Lawmakers of the Economic Community of West African State (ECOWAS Parliament) have highlighted gains of the just concluded two days Parliamentary seminar organized to enhance the application of the Supplementary Act relating to the strengthening of the prerogatives of the ECOWAS Parliament within the framework of the restructuring of the ECOWAS Commission.
The theme of the seminar that was held in Lome, Togo is “Application of the Supplementary Act on The Enhancement of the Powers of the Parliament in Light of the Restructuring of The ECOWAS Commission”.
Feeling the pulse of the regional Parliamentarians in attendance, Hon. Jonathan Kaipay from Liberia said, “It is good and timely for the Parliament to discuss these issues, what I have taken away is that we need to enhance our power, the power that has to do with oversight, representation, and law-making, so that the entire authority of the Heads of State, and the ECOWAS Commission can be able to see how we collaborate in the functions of our duty;
“Once we have a coordinated effort by the Parliament and the ECOWAS Commission vis-a-vis the Authorities of the Heads of States, it has a total effect on the entire region, when we talk about peace and security, talking about Economic Growth, talk about the rest of the things that will improve the lives of the ordinary people, I believe our coordination will bring much more desirable result to the sub-region”
Hon. Oghene Egoh of Nigeria said the ECOWAS Parliament through the seminar will be able to reposition itself to ensure that they do the work effectively for which they have been elected to represent their respective countries. “We want to be more effective, we want our impact to be seen everywhere, and we want to be able to do our work in such a way as to reduce coups and problems that we have in the West Africa Sub-region.
“We’ve done the seminar, so many suggestions have been made, committees are going to be set up and we would solidify these various suggestions that have been made, and we would have a meeting with the heads of state and agree on it, and then it will be announced and its impact will be felt across the entire sub-region.
As for Honaourable Chernor Bah of Sierra Leone, the Parliament is yet to utilize its powers, and this seminar was an eye-opener and also a call to duty.
“I will restrict myself to the topic under review, that is, utilizing our enhance powers as limited as they are, but also asking for more. What came up very clearly is that even the little powers that we have, we are not using, and if we are not using the little powers that we have it is difficult to ask for more, so we have to first use what we have and then we can think the next step;
“Direct elections are relevant, they are important, managing our own budget is important, it is relevant, but let us use the powers that we have, for now, then it will be easier to ask for more.
“There has been an achievement in the past, and under the last two Parliament, we’ve learned many things, I hope that as Parliament now moving forward,, we are hoping that this Parliament will also make progress from where we met it, otherwise it would have been a Parliament that has not worked to achieve its objective;
“The opportunity is there, the platform is there, the laws are there, that is why we’ve come together as a group to ensure that we work together in advancing the purpose for which this Parliament is being formed. Chernor Bah said.
Hon. Awaji Abiante, a Nigerian delegate noted that “The seminar has been very revealing, it has thrown up the very essence of Parliaments, if we truly have powers, how have we exercise those powers, do we really need any more power before we can function as Parliament.
“The opinions have been diverse, the powers that we have with us, how well have we utilize them, that is the very first question that anybody should ask, have we use those powers judiciously? have we also been equitable in our activities and in our actions? have we been sincere in all our dealings, has the administration been effective in all that they do? And the answers are varied.
“Some say we don’t need any more powers, others are saying we need more powers, others are saying even the powers that we have has been donated, whatever communique that would be going out will be the position of Parliament,” he said.
“The Liberian head of delegation, Hon. Melvin Snowe on the other hand said “This seminar is really timely, I think one of the problems we need to work on is that at the commencement of every Legislature, an orientation period or session is required to ensure that MPs understand some of the issues and how we conduct the workings of the Parliament.
“All of our Colleagues spoke very well but Parliamentary procedures or working differs in different jurisdictions, but ECOWAS Parliament is really upside down, to be honest. The power in all of our National Parliament is with the Parliamentarians, but in ECOWAS, the power is either with the AFC, the Council of Ministers, or the Authorities of Heads of State, so we need a small brochure or something where we can have orientation period at least at the beginning of the Legislature, Snowe concluded.
To cap it up, Hon. Ndume stated that the seminar has provided the opportunity for the Parliament to look at the Parliamentary Act. “it is not the issue of enhancement, but the issue of an amendment, we should amend those laws. We should use this opportunity to really come up with something that is going to be” he said. END
 have highlighted gains of the just concluded two days Parliamentary seminar organized to enhance the application of the Supplementary Act relating to the strengthening of the prerogatives of the ECOWAS Parliament within the framework of the restructuring of the ECOWAS Commission.){kind=link}