Participants call for the abolition of ECOWAS Parliament
Some participants at a workshop at Abesim near Sunyani at the weekend described the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliament as irrelevant and called for its abolition.
Other participants however, disassociated themselves from the call, saying it was the duty of non-state actors to “go the extra mile and approach local Ministers at ECOWAS Parliament and not the Ministers to locate them”.
The two-day workshop on capacity building on non-state actors in the ECOWAS regional integration process, was organised by Integrated Social Development Centre (ISODEC), a non-governmental organisation (NGO) in collaboration with Brong-Ahafo Network of NGOs (BANGO), at Abesim at the weekend.
The 44 participants of 11 females and 33 males were selected from Ashanti and Brong-Ahafo Regions.
The event that was held on the theme: “Capacity Building Workshop on the Role of non-state Actors Towards the Realization of Customs Union and Common Market in West Africa”, was part of ISODEC study report aimed at implementing a project on non-state actors on issues of regional integration.
The participants, who made the call in a report read at the end of the workshop, explained that the ECOWAS Parliament seemed to have outlived its usefulness, in view of the political upheavals in some member-countries without effective control by the Parliament.
The participants stressed that in Ghana for instance the ECOWAS representative Parliamentary Minister(s) was (were) not familiar with most of the non-state actors, making it difficult for the people to assess their roles.
On the Trade Liberalisation Scheme, some of the participants noted the difference in tariffs between Anglo-phone and Francophone countries, citing that a Ghanaian trader paid 35 per cent on exportation of rice to Cote d’Ivoire while the Ivorian counterpart paid only 15 per cent when exporting the same commodity to Ghana.
They maintained that this condition was unfair to Anglophone ECOWAS member countries and suggested a common tariff for all member countries.
The participants, similarly said that the flooding of imported goods on the Ghanaian market from member countries was also a head-ache to the Ghanaian trader since in ECOWAS liberalization terms, commodities coming in from member countries did not attract tariff.
They said this was really causing a great disadvantage to tomatoes farmers for example, whose sweat comes to naught in the event of the flooding of such non-attracting tariff commodities into the country.
The participants mentioned language barrier, incessant conflicts, limited involvement of non-state actors and many more as challenges impeding progress of traders in member countries and called on ECOWAS authorities to reverse the trend.
Source: GNA