There is need for a strong ECOWAS parliament

By Godfrey Olukya    24-4-2013

Ghana’s Attorney General and Minister of Justice,  Marietta Brew Appiah-Oppong has urged experts charged with developing a mechanism for enlarging the powers of the ECOWAS Parliament to come up with concrete proposals that will enable the institution influence
community legal instruments. A statement issued by ECOWAS quoted her saying ‘To make Parliament more effective, it must move from making non-binding decisions to making binding decisions. ‘She was  represented by the Chief State Attorney, Mr Samuel Nerguaye-Tetteh.

Her speech was read at  regional experts meeting which opened in Accra on Monday, 22nd April 2013. She also endorsed the proposals in the in the draft supplementary protocol being considered during the five-day meeting for the parliament to be involved in approving the budget of the Community and statutory appointees.The meeting is being attended by experts from ministries of justice, national focal points responsible for ECOWAS affairs in Member States and members of national parliaments.

In his address, ECOWAS Commission’s Vice President, Dr. Toga Gayewea McIntosh flagged two possible challenges based on the 38 years of regional integration experiences.

These are in the areas of enforcement of laws to be made by the parliament considering the difficulty experienced with the ratification and domestication of regional instruments and the role of parliament in realizing the objectives of the regional vision of a citizen-driven community.

‘There is no divided opinion that the community parliament is indeed the institution that is well placed to acquaint community citizens with our vision and take home the ECOWAS project in order to gain their full support, ‘affirmed the Vice President who chairs the Commission’s internal Committee on the enhancement project.

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