Peace, security, democracy and good governance in the ECOWAS region at the heart of a parliamentary meeting in Banjul

A Joint Committee of the Parliament of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) will hold a delocalised meeting 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 in Banjul, capital of The Gambia. Three of the fourteen Standing Committees of the Parliament, comprising the following: Committees o n 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 will be meeting. 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.

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. It is t h e r e f o r e within this context that the Joint Committee will meet to reflect on the role of parliamentary oversight in the effective implementation of the ECOWAS texts on Peace, Security, Democracy and Good Governance.

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.