Akufo-Addo Elected ECOWAS Chairman

Ghanaians woke up on the morning of Monday, the 7th September, 2020 to learn that their president, His Excellency William Addo Dankwah Akufo-Ado is elected the chairman of ECOWAS, in a faraway land of the Republic of Niger. He was said to be elected by his peers, in an electoral college, to serve as the chairman of ECOWAS for one year, when a very good number of Ghanaians are itching to vote him out of office in the December 2020 General election in Ghana.

Despite our disapproval of using the word "elected" to make the role of the chairmanship of the ECOWAS seem competitive, and therefore personal than ceremonial, the ECDRA (ECOWAS Citizen Democratic Right Advocate) join all well-wishers in congratulating the Republic of Ghana and its president, on the assumption of ECOWAS Chairmanship.

President Akufo Ado on behalf of Ghana replaces the outgoing chairman, President Mahamadou Issoufou of the Republic of Niger at the 57th Ordinary Session of the Heads of State and Government of ECOWAS. The occasion mark the end of one year term of ECOWAS member state of Niger playing the traditional role of ECOWAS chairmanship, and the ECOWAS member state of Ghana taking a turn.

Although the handing over event was very brief, the incoming ECOWAS chairman seize every opportunity in his inaugural speech in demonstrating how much the role meant to him and how democratic the process was.

In seeing the glass half full than totally empty, one cannot deny president Akufo Addo has been dedicated to the West African body and the wider continental Pan African union. Since his assumption of the Ghanaian presidency, Akufo Addo has never missed any opportunity offered to him by the ECOWAS to provide leadership. The Ghana president spent his first few months of his office shuttling across the West African countries, to motivate his peers to up their game in their common effort for a better West Africa.

By the end of his one year in the Ghanaian presidential role, President Akufo Ado put himself forward for the ECOWAS chairmanship, after President Sirleef Johnson of Liberia has completed her one year ECOWAS chairmanship term.

In going by the ECOWAS protocol, the member state whose turn it is was actually the state of Togo, for the Togolese President Foure Gnassingbe Enyadema to provide the ceremonial leadership for the regional authority. In sustaining the ECOWAS tradition, other members of the authority of heads of state and government of the ECOWAS prevailed, for Faure Gnassingbe to assume the one year chairmanship term of ECOWAS, on the 7th of June 2017 to 31st July 2018, than allowing the Ghanaian president to have his way.

Most people did see the president's intent of assuming the ECOWAS chairmanship role at the time as ambitious, since his predecessor President John Dramani Mahama of Ghana has just occupy the position from the 28th of March 2014 to 19th May 2015, on behalf of the state of Ghana. It is therefore out of order in 2020 for another president of Ghana to attempt to seek for the chairmanship, as it will have to take another 15 years to be the turn of Ghana again. But, to President Akufo Ado, it is just an opportunity resulting from the disorderly ECOWAS, waiting for grabbing, to place one's self in a strategic position of making a lasting impact on the West African Union. You can call the Ghanaian president your "Boris Johnson of ECOWAS", but that is if he and his hard-core admirers who excuse the process of ECOWAS chairmanship as a collegial system, give a dime.

The ECDRA did not fail to note the strong emphasis the president placed on the word "elected" in his brief inauguration speech. The ECDRA could not think of any motive for the use of "elected", than to make a false impression of a democratic ECOWAS by collegial system. The use of "election" gives an impression that the ECOWAS tradition of member states taking turn, for the head of each state to serve as the ECOWAS chairperson, is no more the case. Rather, the system has changed into a democratic process, of a collegial form, in which fierce contest for the position take place among contending heads of states as political candidates, for the best person to emerge a winner.

Of course, the use of "elected" in describing the assumption of the ECOWAS ceremonial office did not start with President Akufo Ado assuming the role of chairmanship of ECOWAS, for any one to blame the Ghanaian president for being the first, but ECDRA believe it is time to consider the challenges associated with the use of "elected" instead of "assume".

It will be understandable to have the core sympathisers of deceit, questioning why anyone will be making a farce on the use of "election" in place of the traditional "appointment", when these words are easily interchangeable.

