By Amin Kef Sesay
Honourable Chernor Ramadan Maju Bah (Chericoco), who was the Leader of Sierra Leone Delegation to the ECOWAS Parliament, has called on the ECOWAS Commission to be more pragmatic in dealing with issues in the West African sub-region that have the tendency of threatening peace and security rather than strategizing on resolving disputes.
He made that statement while he was responding to a presentation made by the President of the ECOWAS Commission, Jean-Claude Kassi Brou, on the state of the ECOWAS community which was presented on the 2nd June 2021 at the ongoing 1st 2021 Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Parliament.
The ECOWAS Commission President, during his presentation on the status of peace and democracy in the region, confirmed that the Commission has conducted an observation mission for Benin and Niger Presidential Elections, as well as Legislative Elections in Cape Verde.
He furthered that following the military takeover in the Republic of Mali, ECOWAS Council of Heads of State and Governments held an Extraordinary Summit to demand the immediate and unconditional release of all transition dignitaries, suspend Mali from ECOWAS institutions in line with ECOWAS provisions, call for a new civilian Prime Minister to be nominated immediately, reaffirmed the need to respect the 18 months transition until the 27th February 2022 Presidential election and reiterated that the Head of the Transition, the Vice-President, and the Prime Minister should not run for the Presidential election.
Against that backdrop, the Sierra Leonean Head of Delegation charged the ECOWAS Commission Chief for the regional body to be more proactive than being reactive in preventing the reoccurrence of the Malian situation. He cited that, “we have raised instances in Sierra Leone where the current Government has been taking actions that undermine the peace and democracy in the region. We saw the imposition of a Speaker of Parliament on the majority of MPs in Sierra Leone.
We saw the removal of ten (10) elected Members of Parliament. We saw the Government wanting a midterm census which has no legal basis in Sierra Leone. We also saw an opposition operative jailed for criticizing the current Government in Bo District. All of these, like in Mali are signs of undermining democracy but the Commission is doing nothing despite the numerous letters we have written and sent for your attention.”
Hon. Bah, therefore, suggested that the ECOWAS Commission must now rearrange itself to setup robust mechanisms to address cases that have the tendency to undermine peace and democracy in the region rather than waiting until there is a total breakdown like it happened in the Republic of Mali.
