ECOWAS Parliament opens for grass root participation

Citizens of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), other than Members of Parliament in the sub-region, will be eligible to contest to become members of the ECOWAS Parliament, beginning in 2010.

The elective principle that is to be introduced, is a marked departure from what obtains now where the leadership of the various legislatures nominates representatives to the sub-regional decision-making body.

The move is to bring about competition and to broaden grassroot participation in the selection process of Parliamentarians who will serve as ECOWAS MPs, said Stephen Balado Manu, leader of Ghana's Parliamentary Delegation to the ECOWAS Parliament.

At a news conference in Accra on Thursday, Mr Balado Manu (NPP-Ahafo Ano South) said the current Parliament which is in transition at present, functions in an advisory capacity, saying, it does not have legistlative powers.

"The existing system of selection has deficiency in terms of stamping its authority on decisions that affects its people," he said, adding, "These deficiencies against the effectiveness and the viability of the House and the quality of democracy".

Giving details of the new elective principle, Mr Balado Manu said each member state would be a constituency, while initially maintaining the number of seats allocated to each country.

The electoral bodies of respective countries will be responsible for the delineation of national constituencies on the basis of national exigencies, having due regard to 30 per cent gender balance in an eligible place.

"Polls will be conducted in a manner similar to that of the National general elections and those who emerge victorious will then become bonafide members of the ECOWAS Parliament for four years term," he said.

On the criteria for selecting candidates, he said an Ad-hoc committee was working on modalities on issues including the age limit, adding, it was also determining whether ECOWAS as a body of each member state should bear the cost of the elections.

The Ad-hoc committee was expected to submit its final report to the ECOWA Parliament in October this year, said Francis Agbotse (NDC-Ho West), a member of Ghana's delegation to the ECOWAS Parliament.

Mr Balado Manu stated that representatives and their alternates are supposedly to be elected by direct universal suffrage by citizens of member states.

Pending when Members of Parliament are thus elected, the National Assemblies/Parliaments of member states are empowered to elect members from among themselves, he said, adding the duration period is subject to the approval of the Authority of Heads of States and Governments.

Mr Balado Manu said the reforms could go a long way towards democratizing ECOWAS Parliament's means for selecting its candidates and added that a well-defined structure that could ensure free and fair elections would be made available to the media in due course.

ECOWAS was formed in 1975 in Nigeria, with the signing of the Lagos Treaty by 15 states including Ghana.

The treaty was revised in 1993 to reinforce the integration process and this led to t he formation of the ECOWAS Parliament tasked with the duty of monitoring the process.

The current Parliament which is in transition at present, has 120 seats. Each member state has a guaranteed minimum of five seats while the remaining seats are shared on the basis of population.

Consequently, Nigeria has 35 seats, Ghana eight, Cote D'Ivoire Seven, while Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali, Niger and Senegal have six seats each.

Benin, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Togo have five seats each.

The ECOWAS Parliament is empowered to consider issues concerning human rights and fundamental freedoms of citizens, interconnection of energy networks and communication links between member states, among other things.