Category: General

ECOWAS Inter-parliamentary forum on ICT recognizes that cybercrime in its various forms especially those that are technology-assisted pose a serious threat to the economies, industry, commerce, banking and financial services sectors and their operations within the sub- region.

In one of its sessions where Economic and Financial issues of cybercrime was the major sub-theme, it was highlighted that cybercrime has become a serious economic threat in terms of its potential to negatively impact national and sub-regional economic development, intra-regional and external/international trade.

Also, it has the potential to disrupt and undermine the integrity and security of internal, intra-regional and external financial transactions, payment and settlement systems as well as provision of various financial services.

While rolling out effective ways to mitigate the above-mentioned problems and placing them in tandem with what the role of Parliamentarians should be, one of the panelists, Mary Uduma, President, MAG FGI Afrique Abuja, Nigeria, instructed lawmakers within the sub-region to, propose the development and enactment of appropriate national and sub-regional cybersecurity policies and implement strategies directed at addressing economic related and financial services cybercrime activities.

In addition, Parliamentarians must recognize the sub-regional, global and far-reaching nature of the legal, legislative, technological, economic, financial and institutional challenges and threats posed by the emergence and rise of cybercrime. In the same light, they have to take into account the role of all key stakeholders and existing initiatives, within a frame-work of regional cooperation in West Africa and beyond.

The ECOWAS Interparliamentary Forum on ICT is currently holding sessions under the theme: “Role of the Parliamentarian in the fight against cybercrime in the ECOWAS space”, from November, 5 to 7, 2020 in Niamey, Niger Republic.

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Bureau of the Community Parliament chaired by its Speaker Side Mohamed Tunis on Monday, November 2, 2020 met in Cotonou, the Republic of Benin to consider adoption of next year’s budget in conformity with Article 25.3f (v) of the Supplementary Act.

“Consider the draft budget of parliament and present it to the appropriate committee”, in relation to the enhanced powers of Community Parliament.

In light of the circumstances surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, the Plenary is unable to meet in its Extraordinary Session to consider and adopt the budget for the ensuing year, hence the Community Parliament had to evoke Article 25.3(vii), touching on the functions of the Bureau: “Assume the authority of Parliament in emergency situations, the details of this mandate will be provided for in the rules of the procedure of Parliament as emergency powers of the Bureau”.

The Rt. Honourable speaker Sidie Mohamed Tunis chairing the fourth Bureau meeting of the fifth Legislature had in attendance the Deputy Speakers, members of the Finance Committee among others.

Speaker Tunis thanked the participants and urged them to scrupulously consider the budget to ensure that it focuses on high impact programmes and projects that have long-lasting effects that meet the priority needs of ECOWAS members states, while taking into account two exogenous shocks that affect the Community member states namely COVID-19 and security challenges especially in the Sahel and Lake Chad basin.

The budget represents the second budget of the fifty legislature and covers the period of January 1 to December 31, 2020 as the exercise is expected to continue until November 6, 2020 within which time it is expected that the budget would be adopted.

Meanwhile, the Speaker is also expected to open a delocalized meeting of joint committees which would hold from, November 3 to 7, 2020 in Cotonou to review the African continental Free Trade Area; how feasible in the face of cross-border threats.

In attendance would be the Speaker of the National Assembly of Benin, Government officials, parliamentary committees on administration, finance and budget; Macroeconomic policies and Economic Research, Public Accounts, Trade Customs and Free Movement.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has on Thursday, October 29, 2020
deployed ninety member observers’ team ahead of Cote d’Ivoire’s election on October 31, 2020.

Dr. Remi Ajibewa, Director of Political Affairs of the ECOWAS Commission delivering his goodwill message expressed the determination of the Commission to accompany Cote d’Ivoire through the presidential election in line with the ECOWAS Supplementary Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance 2001.

Gen. Francis Awagbe Behanzin Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security thanked the observers for sacrificing their time to attend such important regional assignment.

