Skip to main content

ECOWAS Parliament ready to discuss 2020 Draft Budget, Condemn Xenophobic Attack

 Ifeanyi Valentine, Monrovia

The 2nd Extra Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Parliament has opened in Monrovia, capital of Liberia with Speaker, Rt. Honourable Moustapha Cisse Lo expressing readiness of Parliament to discuss the 2020 budget of the Community.

Speaker Cisse Lo who gave the indication in his opening address said the agenda of the extra ordinary session was to adopt Parliament's draft Budget, for 2020 financial year, as well as the revision of Rule 13 of the Rules of Procedure of the Fourth Parliament devoted to the Inaugural Session.

He said that in accordance with the Parliament Rules of Procedure, and in the light of the budget circular of the President of the ECOWAS Commission, His Excellency Mr. Jean Claude Kassi BROU, an Ad-Hoc Committee was set up to prepare a preliminary draft of Parliament's Budget for the year 2020.

“The Report of the said Ad Hoc Committee was transmitted and examined by the Bureau of Parliament at its last meeting, held here in Monrovia.  Parliament's competent committee, in particular the Administration, Finance and Budget Control Committee, after approval by Parliament, will be seized of the file and will report to the Plenary;  

“The ECOWAS Parliament, during this session, will endeavour in accordance with its Rules of Procedure, to examine and adopt the said Draft Budget. It is therefore this task that we will be working on during this session” Cisse Lo stated.

He continued, “This is an opportunity for each of us, honourable colleagues, to impose a rigorous discipline on ourselves in order to examine the preliminary draft Budget 2020 carefully and objectively. I remain convinced that we will be diligent and punctual, so that the full treatment of our agenda can be accomplished under good and fruitful conditions” Speaker added.

Similarly, in his opening remark, Speaker Cisse Lo condemned the Xenophobic attack on Nigerians in South Africa, as it constitute real threats and serious issues, and has stand as obstacles to the African integration that is so dear to Parliament and to which they are resolutely committed.

“At the time of our session, serious events are taking place on our continent and should be given special attention. Indeed, in South Africa, in recent weeks, we have witnessed an upsurge in extremely violent xenophobic acts. These sad images of Africa, these painful events and the tensions they generate challenge us as elected representatives of our peoples. We are extremely concerned and deeply outraged” He said.

Furthermore, the Speaker on behalf of ECOWAS Parliament, expressed compassion for the victims and their families and strongly condemned these barbaric, inappropriate acts with disastrous humanitarian, socio-economic and diplomatic consequences.

“The ECOWAS Parliament calls on the South African authorities to assume their responsibility by guaranteeing all their foreign nationals the right to life, physical integrity and free movement. We also call on all African States and the African Union to adopt diligent initiatives to restore peace and security and ensure a return to calm in South Africa and all other States;

“In the same vein, the closure of the Nigerian borders with Benin more than a month ago and Niger more recently is a hindrance to the achievement of the Community's main objective, which is to achieve the creation of a prosperous, borderless West African region where peace and harmony prevail". Cisse Lo highlighted.  

He added that the border closure poses a threat to the implementation of the Protocol on the Free Movement of Persons at a time when we need to intensify our efforts for the effective abolition of barriers within the Community.

“The ECOWAS Parliament calls for compliance with Community provisions and thus calls for the reopening of borders and a coordinated fight against smuggling in the region;

“The root causes of this recurrent situation must be studied with a view to finding a permanent solution” Cisse Lo concluded.




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Reject List From Countries In breach Of 30 Percent Women Representation – Njai Tells ECOWAS Parliament

A Gambian representative to the ECOWAS Parliament, Honorable Fatoumatta Njai has challenged the Community Parliament to reject list of countries that are short of thirty percent women’s representation to the Parliament. Speaking in an exclusive interview at the official Opening Ceremony of the Fifth Legislature’s delocalized meeting of the Joint Committee on Social Affairs, Gender and Women Empowerment / Education, Science and Culture/Health, currently holding in Monrovia, Liberia on the theme, “ Empowerment of Women in the ECOWAS Region.” Njai said that some countries lack female representation in the Conference of Bureau, this according to her is disregarding the ECOWAS Rules of Procedure. “The Rules of Procedures mentioned that each member country should have a female representation at the Conference of Bureau. Each country has three members in the Conference of Bureau, so each country can at least have one female member which will be thirty percent representation. I thin...
Post a Comment
Read more

IMPLEMENTATION OF NEW SIM REGISTRATION RULES

Following the earlier directive on the suspension of new SIM registration by network operators, the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami) convened an urgent meeting of key stakeholders in the Communications industry on Monday, December 14, 2020.   The meeting had in attendance the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and Management of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), as well as the CEOs and Management staff of all service providers in the industry.   At the meeting, the need to consolidate the achievements of last year’s  SIM registration audit and improve the performance and sanity of the sector was exhaustively discussed and all stakeholders agreed that urgent drastic measures have now become inevitable to improve the integrity and transparency of the SIM registration process.   To this end, t...
Post a Comment
Read more

25 Years After Beijing Declaration, It's time for action, not rhetorics_ECOWAS Speaker

The Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament, Mohamed Sidie Tunis has reiterated the need for concrete and deliberate actions on Women Empowerment, 25 years after Beijing Declaration, Speaker Tunis, who was on his way to Liberia for the Delocalised meeting on Women’s Empowerment, made this declaration on Monday 12 April, 2021 at the Mano River Bridge, when he was received by a delegation, consisting of ECOWAS staff and journalists. He said there couldn't have been a better venue for the Delocalised meeting than Liberia. This he said is against the backdrop of Liberia’s serial feats of electing women into prominent political positions. "Liberia is the most suitable country to host the Delocalised meeting on Women Empowerment because it was Liberia that blaised the trail in 2015, with the election of Africa's First Female President, Ellen Sirleaf Johnson. "Few years later, another woman was elected Vice President by Liberians." According to the Speaker, this is...
Post a Comment
Read more