By Melvin
TejanMansaray, Abuja-Nigeria, Tuesday 7th December 2021
Members of the newly elected Bureau of the Economic
Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Female Parliamentary Association
(ECOFEPA) have vowed to put together a binding document for National
Assemblies to send in more women to the Community Parliament.
This disclosure was made on Tuesday 7th December 2021 at
Room No.9, International Conference Center, Garki, Abuja-Nigeria, just after
the conduct of the ECOFEPA Executive election for a new Bureau to replace the
Hon. Isa Filomena Pereira Soares Da
Costa (Cabo Verde) - led executive .
The newly elected ECOFEPA Bureau comprises, Hon. WorayeSarr
(Senegal) President-elect, Hon.
Biodun Christine Olujimi (Nigeria) 1st Vice President-elect, Gabriela
Alfredo Fernadez (Gunea Bissau) 2nd Vice President-elect, Hon. Moussokoura
Chantal Fanny (Cote d'Ivoire) Secretary-General and Hon. LaadiAyiiAyamba (Ghana) Treasurer.
The honorable Members of the ECOWAS Parliament (MEPs) of the
new Bureau replaces, Hon. Isa Filomena Pereira
Soares Da Costa (Cabo Verde) President, Hon.
KabouleReineBertilleSakandeBenao (Burkina Faso) 1st Vice President, Hon.
BiodunOlujimi (Nigeria) as 2nd Vice President and, Hon. Guiro Oulimata
(Senegal) was appointed to serve as Secretary-General while Hon.
FatoumattaNjai.
Responding to a question posed by this Writer, on what it
the new Bureau’ plan to reverse the seeming plummeting trend of women’s
participation in the Community Parliament which saw a drop from 25 female MEMs
in the previous Community Assembly and now, 21 in the current Fifth Legislature
of 115 MEMs, the First Vice President-elect, Hon. Olujimi said, “ it is what the newly elected
President will have to bring on board.”
She added: “We have never had a clear cut arrangement on how
many women should be brought to the Community Parliament by each country, but
we will sit down and we will have a document that will be binding on all the
Member States so that we can bring in at least thirty percent or forty percent
of women into the ECOWAS Parliament.”
Hon. Olujimi confirmed that for now there is no plan on the
number of women that should be sent to the ECOWAS Parliament by countries,
noting that, “ but we will have to work on it. We have already missed the mark
but there is no way we won't work on it because most of the countries of West
Africa believe in gender parity and so we don’t have a choice other than to
work on that. Nigeria is the biggest country, amongst thirty-five MEPs we have
only two women.”
In her farewell message to members of the ECOFEPA, outgoing
President of ECOFEPA, Hon. IsaFilomena
Pereira Soares Da Costa (Cabo Verde)
thanked the leadership and support of the Community Parliament, citing the
Speaker Hon. Dr. Sidie Mohamed Tunis for
his dedication to advancing the course of women. She congratulated the new
Bureau bidding farewell having served in
the Parliament since 2002.
“I have been attached
to this Parliament and I will continue to fight for the course of women and
girls for social development in the areas of agriculture, politics, etc,” She
said, registering her best of wishes for the new Bureau
in their quest to fight against child
marriage, sexual and gender based violence, female genital mutilation and
the rights of women to own properties.
In her submission, Hon. KabouleReineBertilleSakandeBenao
(Burkina Faso) congratulates the new Bureau and wished them well in their
undertakings. She however pledged support to the incoming Bureau and their
vision to defend women's issues not only at the ECOWAS
Parliament but also in other National
Assemblies.
“I call on the new Bureau to make the thirty percent women’s
representation a reality,” paying tribute to
Hon. Olujimi for her gifts and efforts towards ECOFEPA.
ECOFEPA was
established in the year 2002 to support and encourage ECOWAS Community
programmes that promote the social, economic, and cultural development of the
peoples of West Africa, bringing a parliamentary and political approach to the
ECOWAS gender mainstreaming and towards the execution of the ECOWAS gender
policy.
However, among the
ECOWAS Parliament’s Standing Committees,
is that of the Committee on Social Affairs, Gender and Women
Empowerment.
The Committee is responsible for matters relating to:
Development of an ECOWAS policy on equal opportunities, including equality
between men and women concerning employment opportunities; Harmonization of
labor laws and legislation on social security; Promoting the exchange of
skilled manpower among Member States,
Promotion of literacy, professional training, and employment; Protection
of the children’s rights and other vulnerable groups; Development of
appropriate measures for the protection and assistance of children and other
vulnerable groups; Monitoring the local integration of ECOWAS citizen refugees
under the ECOWAS Protocol on Free Movement of Persons, Rights of Residence and
Establishment; Considering issues causing humanitarian emergencies and their
impact on ECOWAS Citizens; Harmonization of legislation on social protection;
Solidarity building at the community level; Removal of all constraints that
inhibit women from maximizing their contributions and benefits in the
sub-regional integration effort; Elimination of all forms of discrimination
against women, including customary practices; Harmonization of associations of
West African Women’s organization with relevant bilateral, multilateral and
governmental Organizations.
The new ECOFEPA Bureau members will be sworn into t office any time soon to hit the ground running in ensuring that they live up to the expectation and notion that charity begins at home with more women at the Community Parliament which can then be cascaded to other spheres of the Community Institutions
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