He further added that ECOWAS, as part of electoral assistant programme to Member States deployed technical experts and observers to Cote d’Ivoire as President of the Commission Jean-Claude Kassi Brou, approved the deployment of ten long-term election observers and eighty short-term observers to support and monitor the entire election process.

Former President of the Republic of Senegal, Cheikh Hadjibou Soumare in his welcome address noted that ECOWAS would support Cote d’Ivoire to conduct a credible, peaceful and transparent election.

And further charged the observers that with the diversity of their expertise, he had no doubt that they would provide the world with the true situation of the election.

This was contained in a press release by the ECOWAS Commission.

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Parliament on Wednesday, October 27, 2020 passed the Real Estate Agency Bill after a brouhaha over the title to be carried by the House.

The objective of the bill is to regulate estate agency practice and commercial transactions including practice and the sale, purchase, leasing and rental.

In an interview after adjournment, the Minister for Works and Housing, Samuel Atta Akyea noted that there is the need to have a law to regulate the people who pose as middlemen, when it comes to house industry.

He further noted that there are some criminal activities in the real estate sector which is money laundering, and it is on record that a lot of money go through that area, so with the legal regime the problem can be addressed.

“If you go against the law you would be dealt with and that is where we are. Again government would be able to take the needed tax if you stand between the landlord and the tenant. As they take their commission, they should pay tax to the state and it would aid in revenue mobilization”.

He further added that it would create jobs as people would be trained and given certificates to do their job.

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As the Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta present a mini budget to cover the first quarter of 2021 today Wednesday, October 28, 2020, parliament insists on strict observation of the COVID-19 protocols.

The Deputy Marshal has been strict in ensuring that media practitioners space out within the chamber. Missing from the usual trend was the fact that no media house was allowed to set up on the back corridors leading to the main chamber.

Ghanamps.com’s observation in the House revealed that journalists in the press gallery were strictly asked to space out, and the television camera usually mounted in the public gallery were also not spared these protocols.

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Major interventions under the project include household toilets and school sanitation facilities, to improve the expansion of water distribution network and improve expansion of wastewater and fecal sludge collection, transportation and treatment.

The project is consistent with the coordinated programme of Economic and Social Development policies (CPESDP) 2017-2024 of the government of Ghana and the proposed interventions are fully aligned with the objective of improving access to water and sanitation services for all.

It is being done through improved water production and distribution, scaling up investment in the sanitation sector, establishing a national sanitation fund, and implementing the “Toilet for All” and “Water for All” programmes under the Infrastructure for Poverty Eradication Programme (IPEP) among other interventions, all in line with the sustainable development goal 6.

Members of Parliament (MPs) gave their approval to the loan which has thirty years tenor, including five years grace payment period and repayment period of twenty-five years with service charges of 1.3 percent, interest charge and maximum commitment charge of 0.50 percent annum on the non-withdrawn financing balance.
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According to the Finance Committee in their report, so far the key achievement of the original project as of July 2020, include affordable household toilets, thus provision of over twenty-seven thousand household toilets exceeding the target of nineteen thousand one hundred which has benefited about two hundred and eighteen thousand people.

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The Greater Accra Metropolitan Area Sanitation and Water Project, (GAMA) under the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources has constructed a total of 33, 385 household toilet facilities within the capital.

According to the GAMA Project Coordinator, Ing. George Asiedu, it has exceeded the original target of 19, 000 when the project was launched.

He made the disclosure when he presented his report on the performance of his outfit during a performance review and validation workshop organised by the sector Ministry.

He further pointed out that in the area of the provision of household toilets, the story has significantly contributed to the decline in the rate of open defecation.

“Many households now have many decent, simplified and affordable toilets and through the Ministry, we have secured additional financing for the project to be replicated in the Greater Kumasi Metropolitan Area for a period of four years”, he said.

