Leader of the Liberian delegation to the Economic Community of West African States, (ECOWAS) Parliament, Edwin Melvin Snowe Junior has said young lawmakers and female representation should be given the needed attention.
According to him young and female representation in the Community Parliament from most of the countries is not impressive.
“Most countries came without female delegations, Nigeria with thirty-five delegates came with only two females, we are talking about thirty (30) percent representation, Ghana had just one female, same with my country and Gambia”, he lamented.
He noted that moving forward a second look should be taken at the female representation since they bring a lot of value to the table and seek the welfare of people. “So we hope we can work in attaining the thirty (30) percent threshold for females at the political level”, he said in an interview.
Meanwhile, in a related development he further noted that direct representation in the Community Parliament is a process which is going to take time and has major financial implications and when addressed, it can be taken care of.
“Secretary-General, John Azumah has experience in parliamentary matters, he has suggested an Ad Hoc Committee start looking into direct elections to see how best we can move from the current nomination level to election position like the European Union (EU) Parliament”.
Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com/Niger
