Category: General

Speaker of the Community Parliament, Rt. Hon. Sidie Mohammed Tunis has paid a courtesy call on President Alpha Conde at Conakry on Tuesday, October 6, 2020 at the presidential lodge.

According to the Speaker, he was pleased to be in Guinea as a guest of the National Assembly, and thanked the president for the hospitality shown him and his delegation since they arrived in the country.

In his remarks he outlined activities undertaken by the fifth Community Parliament since its inauguration in March of this year in Niger.

He further outlined his vision of making the Community Parliament a peoples Parliament and emphasized during his tenure, he would seek to engage National Parliaments of the Communities frequently, and pointed out that it would fully support the ECOWAS integration programs.

The Speaker disclosed that, the Community Parliament is closely following the electoral process in Guinea and stands to support the Independent National Electoral Commission of the country, as it prepares for the presidential election.

And fifteen Community lawmakers would be dispatch as part of the ECOWAS observer mission to witness the October 18 2020 presidential polls.

Speaker Tunis used the opportunity to convey a special message from President Julius Maada Bio of the Republic of Sierra Leone, to his Guinea counterpart on bilateral relations between the two West African countries.

On his part President Alpha Conde, thanked the Speaker and his delegation for their visit and expressed is desire for more integration process in the sub-region, and further noted that ECOWAS having a single currency would be a big step towards achieving the integration process.

And added that the introduction of ECO would smoothen the path towards a truly unified ECOWAS, and also further added that the partnership between the Community Parliament and that of Guinea National Assembly is sentimental which was reciprocated by the Speaker.

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As the third meeting of the seventh Parliament starts today, forty-two bills are expected to be presented.

Some of the Bills are Judicial Service Bill, 2020, Creative Arts Bill, 2020, Council of State Bill, 2020. Meanwhile, nineteen Bills are currently at the Committee level, and include Exemptions Bill 2019, at the Finance Committee, Anti-Money Laundering Bill 2019, at the Finance Committee, and Public University Bill 2020.

There are also four Bills at the consideration stage. Motions for debate and statements would be admitted by the Speaker during this meeting.

In a statement by the Director of Public Affairs, Kate Addo noted that the House would continue to observe the COVID-19 protocols during the meeting.

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The Speaker of the Community Parliament, Rt. Honorable Sidie Mohammed Tunis has pledged the House’s support to the National Assembly of Guinea, with its rich experience of mediation to engage in meaningful dialogue surrounding the perceived tension.

He made this remark when he addressed the first Session of the National Assembly of the Republic of Guinea at the invitation of the President of the Assembly.

He also noted that the laws to be formulated by the ordinary session would seek equity and fairness for all, most especially the young generation, adding that the issue of unemployment among the youth should no longer be accepted.

According to the Speaker, this problem of unemployment is usually exploited by terrorist, and military groups who conscript the youth for little or nothing, but rather use them to perpetrate harm in the communities.

Again, the youth have had to risk traveling across risky waters in search of greener pastures in Europe, some of whom unfortunately meet their untimely death, and it is time to stop folding our hands and watch these happen.

“We must secure a future for our younger generation as no excuse would be adequate enough to compensate for our failure to do s. Young people have aspirations, they want to work, they want to have a future, and it is our job to let them achieve this”.

The Speaker further added that, he is convinced that when the gap between the rich and the poor is bridged, the ECOWAS Region would emerge stronger and better for everyone.

“The Republic of Guinea has had its fair share of violence, attack on harmless civilians and political tension, this is not the Guinea we want now and certainly not the Guinea we want for our children, threat to your peace is a threat to regional peace”, he added.

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The Speaker of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliament, Rt. Honorable Sidie Mohammed Tunis accompanied by a high-power parliamentary delegation had arrived in Conakry in the Republic of Guinea on Sunday, October 4, 2020.

The delegation will grace the opening of the First Ordinary Session of its National Assembly today Monday, October 5, 2020.

The entourage was welcomed by the President of the National Assembly of Guinea, Rt. Honorable Amadou Damaro Camara and other members of government.

According to Article 68 of the Guinea Constitution, the Ordinary Session is set for April 5 and October 5 every year as the dates on which the National Assembly shall meet for a period not exceeding ninety days.

