ECOWAS parliament mulls amendment of legislation to permit full autonomy

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) parliament is considering amendments to its 2016 Supplementary Act that would grant the assembly full autonomy.

The move is being led by the joint committee of the ECOWAS parliament on administration, finance, budget, public accounts, macroeconomic policy, and economic research.

This is part of an ongoing decentralised meeting of the committee in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.

The act pertains to parliamentary autonomy and the enhancement of the its powers.

Memounatou Ibrahima, speaker of the parliament, hinted at the amendment in her submission, saying an increased power would help the assembly achieve the ‘ECOWAS of the people agenda 2050’.

Abdullahi Darma, ECOWAS commissioner of internal services, said electing parliamentarians directly would guarantee their full legislative authority.

However, Darma added that ECOWAS member states owed levies of more than 600 million dollars, which has “hindered integration objectives, productivity, transparency, and accountability”.

Benjamin Kalu, chairman of the committee and deputy speaker of Nigeria’s house of representatives, urged concrete conclusions and recommendations on the amendment.

Kalu pledged to lead the parliament’s team to lobby the ECOWAS authority of heads of state and government to promote transparency and accountability.

He also assured that the parliament would intensify oversight on the ECOWAS commission to ensure judicious use of its finances.