News:
Speaker ECOWAS Parliament
March 9, 2022
The Rt. Hon Speaker of the Community Parliament, Dr. Sidie Mohammed Tunis on Wednesday, March 9, 2022 resolved the brouhaha that engulfed adopting the work programme for the Extraordinary Session as a result of the invitation extended to former lawmakers from Guinea Conakry and Burkina Faso.
According to the Speaker the unfortunate situation that has happened to lawmakers from Guinea Conakry and Burkina Faso could happen to any member state and as he gave the opportunity for his colleagues to express their views on the reason behind the invitation of their former colleagues it should not be litigated further.
He said he is of the conviction that they do not abandoned their former colleagues because they have coup in their country and their national assembly has been dissolved, “let us listen to them”, he said.
And further pointed out that, they should respect each other and be nice to each other. In major challenges like what has happened in Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso, “we are confronted with situations like this we try as much as possible to manage it in such a way that everybody is out of it; our colleagues are here, I still consider them as my colleagues and I believe everyone here consider them as our colleagues”.
Again, going strictly by the Supplementary Act, they are still members of Parliament until they lose their election; that is what the law says but again coup they have not lost their election but the National Assembly they belong to have been dissolved, which means they do not belong any longer to an Assembly, he clarified.
“It’s complicated; the Act says you can lose your right here when you lose an election in your national parliament. In this case they did not lose an election, but if there is no National Assembly it means you do not exist, so how do we manage that as MPs”.
And went on further to say that, if he had his way his colleagues who have left before he became Speaker, he would still be inviting them because, they have all contributed one way or the other. “We do not know if they would have the opportunity to address us again on this matter, let us leave it as it’s so complicated, we should not create drama out of it, there is no drama”
Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com/Liberia