As members of the Economic Community of West African State Parliament frown at the ongoing Coup d’etat in three of its member state which has led to the dissolution of its participation in the Parliament Activities, An Honourable member from the Gambia delegation to the ECOWAS Parliament Hon. Billay Tunkara has opined that a direct election of the membership to the ECOWAS Parliament will serve as a working strategy to protect Parliamentarians from being disengaged during a coup.
Speaking on the floor of the Parliament's Parliamentary seminar held in Lome, Togo, Hon. Tunkara stated that Coup in the region is becoming unbearable, adding that as soon as there is a Coup the affected country is been barred from participating in the activities of the ECOWAS Parliament, which according to him does not help in addressing situations.
Tunkara said “To end the menace of disengagement of Members, ECOWAS must be serious to evolve from National Parliament representation to direct election to ECOWAS Parliament, when members are being elected directly from their countries, it has nothing to do with your Parliament being dissolved automatically you losing your seats;
“You cannot as a member of Parliament be part of the Legislature of your Country, being in a Parliamentarian from your National Assembly they send you to represent the country at ECOWAS level, the following day there is a Coup d’etat your Parliament is being dissolved, those members that you’ve left at your home country lose their seats and yet you said I can be superior over the Parliament that has sent me here, it is impossible;
“In view of that, we strongly recommend that ECOWAS encourage direct representation from the states, by that, such MP has nothing to do with a coup, you are representing a community, when the coup happens it has nothing to do with you, you were sent by the community, not the National Parliament.
“I want to assure the entire Parliamentarians that the Gambians will do everything possible to make sure that there is mutual cooperation and collaboration between the commission and the Parliament to make sure that we achieve her desired objectives, ECOWAS Parliament needs to evolve to what we call an autonomous Parliament” Tunkara concluded.
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