Rt. Honorable Speaker, Haja Memounatou Ibrahima
By Linus Aleke, Abuja
The Community Parliament of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), has appealed to member states indebted to ECOWAS to urgently pay up their community levy to help ECOWAS institutions to tackle the multifaceted challenges, confronting her.
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Speaker of ECOWAS Parliament, Rt Hon Memounatou Ibrahima,
said this while declaring open a meeting of the Parliament’s Joint Committee on administration, budget, finance, public account, macroeconomic policy and economic research in Abidjan.
She noted that the subregion was currently facing financial difficulties and dangers, which threatened the execution and realisation of community projects and programmess that necessitated increased funding by member states.
“I want to seize the opportunity of our meeting to call on the member states to scale up their efforts to finance the community.
The current context is marked by the global repercussions of recession and inflation, provoked by international tensions, and the security threats within the region.
“These limited financial resources are under the important financing needs of the community.
As you know, the community budget is supplied at 85 per cent by the community levy, which is a 0.5 per cent tax imposed on goods from countries that are not members of the CDAO. Unfortunately, the last report on the state of the community presented by the President of the Commission revealed a weak mobilisation of its resources during these last years,” the speaker said.
Ibrahima reminded the participants that the meeting represented not only an opportunity for collaboration but also a moment of reflection on the strategies that member states must adopt in response to the region’s challenges.
She stressed that the meeting must address the role of the ECOWAS Parliament in the community’s budgetary process, especially against the backdrop of current challenges and realities.
“The goal is to allow the lawmakers to better understand the challenges related to the budget examination of the community in order to strengthen and consolidate the collaboration between the ECOWAS Parliament and other community institutions. I am convinced that our discussions on the role of ECOWAS in the elaboration and follow-up of the budget of the community will generate relevant analyses and solid recommendations to accelerate our resolution towards a community of fully integrated peoples.
This will culminate in a peaceful and prosperous region with strong and respectful institutions of fundamental freedom working for a sustainable inclusive development,” Ibrahima further said.
She noted that the index of regional integration in Africa measures to what extent the African countries in the north, the commitments they have taken in the context of various initiatives of pan-African integration, such as the African Union’s 2063 Agenda or the Abuja Treaty, relating to ECOWAS,” she said.
Ibrahima added that Ivory Coast was the first high-performance ECOWAS member country based on certain dimensions of regional integration, namely: commercial integration, productive integration, and macroeconomic integration.
Earlier, the Vice President of the Ivorian National Assembly, Diawara Mamadou, said that parliament played an important role in the preparation of budgets both nationally and in international organisations.
He said that for ECOWAS, where Parliament plays a fundamental role in monitoring through budget preparation and oversight, it was important for constituents to be informed about parliament’s actions regarding budgetary matters.
According to him, parliament is responsible for preparing and overseeing the execution of individual national budgets, so it is fundamental to understand how the community parliament examines and controls its budget.
“The general debate provides a platform for sharing experiences and developing proposals, enabling participants to enhance their capabilities and propose improvements to the existing mechanisms.
“I am therefore pleased that this relocated meeting in Abidjan addresses such an important subject as the budget,” he said.
Also speaking, Mrs Niali Kaba, Ivorian Minister of Economic Planning and Development, representing the Minister of Foreign Affairs and African Integration, Wautabouna Ouatarra, said the adoption of the ECOWAS budget marked a decisive turning point in the Community’s annual life.
“While this budget outlines all the resources and expenditures planned for ECOWAS institutions for the year in a single document, it is primarily the financial translation of our region’s integration and development policy,” she said.
Rep. Benjamin Kalu, Chairman of the parliament’s Joint Committee on Administration, Finance, Budget, Public Accounts, Macroeconomic Policy and Economic Research,assured that parliament would ensure the judicious and transparently use of all funds.
Kalu, Nigeria’s House of Representatives Deputy Speaker, said such was only achievable through meaningful engagements with critical stakeholders like the ECOWAS Commission and the Administration and Finance Committee.
“The Parliament has a critical duty to ensure that public resources are utilised responsibly and for intended purposes by the Executives.
“As Representatives of the people of the region, we must champion the promotion and practice of transparency and accountability.
“In other words, ‘oversight’ is an indispensable parliamentary tool that should be effectively deployed to secure the accountability of the Executive to the Parliament and the citizens in general,” he said.
