President of Ghana, Guest of Honour of the 2021 First Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Parliament

The President of Ghana, Nana Akufo Addo, current Chairman of the Authority of Heads and Government of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), is the Guest of Honour of the 2021 First Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Parliament, which is scheduled to hold, from 27 May to 12 June 2021, at the headquarters of the Institution in Abuja, the Federal Capital of Nigeria. On this occasion, President Addo will address the entire Community Parliamentarians on 27 May 2021. Heavily involved in the management of the major concerns of the moment (the fight against terrorism and COVID-19, regional integration, democratic governance, climate change, etc. He will deliver a strong solidarity message to the regional elected representatives, centred on the value of their commitment and self-sacrifice for the Community cause.

The Vice President of Liberia, Jewel Cianeh Howard-Taylor, will also be present at the formal opening ceremony of the Session.

One of the highlights of the session will be the presentation of the report on the state of the Community by the President of the ECOWAS Commission, Jean Claude Kassi Brou. He will have to conform to this exercise pursuant to article 32 of the Supplementary Act enhancing the powers of the Parliament, which stipulates that: At each ordinary session of Parliament, the President of the Commission shall present a general report on the status of implementation of the Community work programme.

This presentation remains an important moment in the institutional workings of ECOWAS. It provides the Parliamentarians, who are the representatives of the people, the opportunity to follow the implementation of the Community programmes.

Several referrals of key interest to the Community will also be submitted for the opinion of the Parliamentarians.

The ECOWAS Parliament comprises 115 seats. Regarding the allocation of the seats, each Member State is guaranteed a minimum of five seats. The remaining forty seats were distributed on pro rata basis, according to the population of each country. Based on this allocation, Nigeria has 35 seats, Ghana 8, Cote d’Ivoire 7, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali, Niger and Senegal have 6 seats each. The other countries, namely Benin, Cape Verde, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Togo have 5 seats each.