COMMENT:"Here’s how Wikipedia might have captured an “ECOWAS Commissioner” stub"

Here's how Wikipedia might have captured an "ECOWAS Commissioner" stub

'The Accidental Ecowas & AU Citizen
In my last article, I touched on the emergence of a permanent West African Civil service that the new ECOWAS Commission will eventually be. Since the commencement of the duties of the Commission in 2007, Community citizens can safely say the ECOWAS Commissioner has been an invisible force. We need the ECOWAS Parliament as an ally to ensure they become accountable. The jury is out as to whether an ECOWAS Commissioner can adequately-compete with the European Commission. What we do know is that ECOWAS has access to independent and non-donor resources that can transform the ECOWAS Commissioners into powerful plenipotentiaries fully representing the West African interest. One way of ensuring this happens is by shedding light on what the ECOWAS Commissioner is supposed to do to ensure the interest of the West African is preserved. 

By E.K.Bensah Jr
An ECOWAS Commissioner is a member of the 15-member ECOWAS Commission. Each Member within the college possesses a specific portfolio, and is led by the President of the ECOWAS Commission. Simply put, they are equivalent of national ministers.

Appointment
It remains unclear at the moment how ECOWAS Commissioners are appointed. Ideally, each commissioner should first be nominated by their member state in consultation with the Commission President. Ideally, the more capable the candidate, the more powerful a portfolio the ECOWAS Commission President will assign.

The President's team should ideally then be vetted by hearings at the ECOWAS Parliament in Abuja. In the absence of a legislative ECOWAS Parliament, community citizens are hamstrung by having the Commissioners attain the post without any formal vetting of any kind. Significant steps are in motion for the ECOWAS Parliament to graduate from a consultative to a legislative body. There has been no indication that when this happens, incoming ECOWAS Commissioners will go through hearings at the ECOWAS Parliament.

Once the Community Parliament is able to make this happen, one is likely to see more oversight by Parliament of the Commissioners, their duties, functions; and responsibilities to the citizens of West Africa.

What is likely to happen now is that the Authority of the Heads of State of Government of ECOWAS (which have powers binding on ECOWAS institutions) will be the ones to approve the ECOWAS Commissioners.

It should be noted that unlike the European Commissioner that does not necessarily represent their Member state, each of the fifteen ECOWAS Commissioners (including President and Vice) are representatives of their member states. This means, for example, that the Ghanaian ECOWAS Commissioner that will hold the portfolio of Administration and Conferences will automatically become the most senior Ghanaian at the ECOWAS Commission. It is a given that they should fight for the interests of Ghana. 

That said, while each Commissioner will implicitly work for the interests of their Member State, it is believed they are supposed to act in 'West African interests'. Although there is a nebulous perception of the 'West African interest', perhaps the ECOWAS Treaty does attempt to spell it out for all and sundry in article 3(1) of the revised ECOWAS Treaty (1993). It is conceivable that the West African interest is one that seeks to 'promote cooperation and integration, leading to the establishment of an economic union in West Africa in order to raise the living standards of its peoples, and to maintain and enhance economic stability, foster relations among Member States and contribute to the progress and development of the African Continent.'

Unlike the European Commissioner, the ECOWAS counterpart is unlikely to be necessarily selected from the political party of the day. While it is difficult to predict what other West African countries would do, what one often finds in Ghana, for example, is that a political party in power is likely to nominate a (popular) political opponent to an international position as a way of ensuring they do not interfere with the politics of the day. For example, political opponent of the National Patriotic Party(NPP) Alan Kyeremateng was nominated to the position of the World Trade Organisation, and endorsed by ministers of the African Union. This runs counter to the European situation where the political party of the day almost-always rallies support for their popular member to be propelled into international civil serviceas was the case of the Labour Party in the UK recommending and lobbying for Lord (Peter) Mandelson to be become European Commissioner for Trade in November 2004.

Partly due to the member-state selection, only a handful of the 15-member Commission are women: the Commission remains largely a preserve of men.

In 2009, in his capacity as a 'Do More Talk Less Ambassador' of the 42nd Generationan NGO that promotes and discusses Pan-Africanism--Emmanuel gave a series of lectures on the role of ECOWAS and the AU in facilitating a Pan-African identity. Emmanuel owns "Critiquing Regionalism" (http://critiquing-regionalism.org). Established in 2004 as an initiative to respond to the dearth of knowledge on global regional integration initiatives worldwide, this non-profit blog features regional integration initiatives on MERCOSUR/EU/Africa/Asia and many others. You can reach him on ekbensah@ekbensah.net / Mobile: +233-268.687.653.




Source: Emmanuel K. Bensah Jr.