In highlighting some of the genuine reasons for why the use of "election" is misleading, when "assumes" was the right word, let us consider the following;

The ECOWAS Chairmanship is a Ceremonial Position. The chairmanship position of the ECOWAS is a ceremonial position by tradition and purpose, and therefore non-electable position. So the chairmanship of the ECOWAS is not a position to contest for. Rather it is meant to rotate on annual basis, among the fifteen states, for each of the fifteen leaders of the ECOWAS member nations to take turn on behalf of their state, to play a ceremonial role of providing a form of leadership to the region.

The leadership role is by Member State, than the head of the member state. The role of providing leadership to ECOWAS is actually for the member state, and not the head of the state, for any form of competition to be necessary. The chairmanship is therefore not personally by the president, for him or her to think it is personal, but done on behalf of his or her nation for ECOWAS.

The chairmanship role of the state is an Affirmation of ECOWAS Membership. The ECOWAS consist of fifteen member countries, officially referred to as states. Each of the fifteen states taking turn to assume the role of leadership symbolizes an affirmation of membership and commitment to the objectives of the Union.

The automatic chairmanship role affirms the Equality of all Member States. The automatic assumption of leadership role of the ECOWAS member state, with the head of such state stepping in to assume the role of ECOWAS chairmanship, is an act that symbolizes the equality of all the 15 member countries. So regardless to size, population and riches, the automatic assumption of the ceremonial role, affirm all the states are equal stakeholders of the Union.

The Ceremonial Chairmanship role helps to remove the sense of marginalization within the Union. This use of the word "elect" for the role of ECOWAS chairmanship defeats the objective of the union of equals, where the larger, stronger and richer states of the ECOWAS like Ghana, Nigeria, Cote 'Ivoire, Guinea Conakry and Senegal, will be hiding behind "election" to get more than their fair share in this unholy competition, while smaller ones like Sierra Leone, Gambia, Togo, Cape Verde and Guinea Bissau, suffer a sense of being marginalize.

The falsification of a democratic ECOWAS is unfair on West Africans. The word "elected" in arriving at the chairmanship of the ECOWAS gives a falsify impression of a democratic ECOWAS as an institution, when that is not actually the case. The current nature of democratic practice within the ECOWAS, only exist at the member state level than at the level of ECOWAS itself. So if the members of the 15 authority of ECOWAS heads of state and government genuinely believe in a need for a democratic ECOWAS by election, then now is the time to have the electorates of ECOWAS member countries voting directly for their ECOWAS MPs (Members of ECOWAS Parliament), than faking an unnecessary election to the ceremonial chairmanship role.

Constitutional rule of law by democratic governance, at the level of ECOWAS, is overdue in West Africa. The biggest challenge currently facing the whole of West Africa is the adherence to constitutional rule by democratic governance. Since constitutional rule of law by democratic governance of the ECOWAS mean, the ECOWAS institution observing constitutional rule by democratic governance, as well as having every one of the 15 member countries living by constitutional rule of law by democratic governance, putting a spin on the ceremonial role of chairmanship to make the authority of heads of state and government seem democratic, is a nonstarter. The challenge of almost every country in West Africa operating by constitutional rule of law base on democratic governance, except the ECOWAS institution pretending to be an exception, is morally disturbing. So while the demand on the ECOWAS institution is being mounted to democratise by having the West African electorates of the ECOWAS member countries voting directly for their ECOWAS MPs on the basis of universal adult suffrage, as they do with their national MP, the use of the word "election" for the assumption of the office of any ECOWAS institution, is psychologically detracting.

The ECOWAS makes mockery of democracy. The use of the word "elected" by incoming ECOWAS chairman makes mockery of the concept of democracy. It gives an impression of an ECOWAS that does not understand democracy or does not believe in it. It gives an impression of an ECOWAS consisting of pretenders who are being force to be democratic by interest external to West Africa, than genuine independent people who are being democratic because they believe in it.

