Ensuring the survival of ECOWAS
By Ben Mensah
At the last summit it was revealed by the former executive secretary Dr Quattara that only three out of the fifteen member countries had met their financial obligations, the rest were in deep arrearsIn the estimation of the English speaking member states of the Economic Commission for West African States (ECOWAS) one of the stumbling blocks to the organisation's progress has been the lack of commitment from the Francophone West African Community (CEAO) and members of the Mano River Union.
Hence at the last ECOWAS summit in Lome the heads of state of the fifteen member economic community reminded themselves of the need to redouble their efforts to ensure the implementation of all those acts and decisions already taken by the community which will facilitate the realisation of the goals of the region's recovery programme.
But it is obvious that not a single member of the organisation is justified in accusing the other for ECOWAS' lack of growth. For at the time of the summit two Anglophone countries, Ghana and Nigeria had together with Togo and Benin worked out an agreement whose terms qualify to be classified as duplicating the aims of ECOWAS. The agreement, already ratified by all four countries relate to extradition, cooperation in the investigation of cross border crimes and other matters such as customs, trade and immigration.
An official statement in Accra justifying the agreements said they were in response to a deeply felt need to cooperate to combat the activities of common criminals, car burglars, smugglers and others who have been operating with ease in the area.
The military leadership often issues statements which pledge their commitment to the goals of ECOWAS but after closing the country's borders for nearly two years and refusing to reopen them to enable hundreds of thousands of Ghanaians who had been deported from Nigeria to re-enter their country, such statements can never be genuine.
Whereas the possible demise of ECOWAS, following that of the East African Community may not come as a surprise, it will certainly be regretted that in the face of individual country's inability to combat the current havoc being wreaked by drought in many parts of Africa, a regional organisation, has been left to collapse
In Nigeria, the Head of State, General Buhari has described the defence agreement with Ghana, Togo and Benin as furthering the security of his country's borders. He said they are measures which ought to be taken to prevent illegal immigrants, smuggling and currency trafficking. Above all having closed the borders of Nigeria since the coup of December 31, 1983 in flagrant violation of the ECOWAS protocol on the movement of people and goods across borders, the Nigerian authorities cannot be sincere in their support for ECOWAS.
Cocoa smuggling across borders is one of the major headaches of the four countries involved.
Togo's President Eyadema who is reported to have initiated the Ghana/Nigeria/Togo/Benin meeting in Lome is a member of the 'disruptive Francophone West African Community whose disregard for the aims of ECOWAS should not come as a surprise.
However, the significance of the defence agreement is that together with member states of CEAO and Mano River Union, Ghana and Nigeria should now admit their conspiracy to destroy ECOWAS which is already crippled by financial problems.
At the last summit it was revealed by the former executive secretary Dr Quattara that only three out of the fifteen member countries had met their financial obligation. The rest Ghana, Togo, Benin, Liberia, Cape Verde, Gambia, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Mali and Guinea Bissau were all in deep arrears. Whereas the possible demise of ECOWAS, following that of the East African Community may not come as a surprise, it will certainly be regretted that in the face of individual country's inability to combat the current havoc being wreaked by drought in many parts of Africa, a regional organisation which could pool international resources for the purpose has been left to collapse.
Across the savannah belt, from Chad through Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali to Mauritania the memory of the death of millions of Africans from starvation should re-enforce the determination to save ECOWAS from collapse.
As acknowledged by the heads of state at the Lome summit, ECOWAS had been adamant in the past. Any resolve therefore to give it a new lease of life as pledged by the leaders in the conference hall in Lome, one after the other, should be pursued assiduously and sincerely for the benefit of the entire membership of the organisation.
In this process, the activities of pockets of countries such as Mano Union, CEAO and agreements such as that signed by Ghana/Nigeria/Togo/Benin should be discouraged.
Further, the arrival of new personnel to manage the affairs of ECOWAS should be utilised to enhance the attainment of the objectives of the Organisation. The distribution of the statutory posts in the Executive Secretariat is as follows: Executive Secretary Sierra Leone; Deputy Executive Secretaries - Burkina Faso and Guinea Bissau; Financial Controller Niger, External Auditor Mauritania, Managing Director of ECOWAS Fund -Senegal and Deputy Managing Director - The Gambia.
Even though this mode of appointing official to manage the affairs of the organisation has been criticised as not promoting efficiency, the present distribution of posts should be viewed as a healthy trend which can heal the rivalry between the various pockets of interest.
To begin with, the efforts of the current chairman of the organisation, Col Lansana Conte of Guinea to reintegrate his country into the French community should have the spin-off effect of getting the French speaking countries in the region more involved in the activities of ECOWAS.
The new Executive Secretary, also coming from a country which is a member of another grouping, Mano River Union, should be able to persuade the three governments in that union, particularly Liberia which still insists on entry visas from other West Africans, to play an active role in the activities of ECOWAS.
It is reassuring that at the Lome summit, Captain Thomas Sankara of Burkina Faso and current Chairman of the CEAO appealed that ECOWAS should not regard CEAO as a rival organisation. He urged his colleagues not to place collective sovereignty above national sovereignty so that the fight against hunger and drought can be won.
But if, indeed, the fight has to be won and members of the bodies like CEAO and Mano Union are ready to integrate their aims into the activities of ECOWAS, then it is not the time for countries like Ghana and Nigeria to close their borders and be party to agreements which duplicate the aim of ECOWAS.
