AYV News, September 25, 2024
Leader of Opposition, All People’s Congress (APC) Party in Sierra Leone’s Parliament, Hon. Abdul Kargbo has applauded the presence of the Economic Community of West African States Mission in Sierra Leone named as ECOMSIL.
The fine opposition MP was at the Extra Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Parliament in Togo where he thanked and appreciated both the Leaders of the Majority and Minority parties in The Gambia Parliament who and their MPs supported the deployment of ECOMSIL to Sierra Leone.
Hon. Abdul Kargbo said: “Today, 24th September, 2024, At the Extra Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Parliament in Togo, I expressed my thanks and appreciation to both the Leaders of the Majority and Minority parties in The Gambia parliament who and their MPs supported the deployment of ECOMSIL to Sierra Leone”.
He explained that in The Gambia, after the electoral commission declared Barrow the winner, former President Yayah Jameh accepted the election results that he lost the election and promised to hand over to President Barrow on 17th January, 2017. Jammeh later refused to hand over power.
From September 24 to October 4, 2024, Lomé will be hosting the 3rd extraordinary session of the ECOWAS Parliament, alongside the 2nd parliamentary orientation seminar for the 6th legislature.
The ongoing extraordinary session will focus on adopting the ECOWAS’ 2025 draft budget, ensuring budget stability and implementing reforms to modernise the institution, according to the National Assembly. These align with ECOWAS’ 2050 Vision which aims at an integrated, prosperous, and peaceful West Africa.
The meeting is regrouping 115 parliamentarians from the 15 member states and will emphasise financial inclusion for women and strengthening regional governance amid ongoing security and economic challenges.
This is in line with Article 27 (2) of the Supplementary Act A/SA.1/12/16 relating to the Enhancement of Powers of the ECOWAS Parliament which provides that an Extra-Ordinary Session may hold at the initiative of either, the Chairman of Authority, Speaker, President of Commission or at the express request in writing of an absolute majority of Members to the Speaker.
The Seminar is designed to explore and discuss the Parliament’s approach to the new administrative restructuring of the ECOWAS Commission, in line with its mandate within the context of the Supplementary Act.
This Seminar stands-out as a remarkable engagement for Parliament to discharge its mandate under the legal framework of the Protocols in the Community Parliament, and the Vision 2050 of ECOWAS to transform from ECOWAS of States to an ECOWAS of people, where the voices and aspirations of its citizens are evidently represented in the decision-making process of the Community.
The ECOWAS Parliament which is a Representative Assembly of the peoples of the Community has a statutory and guaranteed minimum of (5) seats for each Member-State, while the remaining forty seats are distributed in proportion to the population of each country. Consequently, Nigeria has 35 seats, Ghana 8, Côte d’Ivoire 7, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali, Niger and Senegal have 6 seats each. The other countries namely, Benin, Cape Verde, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Togo have 5 seats each.
