...As experts charged ECOWAS Parliament on exercising its Parliamentary Powers…
Some Members of the ECOWAS Parliament have harped on the encroachment of its powers by the ECOWAS Commission. The outcry was made at the Parliamentary Seminar organized by the Parliament on the Application of the Supplementary Act on the enhancement of the powers of the Parliament in light of the restructuring of the ECOWAS Commission.
Proponents of this position amongst the MPs insisted it was imperative for the Parliament to start executing its powers as enshrined in its Supplementary Act which indicates the powers of the ECOWAS Parliament to include a law-making role among other functions.
Speaking on the floor of the Parliament, Sen. Ali Ndume, (Nigeria) stated that it is worrisome to discuss the enhancement of Parliament’s power when these powers have been overly restricted. He said, “It is odd to discuss the powers of the parliament at this point, I think we need to look at the whole process and ensure that it is worth it. The powers of the Parliament have been overly subdued, and if we are going to be what we are then we should be what we are.
“The ECOWAS Parliament is so much important now most especially as we have a lot of challenges bedeviling the sub-region, hence we need to start working and not to start talking of power enhancement;
“We should do the right thing, and doing the right thing should not be personal, we can be in the position today and tomorrow someone else take over, going forward, this seminar should provide an opportunity for us to look at the document that we are currently using, it is not the issue of enhancement, but the issue of amendment; one of our problems is the Commission, and we can’t expect them to correct it, the Parliament Legal Director should be made to handle this Acts, and then we should have other MPs to look at the law and jointly amend it”. He said.
In his contribution, Hon. Stephen Zargo (Liberia) stated that Articles 7 and 9 of the ECOWAS Parliament Acts give parliament an enhanced power, but the power has not been well utilized and we are arguing because you need leadership to make it happen if the Act gives us the power, we are crying because we have a leadership deficit.
Hon. Laadi Ayamba (Ghana) specifically stated that Parliamentarians are making relentless efforts in ensuring that Member States commit financially to the ECOWAS but yet, they do not get to utilize these funds in key programmes that concern the Community. “Why should we look for money for the community and then we cannot utilize that money in executing our activities and our mandate, we need to do a lot in this aspect, she said.
Hon. Fatoumatta Njai (Gambia), added also that “As a Parliament, our Legal Department must be strengthened, it should be a directorate and not a department, we should have started on the implementation on how to use our enhanced power and without a strong directorate, we cannot achieve this course” she said.
Hon. Awaji-Inombek Abiante (Nigeria), and Hon. Adjaratou Traore, (Cote d’Ivoire) on his part said placed the shortcomings on the Leadership, He said “A Parliament that donates her responsibilities and powers to others cannot be classified as a true Parliament, the managers of this Parliament tends to use all that they have for their own interest, a Parliament that does not execute resolutions obtained from the seating of the MPs has a lot of issues. We have a self-inflicted problem in this Parliament and until we decide to do right by living by our roles and procedure everything is just a talk shop.
While Hon. Adjaratou Traore, tied her opinion on the basis of the lack of empowerment of Parliamentarians. She said “In all these concerns, we can feel that there are some gaps in our Parliament and we must not pretend not to be aware of them, nor ignore them. MPs have not been empowered to render the full support that the Leadership requires, our functions are no longer given, and MPs need to be empowered.
Hon. Aime Assine (Senegal), added “When it comes to the enhancement of powers, the supplementary Act is quite exclusive why are we not doing it? The Director of Legal has called our attention to some areas, we need to look at some of these things and take action”
Hon. Billay Tunkara, (Gambia), in his opinion, said “People are beginning to think ECOWAS is now at cross-road to its core values, because the free trade and movement of people and goods, for example, is no longer implemented, our global integration goal is almost no longer achievable, my emphasis here is that we need to stand up to our Integration, I urge our Parliament to come up with solutions to the menace facing the region.
Hon Issa Salifou (Benin), added I wish to draw parliament attention to the fact that a parliament that has not adopted any Act does not serve any purpose, We should execute actions for us to be able to save what we found in place, while Hon. Bida Yosufou stated that “We need to use the Legal Advisers of the Parliament, they are underutilized, because the Parliament does not need to seat before our Acts are looked into, they should work directly with the Speaker to achieve this cause rather being underutilized.
Preceding these reactions were presentations and recommendations by experts (the Director of Legal of the ECOWAS Commission Daniel Bodo Lago, and the Legal Adviser of the ECOWAS Parliament Mrs. Isatou Combeh Njia) who spoke on the operationalization of the new institutional Reforms and on Exercising Parliamentary Powers. While Mr. Daniel Bodo charged Parliament with the establishment of a Committee/Working Groups in other to deepen their powers, Mrs. Isatou stated that it is left to Parliament to take control and fully implement the provisions of the Supplementary Act by developing necessary guidelines in conjunction with implementing institutions and agencies of the Community.
Concluding, the Speaker of the Parliament, H.E Sidie Mohamed Tunis agreed to the flight of the MPs and added that their concerns have long been pondered by individuals and he feels more pain over these issues raised. “Listening to what we have all been yearning for, I think this is the beginning, now we have an opportunity to come up with an outcome document with the support of the Director of Legal Affairs, because at the end of the day even in the Commission he is the one to respond to this issue.
“The Director of Legal affairs is for all institutions, now that we have him here working with our own legal adviser, I really hope we can come up with a document at the end of this seminar because it is so timely with everything that is happening in this region, trust me it is the MPs that can do the job, not technocrats, but those MPs must have the powers, we must have it legal to do those jobs, so I am hoping that the Director of Legal Affairs will work with us with our Legal Affairs, and our chair of Human Right, to work on a document that can be presented to the Commission, the Council of Ministers and even up to the Authority of Heads of States, otherwise we are going to be enhancing our powers until fifty years and we will get nowhere; He concluded.
Comments
Post a Comment