News:
May 16, 2019
Benin narrowly escaped rejection of their country report for adoption on Saturday May 11, 2019 at the ongoing Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliament First Ordinary Session of the fourth legislature this year in Abuja Nigeria.
Lawmakers at the community Parliament during question time after Benin presented its report in the company of Togo and Burkina Faso wanted to know the current political situation in that country.
Out of the fifteen MPs who asked questions on the floor of the House, ten expressed worry about the political situation in Benin, issue of post-election violence; and MPs wanted to know measures being taken to address them.
Other MPs called on ECOWAS Parliament to look into the situation in Benin and advice Authority of Heads of States to work measures to avoid post-election violence, adding the fire brigade approach should be avoided.
Kamara was worried about the political situation in Benin and pointed out that the report was not detailed enough about the political situation and with technology most MPs are aware of the situation in Benin.
Youssoufou Abdouramani Bida Nouhoume in presenting the county report of Benin told the House, legislative elections across the country have been held and result announced by the constitutional court.
Mr. Youssoufou Abdouramani Bida Nouhoume in answering the questions from MPs on the floor noted that as a democrat he would not say there is a perfect situation in his country.
“Those calling for the rejection of my country report are not right, we have had worse situations in a country like Senegal but no one called for the rejection of that country’s report”.
Second Deputy Speaker, Aminata Kamara Toungara had tough time keeping order on the floor of the House as some MPs were vehemently calling for the rejection of the country report of Benin.
Mr. Mahama Ayariga from Ghana pointed out to his colleagues, they should be mindful of procedures and rules of the House; objections can be raised on the grounds that the report is not complete or inadequate.
“We have an opportunity to fill in the gaps by the delegation from Benin, they have answered questions and attempted to fill in the gaps, if we still have issues the proper procedure is to adopt a resolution and communicate to leadership of Benin our displeasure about happenings in that country”.
He further impress on his colleagues not to be emotional about the issue on the floor, and advice that issues should be channeled through the right procedure otherwise the House will lose its reputation as a Parliament.
Some MPs opposed the whole idea put forward by Mahama Ayariga and other MPs who contributed while others supported.
After thirty-five minutes of back and forth on the matter on the floor, Second Deputy Speaker, Aminata Kamara Toungara put the question and the report was adopted.
Some five lawmakers were unhappy with the decision on the floor were seeing waling out of the chamber before Togo and Burkina Faso could answer questions asked them.
Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com/Abuja