News:
Speaker of ECOWAS parliament
March 2, 2022
Chairman of the Economic Community of West African States Parliament’s (ECOWAS) Committee on Political Affairs, Peace, Security and African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), Edwin Melvin Snowe Junior has revealed that lawmakers from Mali, Guinea Conakry and Burkina Faso would be invited to the upcoming seminar and Extraordinary meeting to be held in Liberia which would commence this week.
According to him the invitation is being extended for lawmakers to be informed on happenings in the three member states that had experience coup; Mali, Guinea Conakry and Burkina Faso.
Mr. Edwin Snowe in a telephone interview at his base in Liberia on Monday, March 1, 2022 noted that in the case of Mali the president wanted to temper with the result of their parliamentary election that led to a popular uprising which was later followed by a coup.
While in the case of Guinea Conakry, the president sought a third term through a constitutional reform and was supported by the parliament, then the coup.
In the case of Burkina Faso, the military noted that the president was not doing enough to fight the insurgency; they over threw the government and pointed out that these are three different scenarios.
“We need to find the actors, and confront the actors by holding the bull by the horn then we can find solution. We are also inviting civil society members from those countries”.
As to whether MPs who were members of the National Assembly before it was dissolved would be invited, he responded in the affirmative and noted that in the case of Burkina Faso they are inviting them to give their perspective of what happened, as they are citizens of the sub-region despite the fact that their National Assembly may be dissolved.
In the case of Mali, they have the CNT the first group before the Parliament was dissolved, “we have had cases where Mali is on sanction now by ECOWAS but all of the staff of Mali that work for ECOWAS Commission remain within their employment of ECOWAS send by the previous government to work as ECOWAS Commissioner at the Commission same with Guinea Conakry, Same with Burkina Faso”.
And was quick to point out that, but when you come to the Parliament, the MPs are excluded from representing their county, “so we want to have a conversation; we are not violating any ECOWAS Protocols neither are we disrespecting the Authority of Heads of States, but we need to hear from the actors”.
“We need to ask Guinea Conakry MPs, why did you vote on third term constitutional reform? You knew the objective of the former president was to seek a third term, why were you coerced to it? So let us face our peers those were our colleagues from the parliament”.
Again, he added that they should hear from them as to why they did it and if they feel the reason is not sufficient and justified, they can caution them that, “ you are the cause and part of the situation, we must be able to remedy the situation”, he emphasised.
Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com