Member of Parliament for Effutu, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, has said the criticisms levelled against the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), were to be expected.
The member of the ECOWAS Parliament stated that the people in the ECOWAS sub region are tired of military takeovers and at the same they want proactive steps to be taken by leaders to deal with situations that give rise to coups in the subregion.
He assured that ECOWAS Parliament takes these matters seriously.
He was speaking in an interview with Berla Mundi on the New Day Show on TV3 Monday October 11, ahead of the ECOWAS Parliament in Winneba.
It is recalled that ECOWAS received flak after members of Guinea’s armed forces seized power and detained President Alpha Conde.
For instance, the Dean of the Armed Forces Command and Staff College, Professor Vladimir Antwi-Danso said the imposition of protocols on countries after coups are not helping but rather a punishment to the citizens living in the country.
According to Prof. Antwi Danso ECOWAS and the African Union have become reactive anytime there is an overthrow of the government.
Speaking on the Sunrise morning show with host Alfred Ocansey on 3FM 92.7, Prof Vladimir Antwi–Danso said “We sit down for this to happen. Can we have something else to make sure these things do not happen at all. Burundi we threatened and threatened them and we said we would instigate force but were unable to even assemble that force; Cote D’Ivoire we said we were going to have 6,500 -man contingent we never intervened. So on and on and on these things will continue to happen when there are crisis situations and we are incapable”
“The imposition of these protocols have never helped anywhere in the world. We dismiss the country; we say we don’t recognize you, infact we rather punish the people within. For example Mali they didn’t have access to their own money. We should revise it in such a way that when the senior members are doing things that would bring problems, let us advise them. Yes the protocols are clear we won’t recognize you when there is a forceful takeover but when you punish them too much you are exacerbating the situation. We should ensure there is civilian rule”.
Commenting on this, Mr Afenyo Markin who is also Deputy Majority Leader in Parliament said “The issue of brackish, you should expect it. We are tired of military dictatorship and at the same time we expect some proactive steps being taken by leadership and for that matter the sub regional body, ECOWAS.
“Remember when the Gambia situation happened, the sub region was very proactive.
“Same was not the case when there were constitutional amendments giving rise to third term and all that. As a parliament, we take these matters serious that we have not enjoyed that stability, therefore it is important to review two decades of democratic governance and look at the challenges .
“We as a parliament we debate issues , we discuss with delegates and then pass a resolution to the heads of authorities so we just want to make a case that the military intervention in the sub region are matters of concern , we need democracy , we need to strengthen the pillars of democracy . That is the only way for development.”
Source: 3news
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