News:
March 17, 2020
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliament after the inauguration of its fifth parliament in Niger has established an Ad Hoc Committee to put in motion direct universal suffrage of representation at the parliament.
From the first to the fifth Community Parliament, lawmakers were nominated by their national parliaments, and there has been an advocate for this practice to change so that people can be directly elected into the community parliament from their respective countries.
The 15-member Committee is chaired by the first Deputy Speaker, Ahmed Iddriss Wase.
Members include; Sedami Medagan – Benin; Noal Toe Goakun- Burkina Faso; Filomena Goncalves- Cape Verde; Fanny Chantal -Cote d’ Ivoire; Mohammed Magassy-Gambia; Clement Kofi Humado -Ghana; Aissata Daffe- Guinea ; Caramo Camara -Guinea Bissua; Clarence Massaquoi- Liberia ; Youssouf Aya-Mali; Hanatou Barkire- Niger; Biodun Olujimi- Nigeria ; Aime Assine -Senegal; Chernor Maju Bah -Sierra Leone and Kofi Tsolenyanu from Togo.
And the Committee is expected to make recommendations that would be presented for adoption by the Authority of Heads of State and Government.
Rt. Hon. Sidie Mohammed Tunis urged members to carry out their assignment with dedication, saying, “This is a project that l hold dearly, and I wish to urge members of the Ad Hoc Committee to approach the job with all seriousness it deserves”.
He said members would be called upon at any time to meet in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, to adopt a road map, not necessarily during the ordinary session.
The speaker equally called on other members who were nominated into the fourteen standing Committees to accept their nominations and work assiduously for the development of the region.
He said, he realized a lot of lobbying was done lending to the final conclusion of the work, and urged them to imbibe the culture of comprise, believing that as an integrated parliament, there are no winner or losers. “We should regard ourselves as winners even if our expectations were not fully met”, he advised.
Speaker Sidie also announced his intention to revive the Association of Presiding Officers of West African Parliament to promote a good working relationship between the regional and national parliaments of member states.
He said although the duality of membership had some disadvantages, it could provide the parliament with renewed opportunities. Such collaboration, he said, is expected to be mutually beneficial to both institutions.
Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com/Niger