Every politically inform person knows the word “elected” is not the same as appointed. Despite the fact that the two words are interchangeable, every politically informed person knows well that election is not the same as appointment in all cases and certainly not in the ECOWAS as an institution. Election is a word use to indicate a process of fair play in a contest within a democratic context, for a winner to emerge. The process of appointing the ECOWAS Chairman does not meet any democratic standard. Electing the chairman of ECOWAS is not necessary, as the role is equally to the country of the incoming chairman. One does not think the president of Ghana, will refer to the assumption of office of his ministers as elected, despite having all presidential nominees to face the parliament of Ghana to be vetted and voted on by MPs, before they assume their role. This president will also not say his vice president, is elected into his role when there were other contenders, for one person to emerge. If it is not right for the president who chooses his ministers among other contenders, to refer to any of them as elected minister, why must it be alright for the president of Ghana or any one assuming ECOWAS chairmanship, to tell West Africans that he or she has been elected as chairman of the ECOWAS?

The use of the word “elected” by an incoming ECOWAS Chairpersons misleads the media. Every media report on the Ghanaian president's assumption of the ECOWAS Chairmanship, had its head line and content as "elected", than assume. In fact those that reported the act as appointment at the initial stage had to retrieve their news post and updated them with "elected". Interestingly, none of the media report on the chairmanship gave any detail on the processes involved in the so call election. They all base their version on the Ghanaian president referring to his "peers" consisting of the 15 heads of states, as those who elected him, thereby portrays a form of participatory democracy of collegial nature. None of the news reporters knew that only 8 (eight) of the 15 (fifteen) heads of states and governments of ECOWAS, were present at the Niamey event, to give an indication that only eight people voted, if indeed any voting took place to elect an ECOWAS Chairman.

The president of Ghana was fully aware he is to be the next ECOWAS chairman, due to some challenging circumstances, when the one year term of Niger is ended. It is therefore unfortunate to use the word "elected" when he is aware of his turn to assume the chairmanship, a year in advance, despite the awareness that the president risk being replace in the Ghanaian general election to take place on the 7th of December, 2020. So if the president loses his role as the president of Ghana, he automatically loses the ECOWAS chairmanship role barely four month into the office, since the assumption of the office is by his personal merit of winning an election at the ECOWAS authority level. This means, the successor will not automatically continue the role of chairmanship of ECOWAS on behalf of the state of Ghana but, the authority have to elect another person after four months, to fill up the vacuum.

Ironically, the role of the ECOWAS MP is rather the ceremonial one, where the seat is for the country, than the individual. So as long as one wins an election into the Ghanaian national parliament, the ECOWAS seat is guaranteed and when an ECOWAS MP loses his or her Ghanaian parliamentary seat, the new MP who wins the seat, automatically assumes the role of an ECOWAS MP in replacing the loser.

Finally, the use of "elected" by the president in his speech, referring to his peer as the electorates in a form collegial system, down play the seriousness of democratic challenge in West Africa. The average West African is losing confidence in the word "democracy" as a tool for the solution to his or her political and economic challenges. The word "election" to the average West African, is synonymous with the word "democracy". The West African is therefore dangerously uncomfortable with the ECOWAS as untrustworthy institution that forces its member countries to be democratic by engaging in questionable activities called election, while the Union exempt itself from being democratic. So, as the ECOWAS and the President of Ghana are using the word "elected", when in actual fact no serious election took place for anyone to assume the office of the ECOWAS Chairmanship, the president and ECOWAS are confirming the suspicion of the West African of lack of trust in ECOWAS that make false claims of what it is not.

What the ECOWAS seriously need, at this critical phase of our West African Union, when we are grappling with faith in constitutional rule of law, by democratic governance, is to have an honest ECOWAS. If the ECOWAS is serious about constitutional rule of law by democratic governance to be at the verge of all-out war with her member state of Mali, then an honest ECOWAS must not be by deceit. What we desperately need in West Africa is not an ECOWAS of dictators pretending to believe in democratic governance enough to resort to the threat of using military force at the regional level to attack a member state, while this same regional authority is scared of doing the least of democratising the ECOWAS Parliament with the regional MPs elected directly by member nations' electorates.

Kofi Ali Abdul-Yekin

Chairman ECDRA

(ECOWAS Citizens Democratic Right Advocate)

kofialiabdul@yahoo.co.uk