By John Okeke
The prospect of achieving and maintaining Peace in our troubled world has dominated discussions at multilateral meetings in recent times.
It is against the backdrop of the continous efforts at dissecting the ECOWAS Framework for lasting peace in the subregion, that a Joint Committee of the Parliament (Community Parliament) of the Economic Community of the West African States (ECOWAS) is convening a delocalised meeting in Banjul, The Gambia, on the theme: Community texts relating to peace, security, democracy and good governance: challenges in their implementation and the oversight role
of ECOWAS Parliament, from Tuesday, 16 to Saturday, 20 August, 2022.
Statement made available to THE AUTHORITY by the Communication Department of the ECOWAS Parliament, said that: “Three of the fourteen Standing Committees of the Parliament, comprising the following: Committees on Political Affairs, Peace, Security and African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) / Legal affairs and human rights / Social Affairs, Gender and Women Empowerment, constitute the Joint Committee that eill be meeting.”
The meeting, according to the statement, is to keep the Parliamentarians abreast of the nitty gritty of the ECOWAS text on Peace and Security. This, it is hoped will enable them take ownership and equip them with the relevant knowledge in their subsequent oversight functions.
“The main objective of the meeting is to create an opportunity for the Members of the Joint Committee to acquaint
themselves with and take ownership of the ECOWAS texts on peace and security, democracy and good
governance as well as identify the best mechanism for oversight for their effective implementation within Member
States. “
It would be recall that, since its creation on 28 May, 1975, ECOWAS has adopted a significant number of Texts aimed at preventing, managing and/or settling conflicts within the Community, as well as maintaining and promoting peace and regional security.
However, attempts to effectively implement these Community Texts have thrown up, several apparent challenges.
Consequently, the impact of these texts on improving the security and good governance climate and environment
within the ECOWAS region, remains insufficiently evident, the statement explained.
The ECOWAS Parliament is composed of 115 seats. Each Member State is allotted a guaranteed minimum of five seats. The remaining forty seats are distributed in proportion to the population of each country.
Consequently, in total, Nigeria has 35 seats, f o l l o w e d b y Ghana, w i t h eight seats and Côte d’Ivoire, with seven seats. O t h e r s a r e Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali, Niger and Senegal which are allotted six seats each, whereas Benin, Cabo Verde, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Togo have five seats each.
