ECOWAS Parliament announces new Secretary-General

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliament has announced the appointment of a new Acting Secretary-General of the Parliament – Mr Bertin Somé.

The appointment, which was made by the Speaker of the Parliament, Mr Sidie Tunis, was announced through a statement issued yesterday by the parliament sitting in Abuja.

The statement read in part that the former Director of Parliamentary Affairs and Research, Somé, got the appointment by the parliament.

Somé, who assumed office on Nov. 1, replaced Mr John Azumah, who retired from active service of the community.

Speaker Tunis formally presented the acting Secretary General to the staff of the parliament late November in Abuja.

During the ceremony, the Speaker extolled virtues of Somé, especially in the areas of human and managerial qualities, including his sound knowledge of the workings of the institution.

“Somé, a Burkinabe joined the ECOWAS Parliament in September 2009 as a Committee Clerk and was appointed Director of Parliamentary Affairs and Research in February 2016.
“While serving in the two positions, he demonstrated his attention to detail, particularly in his relations with staff and members of the parliament.

“Somé, before joining the Community Parliament, had a successful long-standing career in the National Assembly of Burkina Faso, during which he held various positions.

“Also, he was Director General of Legislative Services, Reporting Director and Chief of Staff to the Speaker of the NASS”, the statement read.

The ECOWAS Parliament has a total of 115 seats and 14 standing committees; each member state is guaranteed a minimum of five seats.

The remaining 40 seats are distributed in proportion to the population of each country.

Consequently, Nigeria has a total of 35 seats followed by Ghana with eight seats.

Then, Côte D’Ivoire is allotted seven seats, while Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali, Niger and Senegal have six seats each.

The remaining ECOWAS Member States, namely Benin, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Togo, have five seats each.