ECOWAS submits draft Act to enhance powers of parliament

The Economic Commission of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliament, on Tuesday, submitted a Draft Supplementary Act for the enhancement of the powers of the parliament to the commission.This was in line with Article 4(2) of the Supplementary Protocol, which provides that the Parliament's powers 'shall be progressively enhanced from advisory to co-decision making and subsequently to a lawmaking role in areas to be defined by the Authority.'The Speaker of ECOWAS Parliament, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, who submitted the Act, regretted that the commission's Parliament was the only supranational parliament with solid structure and prospects of transforming into a full legislative body throughout the African continent.He informed that at the time of its inception in 2000, it had remained a mere consultative and advisory parliament, whereas other regional parliaments it predated had either gained legislative powers or about doing so.According to him, 'the internationally acceptable best practice is to democratise the integration process by having a legislative parliament that will make laws and conduct oversight to enhance transparency, accountability and proper separation of powers.'On the salient aspects of the document, he explained that Draft Supplementary Act seeks the election to the ECOWAS Parliament by electoral college and a co-decision status with council, such that both council and parliament could initiate legislative Acts.Ekweremadu said 'the Draft Act seeks the integration of parliament into the community mechanism on conflict prevention, management, resolution, peacekeeping, and security and for the parliament to be involved in election monitoring.'It seeks to empower the parliament to oversight community sector policies, confirm the appointment of statutory appointees, and strengthen interactions between ECOWAS Parliament and National Parliaments.
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