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Tunis, said the meeting will focus on one of the priorities of ECOWAS Vision 2050, which is to promote good governance and consolidate irreversible peace, security, as well as development in the region. “As we all know, inequality has been one of the bases or causes of subversive acts in our region
By Princess-Ekwi Ajide, Abuja
Inequality has been identified as one of the major factors causing rising crisis, including military coups and insecurity in the West African subregion hence the need to support the participation of people from vulnerable and marginalized groups in the decision-making and democratic processes of the societies.
Speaker of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliament, Hon. Sidie Mohammed Tunis, who gave this description at the opening of the delocalized meeting of the Joint Committee of the ECOWAS Parliament Committee on Political Affairs, Peace, Security and the African Peer Review Mechanism, the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights and the Committee on Social Affairs, Gender and Women Empowerment holding in Monrovia, Liberia, advocated support to these groups to participate in decision making so as to ensure continued peace, security and development.
Tunis acknowledged that every meeting of the Parliament is an opportunity to analyze and make proposals to better understand and control political, economic, and social developments in West Africa.
Tunis, while noting that the meeting will focus on one of the priorities of ECOWAS Vision 2050, which is to promote good governance and consolidate irreversible peace, security, as well as development in the region, however said: “As we all know, inequality has been one of the bases or causes of subversive acts in our region.”
The Vice President of Liberia, Dr. Jewel Howard Taylor, opined that political inclusivity is still far from being achieved, insisting that going by a few statistics as indicated by a January 2023 UN Women Facts and Figures report, women on the continent particularly and globally in general are still yet to be accorded the acceptable number in distribution of political offices.
She noted that inclusive political processes are crucial to sustaining peace and conflict prevention; establishing and strengthening political processes aimed at improving the participation and political influence of citizens; making governments and institutions more accountable and transparent, and building a stronger and more inclusive social contract between government and the people for greater access to opportunities, amongst other issues.
Taylor said though much has been done over the past 30 years to bring to the front burner the issue of equal participation of both genders, the fact remains that even at the ECOWAS Parliament where the mandatory acceptable standard is a minimum 30% representation from each member state ; current statistics indicated that out of 115 members only 21 members are females, a mere 18.26%.
President of the ECOWAS Commission, Omar Alieu Touray also added his voice to the discussion, noting that the disconnect between the government and its citizens contributes to the volatility and threats to democracy in the sub-region.
Touray who was represented by the Permanent Representative of the ECOWAS Commission to Liberia, Mrs Josephine Nkurumah, urged Members of the ECOWAS Parliament to consider the role of civic engagements as a key strategy to building a more inclusive society.