Speaker Tunis is expected to address the opening ceremony and hold talks with a number of stakeholders during the week-long visit to Guinea.

Guinea is expected to hold its presidential elections next year, and on his arrival the speaker told journalists he is confidence Guinea will remain peaceful and reiterated ECOWAS’s support for Guinea’s development and prosperity.

“Guinea is an integral member of ECOWAS and we are going to do all in our powers to ensure that it remains a peaceful and prosperous nation”, he added.

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President of Nigerians in the diaspora organization, Ghana chapter, Kingsley Ewa Attoe, has admonished the media, both home and abroad to project balance stories about Nigerians, as the country marks its sixtieth independent anniversary on Thursday, October 1, 2020.

According to him, he is not asking the media to change facts of reportage that the media carries, but stories on Nigerians should be balanced.

“As we journey on the 60 years, it is important that our story changes and these stories can only change if we are intentional with our acts”.

In a statement to mark the independence celebration, he pointed out that when Nigerian students achieve laurels in academia, or a professor is honored, it hardly makes the headlines but when a Nigerian does something as little as break-up with a lady, they are called unreliable heartbreakers.

“For every Nigerian who has committed a crime, there are hundreds who are impacting lives positively, but never get recognized”, he lamented.

He added that “it is time every Nigerian intentionally promote his or her country as we become purposeful in our statements, and those of us in the diaspora, it is time to mention the name and identity of Nigeria wherever we achieve a new feat and lend a hand or impact lives and promote greatness that is associated with Nigeria”.

Mr. Ewa Attoe urged the youth to show more interest in Nigeria, as failure of every government is the failure of the youth. “You do not relinquish your power after elections, you can still contribute to national discourse and show more interest in governance”.

On the tensions that manifests annually between Nigerian and Ghana with regards to retail trading, he encouraged his Ghanaian counterparts to be more accommodating, and see Ghana as a home based on the good stories, they have heard from their parents from one generation to the other. “We will not soil the brotherliness that exist between both countries”.

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The Speaker of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliament, Rt. Honorable Sidie Mohammed Tunis has congratulated the people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on the celebration of their sixtieth -independence anniversary.

According to the Speaker, Nigeria contributes towards promoting stability in the sub-region and beyond as pacesetter which is admired and appreciated.

He further pointed in his message that despite the challenges that Nigeria faces, they have come out strongly and better, and have shown that they are people who are determined to live and survive together and can do everything regardless of the challenges and adversities they face.

He thanked the President of Nigeria in his fight against COVID-19 as ECOWAS champion, in ensuring that the dreaded disease is fought to its knee in West Africa.

“In the same vain Nigeria is not relented in the fight against terrorism and insecurity which poses serious threat for the growth and advancement of the people of West Africa”.

In addition, he commended the role played by former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan in the Malian situation, and noted that, very soon peace and stability would return to that county.

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Ghana’s Member of Parliament for Anlo and a member of the country’s delegation to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliament, Clement Kofi Humado is advocating for the legislature to be briefed on the status of the implementation of the sub-regional single currency, the ECO.

According to him, the ECOWAS Commissioner for Economic Affairs and Regional Integration should come before the Community Parliament, to give a report on preparation reached on the implementation of the single currency at its next session.

In an interview as to what lawmakers are doing on their part to ensure the implementation of the ECO, he said, “we can influence the Secretary General, John Azumah and the Speaker Sidie Mohammed Tunis to invite him to give us status report on the situation and we can pick it up from there”.

His call comes in the wake of the uncertainty and delay that seems to be affecting the implementation of the single currency that the sub-region has been looking forward to.

Mr. Humado is pushing for a gradualist approach where countries within the sub-region who meet the convergence criteria can start with the implementation of the single currency, and allow other countries to join later as the year go by.

The second rapporteur of the Community’s Parliament Committee on Infrastructure, expressed worry over the delay in kick starting the single currency which has a 2020 deadline.

He fears the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on the economies of all fifteen member countries may even worsen the quest for implementing the single currency and explained further that, the Community lawmakers were informed by the ECOWAS Commissioner for Economic Affairs that the single currency would come into force this year.

And pointed out that this was later revised to ending of either September or October 2020. However, at the 57th Session of Authority of Heads of State and Governments in Niger, it emerged that there is lack of consensus among the Heads of States on what to do with the ECO.

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