Michael Olugbode in Abuja
The controversy surrounding the recent employment by the Economic Committee of West African States (ECOWAS) is not over yet as lawmakers at its parliament have rejected a motion to present the outcome of the Ad-hoc committee setup to review allegations of nepotism in the exercise.
The lawmakers registered their protestation against the committee headed by Nigerian Senator Ali Ndume, at the plenary session of the second Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Parliament in Lome, Togo, while alleging that the Speaker of Parliament, Sidie Mohamed Tunis, constituted the review committee without recourse to the parliament.
The lawmakers noted that it was against the rules of the parliament for the recruitment exercise to have gone ahead after it was voted to be suspended in the last parliamentary session when allegations of favouritism were raised.
Hon Awaji-Inombek Abiante, who moved a point-of-order, said the report of the Ad-hoc Committee as set up by the Bureau was given the mandate to work without recourse to its adoption by the plenary, as such, was illegal in its entirety.
This position was supported by Nigerian
Senator Smart Adeyemi who drew the Speaker’s attention to the adverse implication of the exercise.
Adeyemi said: “When actions are taken that are not in conformity with the spirit and content of the documents that are supposed to guide us, I think Mr. Speaker let us accept that something was done wrong. We should be courageous to say that, but for you to say that you prefer the decision that was not in conformity with the law, as an infringement to the modalities of the parliament, in fact, the contrary is the case, and if we go ahead to accept what is not properly done, then the integrity of the parliament will be questioned.
“It means that as we are here, somebody can take a decision on our behalf without consulting us. Mr. Speaker, with due respect to your position, I personally like you, I respect you, but this decision is not in intent and spirit of the document before us.”
Another lawmaker, Hon. Samson Ahi, from Ghana, argued that the formation of the Ad-hoc Committee was against the rules of the parliament.
He said: “I just want to find out from you Mr. Speaker, are you saying that with the consultation of the Bureau you constituted, you gave them a mandate to work without the approval of the entire House, is that what you are saying?
“My understanding is that you can constitute the committee, alright, but it is subject to the approval by the entire members before they can legally work. If you and your Bureau can constitute a committee and they start working without recourse to members before you present your report, then I think there is something wrong with what you have done.”
Also, Nigerian lawmaker, Hon. Abdullahi Kamba, noted that the Bureau has no right or powers to take the decision and that they should have reverted back to the plenary to form an Ad-hoc Committee.
He said: “Not them as the Bureau forming the committee; it is wrong, and for that matter, I hope that whatever report the Ad-hoc Committee has should not be read here, we should form the committee today so that they can start work.”
While responding to the backlash, the Chairman of the Ad-hoc Committee, Senator Ndume, said: “I am standing here because of the Ad-hoc Committee that was formed and vested with powers to investigate on the matters raised by our High Commissioner from Nigeria and the First Deputy Speaker on the purported irregularities in recruitment which was suspended.
“Our mandate as at that time and now, did not lift the ban for the suspension, and that was the decision that was taken at the plenary.
“On behalf of the other colleagues that undertook this ad-hoc job, we didn’t look for the job. In fact in my own case, I was in my local government area because we were on recess and I was mourning my father, then the Speaker called me to say that there was an issue that came up that is eating the system which was true as at that time, and that he needed some members as a committee to immediately look into the matter and report.”
He added that: “We have a mission, but now I am embarrassed by the observation of abnormalities. I am not looking for this job and I am sure our other colleagues are not looking for this job. I am also sure that even if a new committee is formed, it has to be members of this ECOWAS, and I don’t think they are looking for the job either and I don’t think any of us cannot do this job.
“I was thinking that members will hear me out or hear the committee or even adopt if there is abnormality because I know the situations where normally if the head of the institution takes a decision that is not questioned, but it looked into it with the view of ratifying it.”
Meanwhile, the Speaker of Parliament, Tunis, moved that the recruitment process be suspended indefinitely, a decision which seems to have infuriated Senator Edwin Snowe from Liberia who walked out of the plenary in protest of the deferment.
Shortly after the session, at a press conference, the Speaker of ECOWAS Parliament accused lawmakers in the parliament of mischief and a deliberate misrepresentation of facts in order to garner the sympathy of constituents.
The Speaker equally alleged that another reason for the row in parliament was because lawmakers were protesting a new administrative rule that takes away the prerogative to buy air tickets for lawmakers themselves and vested it in administration.
He noted that: “When I came to the Parliament in 2018, we used to buy our own tickets then the Parliament would refund it. They gave us a threshold for a return ticket in 2019, that was before I took over as Speaker, but that changed completely because of an audit report which I don’t know the details of because by then, I was not the Speaker.
“From then, tickets for MPs were not going to be bought by the MPs. When I took over in 2020, that’s what I inherited, but then in the last two years, there has always been agitations from members that we should go back to what was obtained in 2018, or before I joined Parliament that MPs should be buying their own tickets.”