Story from Modern Ghana News:
http://www.modernghana.com/news/478910/1/heres-how-wikipedia-might-have-captured-an-ecowas-.html 

Published: Wednesday, July 31, 2013

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Fwd: COMMENT:"Communicating the ECOWAS Message (4): A New Roadmap for the Ouedraogo Commission(1)"

Communicating the ECOWAS Message (4): A New Roadmap for the Ouedraogo Commission(1)

'The Accidental Ecowas & AU Citizen
For the third time since its inception in 1975, ECOWAS is undergoing institutional reform. The first was when it revised its treaty on 24 July, 1993; the second was in 2007, when the Secretariat was transformed into a Commission. Professor Senghor, an authority on Sene-Gambian relations, quintessential Pan-Africanist; and former UN diplomat, speaks of the ECOWAS Treaty as 'the Bible' of where West Africa needs to be. In an ideal world, West African media ought to be agog with the 20 years of the revised Treaty. We settle for second-best today by touching on the outcomes of the 43rd Ordinary Session, as well as the significance of what a new 15-member Commission means for West African governance

Diplomats at the European Commission might not yet be quaking in their boots, because they have probably been so consumed by their arrogance for the institution they work for -- the permanent European civil service -- as setting the trend for the rest of the world, including for the emergence of the permanent West African Civil Service, or the ECOWAS Commission. But they should be a little worried, because the emergence of Commissioners for the other seven regional economic communities(RECs) of IGAD; SADC; COMESA; ECCAS; EAC; AMU; CENSAD might offer a double-edged sword for the EU's typical engagement with Africa. But that is another story!

Immediately upon hearing from a trusted and reliable source at the ECOWAS Commission that ECOWAS now has six new departments (Human Resources Management; Education, Science and Culture; Energy and Mines; Telecommunications and IT; Industry and Private Sector Promotion. Finance and Administration to Sierra Leone has been decoupled, to give the incoming Ghana Commissioner the new portfolio of Administration and Conferences), I sought to review my patchy notes on its European counterpart of the EU Commissioner.

Suffice-to-say, Wikipedia has quite a detailed account of what constitutes a European Commissionereven almost to salaries, and the percentage to which it is a reflection many times over of the European civil service grade. Most importantly, it covers how they are appointed; the Oath they are supposed to take; the history of the evolution of the European Commissioner; the extent to which they are accountable to European citizens; salaries; and finally which member state of the 28-member European Commission holds what portfolio. (I daresay there is no Wikipedia entry yet of an ECOWAS Commissioner. Any takers?).

The emergence of an ECOWAS Commissioner
Setting up a Wikipedia stub on an 'ECOWAS Commissioner' will not be a problem; it is just a matter of getting committed people to do adequate research on what entails an official becoming an ECOWAS Commissioner (even against the odds of scant information in the capitals of member states on the institutional development of ECOWAS' architecture). If we lived in a perfect world, we should by now have sufficient information in all member states about the Ecowas Treaty; the evolution of ECOWAS from a Secretariat to a Commission in 2007; and finally, the build-up to the newly-expanded Commission, which is highly significant.

This is because it sets a precedent for a veritable and permanent West African civil service, for in the same way the European Commissioners are equivalent to national ministers, so will this expansion signify an attempt by West Africa to have its own national ministers as well. As to the extent to which they remain accountable to the ECOWAS Parliament and other Community institutions are important indicators of the future of any kind of West African governance. 

If we quickly look at the revised Ecowas Treaty of 1993, article 20 enjoins staff of the Community to ensure that 'in the performance of their duties, the [erstwhile] Executive Secretary, the Deputy Executive Secretaries, and other staff of the Community shall owe their loyalty entirely and be accountable only to the Community'. It continues 'In this regard, they shall neither seek nor accept instructions from any government or any rational or international authority external to the Community.' What article 20 does not say is what happens when staff of the Community is found to have breached this article. Are there any sanctions that will be meted out to them? For example, could they be accountable to the ECOWAS Parliament and/or to the Community Court of Justice?

In my view, what this can only serve to remind us about is this: until and unless the ECOWAS Commission begins to fast-track synergy with the ECOWAS Parliament, it will be a great deal easier for ECOWAS staff to be bullied by Eurocrats, who, along with their interests, are explicitly 'external to the [ECOWAS] Community'. 

Professor Senghor's suggestion for all West African citizens, including policy-makers, through to the average Community citizen to pay attention to the revised ECOWAS Treaty, which turns 20 this week, cannot go unheeded at a critical juncture when institutional changes are taking place at the ECOWAS Commission and ECOWAS turns 40 only in 2 years time!


In 2009, in his capacity as a 'Do More Talk Less Ambassador' of the 42nd Generationan NGO that promotes and discusses Pan-Africanism--Emmanuel gave a series of lectures on the role of ECOWAS and the AU in facilitating a Pan-African identity. Emmanuel owns "Critiquing Regionalism" (http://critiquing-regionalism.org). Established in 2004 as an initiative to respond to the dearth of knowledge on global regional integration initiatives worldwide, this non-profit blog features regional integration initiatives on MERCOSUR/EU/Africa/Asia and many others. You can reach him on ekbensah@ekbensah.net / Mobile: +233-268.687.653.




Source: Emmanuel K. Bensah Jr.

Story from Modern Ghana News:
http://www.modernghana.com/news/477274/1/communicating-the-ecowas-message-4-a-new-roadmap-f.html 

Published: Wednesday, July 24, 2013