on the Speaker, Dr. Austelino Correia who is the acting President where their discussion focused on the upcoming general elections, with emphasis on sustaining the regional peace and democracy, as well as cementing the cordial relationship that exist between the ECOWAS Parliament and the National Assembly of Cape Verde.

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President of the ECOWAS Parliament’s Committee on Political Affairs, Peace, Security and African Pear Review Mechanism (APRM) Senator Edwin Melvin Snowe Junior has said it is important, for the parliament to visit Guinea Conakry as early as possible.

According to him, they need to visit Guinea to see to the well-being of their former colleagues, whose national Assembly has been dissolved by the military junta in the wake of the military takeover.

“We need to make a decision, there were some people who were elected and were the representatives of the people, anytime the Executive has a problem and the government is overthrown, as in the case of Mali and Guinea, MPs are the one who surfer”.

Mr. Edwin Snowe emphasized the need to put in some mechanism in place to ensure that MPs are dully elected by the people and not dissolved by a stroke of the pen and should not take a military leader to say parliament is dissolved.

“We are working on a working visit to Guinea and the Gambia where we are feeling some political temperature, and we have a mission to visit member states and address somethings which we see are not in the interest of democracy”.

On the fate of the MPs who were elected before the military takeover, he noted that, “Authority of Heads of States and Government of ECOWAS had taken a decision and we are going to work in line with that decision, we would not work with any military representation unless we have MPs elected”.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

Leader of the Liberian delegation to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliament, Edwin Snowe Junior has said, parliament needs to be a little more proactive, when it picks up early warning signals in member states that are likely to distort the democratic system in the sub-region.

 According him there is the need to engage member states, “we cannot afford to go back to the days of the Sani Abacha’s, Jerry Rawlings and Samuel Does where those days our regions was represented by military regimes”.

And further emphasized that the days of Yahya Jammeh of Gambia are long gone, hence the need to be proactive; and was happy that under the leadership of the current ECOWAS chairman, Nana Akufo-Addo, Authority of heads of states have been very, very proactive with their meeting in Accra and visiting Guinea.

Again, he noted that the Foreign Minister of Ghana Shirley Ayorkor Botwe has been around the region as chair of the Council of Foreign Minister.

In a related development, Speaker of the Community Parliament, Rt. Hon Sidie Mohammed Tunis is leading a Parliamentary fact-finding mission to the Republic of Cape Verde and the Gambia, as the mission would reveal the electoral system pre-election situation and the state of preparedness for the forth coming elections in both countries.

The delegation would also gather information from all stakeholders on the electoral processes in both countries, with the view of identifying the good as well as possible shortcomings.

“We would put forward useful recommendations that would strengthen the democratic system in both states, we are convinced that the more we engage state actors, the more regional democracy will thrive”, the Speaker said.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

Affected market women of the Akim Oda fire outbreak on Thursday, September 16, 2021 rushed in their numbers to the Birim Central Municipal Assembly to write down their names with the hope of getting support from the government.

Mr. Clement Attafuah, an assemblyman in the municipality was unhappy that a directive that was given by NADMO for names to be written down had been leaked by a radio station hence the rush to the assembly which generated some confusion, forcing the MP to cut short his working visit to encourage JHS final year students writing their pre-mock to address the women.

In an interview, the assembly man noted that he had tasked market queens of the various products in the market that got burnt to write down names of their members who were affected and ensure that, those who are not supposed to be part of the list are identified.

And further added that despite the fact that all the women in the market had rushed to the assembly to write their names, his directives would still hold as the names that were written would be cross-checked with that of the queen mothers who know their members and those affected by the fire outbreak.

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Senator Edwin Melvin Snowe Junior of Liberia and President of ECOWAS Parliament’s Committee on Political Affairs, Peace, Security and African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) is advocating for a system where resolutions taken at the plenary would be forwarded to the Authority of Heads of States and Government for action to be carried out.

According to him as lawmakers in the Community Parliament, they have condemned the practice where democratically elected Presidents in the West African sub-region change their constitution to prolong their stay in power.

“We had a heated debate on Togo, La Cote d’Ivoire, and on Guinea. But after our debates, there are no resolutions sent to the Heads of States for follow-up action. It is time for the parliament to go a step ahead not to debate the issues and leave them to our archives”.

In a telephone interview with Ghanamps.com, he further emphasized the point to send resolutions to Heads of States so that they know the stands of the Parliament, and where it is coming from.

“Yes, we condemn the coup in Guinea, so should we condemn the actions of heads of states that are changing their constitutions to perpetuate themselves in office. There was an ECOWAS delegation sent to Guinea that was rejected by the Guinean authority, at that time they stay at the airport and they were returned to Abuja and their respective member states”.

And added that, today Guinea is going through what it calls upon its self; “we condemn the military coup, equally, we hold the president Alpha Conde responsible for what has happened in Guinea”

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Senior Presidential advisor to President Nana Akufo-Addo, Yaw Osafo Marfo has told market women in Akim Oda that government would assist in building a new market following the inferno that razed down the market on Tuesday, September 14, 2021.

“We have taken pictures of this disaster and would be forwarded to government and see how to assist those affected, and this has left the MP, Regional Minister, MCE and myself in deep thinking, because we know this is the business you do to assist your children, we have cloth and valuables burnt”.

The former Akim Oda MP was in the company of the current MP, Alexander Akwasi Acquah and the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) together with NADMO officials who visited the burnt market on Wednesday, September 15, 2021 around 6:00pm to see at first-hand damages caused to the market by fire.

As at the time of visit despite the fact that there had been light rain from morning to evening, there were still traces of smoke and fire burning in some sparts and the place had been cordoned off.

In his address to the market women who had gathered, Mr. Yaw Osafo Marfo noted that the market to be built would be a modern market better than the one raised down by fire, “whatever we would do to help, we would do to send this issue to government of this disaster, but you need to support your MP to achieve this”.

According to the former MP the magnitude of fire disaster had never been witnessed in Akim Oda, despite the fact that fifteen years ago there was a fire outbreak at the same market but was not to that extent.

And told the market women that, they cannot use the burnt market now but officials would come and count the number of women affected and since they know themselves, they should assist in that direction and also ensure that only those who did business at the market before the disaster are counted.

“Government needs to have these list and be truthful to yourself”, as one of the market women enquire where they can would they relocate for now in the mist of the disaster.

Mr. Yaw Osafo Maafo noted since it has to do with hygiene doctors together with their MP, MCE and Regional Minister would have to have discussions and determine a suitable place, “no matter what we would let you know where you can go and have your marketing done in the meantime”.

Kwaku Sayi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

A Twelve-Member delegation from the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) Kenya branch, paid a courtesy call on the Second Deputy Speaker, Andrew Amoako Asiamah as part of a benchmark visit to the Parliament of Ghana.

The visit, led by Senate Samuel Polghsio, Senate Majority Leader, was to afford the delegation an opportunity to learn from Ghana’s system of governance, vision, history and to share experiences and ideas with their Ghanaian counterparts.

 

 Second Deputy Speaker welcomed the delegation on behalf of the Rt. Hon. Speaker, ASK Bagbin who is currently out of the country on official assignment.

He spoke about the structure and Committees of the House which he described as the engine of Parliament.

Former Majority Leader, Cletus Apul Avoka and Member of Parliament for Zibilla contributed to the conversation by talking about the evolution of Ghana’s Parliament and its current state.

The delegation was made up of members of the Senate and National Assembly Executive Branch of Kenyan’s Parliament.

Ghanamps.com