A member of Ghana’s delegation to the 5th Community Parliament Emmanuel Kwasi Bedzrah has stated that electing lawmakers into the next 6th Parliament is achievable with the needed political will, as the lifespan of the current 5th Parliament gradually comes to an end early next year.
On whether the flagship programme of the Rt. Hon Dr. Sidie Mohammed Tunis would elude the sub-region, he said he is positive about it but it needs a political will and revealed that the Ad Hoc Committee set up to draw the road map, their report came up at the first 2023 Extra Ordinary meeting of the Parliament held in Guinea Bissau.
“One of the things we agreed with was that every country should come out with its modalities of electing MPs to the 6th parliament, since ECOWAS commission would not want to spend. Some of us were advocating that if we have Ghana parliament for example and the national parliament decided that we would constitute ourselves in a national electoral college, for instant if I want to become a member of the Community Parliament and get elected, I have to resign from the National Parliament to join the ECOWAS Parliament. For me to have permanency and is workable, only Ghana would have to spend money to do what we call a bye-election to elect a new person to represent my constituency”
And pointed out that that is how the EU Parliament started and has gotten to where it is currently and is a reference point.
As to whether as a sub-region we have the political will and not engage in talk shop, he noted that it should be put on record that the 6th Parliament lawmakers would be elected and not nominated and when that happens he will not serve in the next 9th Ghanaian Parliament
Again, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliament should be prepared and accept that there is the need for funds to be made available to take care of us – our condition of service, we are now going to serve in the Community Parliament”.
Mr. Bedzrah revealed that the major problem now is preparation to get MPs and does not think the logistics are ready to take people on board with this new ideas; there are a lot of things to be done in the ECOWAS Parliament.
“If we are really talking about integration, look – the Community Parliament must start working now, what we are doing there is just a talk shop like you said, we are just joking if really we want to see ECOWAS of the people, Parliament must work; if we would be able to achieve that, we can achieve all other things. It’s all about the political will, and that would depend on our Heads of States and Government”.
And if all of us agree that this must happen, it would happen otherwise we should stop going to the Parliament and the political will depends on us.
If the ECOWA citizens are pushing for it hard enough, we also have to do our bit of educating people about ECOWAS in general, “we have not done that when people hear of it they only know of a fifteen-member state; what goes into it we do not know”.
Three member states currently are under military rule all because proper democratic governance was not obeyed; in the case of Guinea Conakry when the former president decided to extend his tenure, the Authority of Heads of States and Government did not do anything about it.
And Guinea Bissau to the extent that the President has suspended the parliament, they are going to organise another election again, but the MPs from that Country say, “that is what their constitution says, but they do not have a parliament.
“At our Extra Ordinary meeting some of us ask why are we here, they do not have a Parliament; someone comes to seat and says he is the Speaker of parliament. Speaker for which parliament? The building is just there and is doing nothing” and added that West Africa has a problem”.