News:
November 25, 2019
The Ghanaian delegation to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliament has proposed for the establishment of an office of trade arbiter to be responsible for arbitration trade violations and conflicts.
This came to light when Clemet Kofi Humado presented Ghana’s country report on Friday, November 22, 2019 in Abuja Nigeria.
The objective of the country report is to share information on how each country is implementing the protocols and treaties.
It is to peer review mechanism where member countries of ECOWAS debate each country report, make suggestions and recommendations to enable the integration process move forward.
Ghana’s report covered issues such as the political, security and human rights especially of women and children, proliferation of small arms and money laundering, refugee status as well as internally displaced persons among others.
What attracted most attention in the country report Ghana presented was the position of Ghanaian delegation on the closure of the Nigerian – Benin border and its effect on trade between Ghana and Nigeria as well as other neighbours of Nigeria.
“The action taken by Nigeria is in violation of the ECOWAS protocol on Trade Liberalization scheme ETLS”, he lamented.
In addition, the delegation suggested that ECOWAS Commission expand the mandate of the present task force on ETLS and convert it into an office of Trade Ombudsman, which would have the mandate to receive veracity of claims by parties as well as determine guilty party within the framework.
“If the accused party or country is guilty, then the necessary sanctions are applied. This will be better than leaving countries to take unilateral actions that will result into hardships and defeat the purpose of free movement of persons and goods within the sub region”.
This suggestion received loud applause from members of the ECOWAS Parliament.
Speaker Mustapha Cisse Lo and community lawmakers praised Ghana as a beacon of democracy and relative peace and urged other countries in the West African sub-region to learn from the democratic credentials and pedigree of Ghana.
Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com/Abuja