FORMER lawmaker and Ambassador-designate, Senator Ita S. Enang, has called on the Authorities of Heads of State and Government of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), to consider the option of electing members of ECOWAS Parliament directly from their respective countries to enhance legislation.

Enang, who spoke yesterday at the ongoing ECOWAS Parliament Seminar on deepening regional integration through the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), maintained that delegating already over-burdened lawmakers with regional legislation is counterproductive.

Responding to questions after this presentation titled, ‘Parliamentary Oversight, Legislative Reforms and Implications of AfCFTA for Intra-Community Trade Within ECOWAS, Enang said that duties of lawmakers at the national level are so enormous and time consuming that only insignificant attention would be dedicated to ECOWAS assignment.

“My suggestion is that there should be a sunset clause. Each of the countries should be given at least, a year within which to elect members of the ECOWAS parliament from their respective countries.

“I have been here for about three hours making presentations and within this period, Nigerian delegations to the parliament came in and left almost immediately because they are very busy in the work of their national parliament. They are very busy with budgetary matters and busy attending to the works of their primary elected representatives.
“As such, they will not be able to spend enough time in the ECOWAS legislature because it is part-time in ECOWAS and full-time in their national legislatures.

“So it is important for this short sunset clause to be set by the ECOWAS Commission and the Authorities of Heads of State and Government to at least, six to eight months within which a direct election would be conducted for ECOWAS Parliamentarians”, Enang said.

He also assuaged likely fears of power tussle between parliamentarians and ECOWAS Commission, stressing that the work of the parliament is set aside and distinct from that of the commission.

“There is not going to be any conflict. The provision of members being chosen from their member countries was not even made by the parliament itself. So, the parliament and the parliamentarians have no say in that. It was made by the Authorities of Heads of States and Governments.

“That was the reason I suggested the establishment of a liaison commission or a focal committee in each of the national parliaments from the ECOWAS parliament.”

Enang noted that though regional governments have the political will to elect members directly to represent them at the ECOWAS Parliament, all that is required is for them to exert the power on their member countries.

“They can even decide that the election should be done in one day all over the countries in West Africa or within a period of one month. They can even do it by universal adult suffrage and in accordance with the laws of each country.”

Enang also said that the proposal suggested that about 30 per cent of the delegates must comprise women as a way of further mainstreaming women into decision-making process at both national and regional levels.