The Project currently within the GAMA enclave is winding up in the next two months and beside construction of household and institutional toilets, he pointed out that another key intervention, by the project was the construction of sewerage and drainage facilities in some parts of GAMA which has put an end to the perennial flooding in those areas.

He said the intervention has been worthwhile, though he indicated that the projects were not part of the main mandate of the Project. The Mallam Junction and Kaneshie First Light area projects easily comes to mind.

The GAMA Project is a World Bank funded Project which started in 2014 under the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development.

However, with the establishment of the Ministry of Sanitation and water Resources in 2017, the Project has since been placed under the new Ministry, Sanitation and Water Resources.

The Performance Review and Validation Workshop brought together all the Agencies under the Ministry as well as the two projects and NGOs in the water and sanitation delivery sector to review their performance over the last four years and develop strategic plans for the future.

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Speaker of the Community Parliament Rt. Honorable Sidie Mohamed Tunis whiles serving as chair of a high-level regional meeting in West and Central Africa parliamentarians on mobilizing parliamentarians and keeping nutrition as a priority during the corona pandemic, urged the lawmakers to prioritize advocacy on the protection of the right to food.

According to him the meeting was very timely as early indications coming from research shows that the corona pandemic is likely to affect food security and nutrition as movements of farmers are being restricted thus disrupting the chain of production, processing and food supply.

The Speaker further urged lawmakers to be seen vigorously working with their respective governments and non-governmental organisation and the UN agencies so as to ensure quality food intake is maximized during the global pandemic.

As a way of highlighting what the MPs have done so far to achieve the threshold of food sufficiency in the West African region during the pandemic period, he revealed that in his home country Sierra Leone, they have established parliamentary alliance on food security and nutrition through workshops and capacity building.

For that lawmakers are now in better position to envisage likely impact of the corona pandemic on food security and nutrition in their countries and possible areas of policy and legal reforms.

Meanwhile, Dr Namoudou Keita, a representative of the West African Health Organisation (WHO) noted that as at Sunday, October 25, 2020 there was ninety-two-point seven percent recovery rate of the COVID-19 cases in the sub-region.

He added that out of the 187,483 confirmed cases in the region ECOWAS has 173,818 recoveries with 2,739 deaths.

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Speaker of the Economic Community of West African State (ECOWAS) Rt. Honorable Sidie Mohamed Tunis on Monday, October 26, 2020 chaired a high-level regional meeting with the West and Central African parliamentarians on mobilizing, parliamentarians and keeping nutrition as a priority during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The meeting which was sponsored by the Action Against Hunger, Bill and Melinda Gate Foundation, and other international Non-Governmental Organisations was held virtually and comprised lawmakers from nine West and Central Africa countries including Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Gabon, Ghana, Niger, Nigeria Senegal, and Sierra Leone.

Additionally, the meeting is also scheduled to have another session on the situation on the corona virus impact and resilience of West and Central African communities, and would be climaxed by a global discussion and co-chaired by Mamadou Diop Gnoumou and president for Nutrition and Food Security in Africa, Yves Fernand Mamfoumbi.

Meanwhile, Action Against Hunger, the world expert on hunger and malnutrition with over forty years operational experience confirmed during the World Food Day on Friday, October 16, 2020 that over seven percent of the world’s children under age five approximately forty-seven million children in 2019 suffer from a dangerous form of malnutrition referred to as acute malnutrition.

And further suggests that world hunger is projected to rise to an additional one hundred and thirty-two million people this year as a result of the pandemic with acute malnutrition itself projected to rise to fourteen percent, bringing the number of children under age five with acute malnutrition to fifty-four million.

Hence, the organisation calls for urgent action to save children’s lives and avert increased acute malnutrition and hunger during the pandemic and beyond.

Against, this backdrop, the meeting of the Members of Parliament from West and Central Africa comes exactly a period when Action Against Hunger, calls for global response in keeping nutrition as a priority during COVID-19.

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