To move to the  »Ecowas of the peoples »: Dr Cheikh Tidiane Dièye and Co. remind heads of state of their promise

To move to the  »Ecowas of the peoples »: Dr Cheikh Tidiane Dièye and Co. remind heads of state of their promise

The promise made to move from an « Ecowas of States » to an « Ecowas of Peoples » in 2020. Not granting any extenuating circumstances to the Heads of State of the member countries of this institution despite the occurrence of the Covid-19 pandemic which is dictating its law with its death toll, the socio-professional organisations of the civil society and the private sector denounce the will of the decision-makers to want to make Ecowas « a club of Heads of State ». While « regretting the non-fulfilment of the 2020 vision », which consists in moving from an « Ecowas of States » to an « Ecowas of peoples », Dr Cheikh Dièye, Director of the African Centre for Trade, Integration and Development (Cacid), considers this « a broken promise and a missed appointment between the peoples and the leaders of the community ».
« He added that « Ecowas is slowly but surely moving away from the path traced by the founding fathers and followed by the people, to become a club of heads of state and government disconnected from the reality experienced by the people and whose legitimacy is, for some, questionable. He was speaking at a press conference on Tuesday at the premises of Enda Tiers Monde in the company of Mrs Khady Fall, President of the Association of West African Women/Senegal (Afao/Senegal).
« Believing that the socio-professional organisations of the private sector and civil society have a right to oversee the management of the resources of the community levy, » the director of the African Centre for Trade, The Director of the African Centre for Trade, Integration and Development (Cacid) stressed that the socio-professional organisations of civil society « are concerned about the erosion of the image of Ecowas within the community and the growing feeling of rejection among citizens, which could durably undermine the legitimacy of the institution and compromise the ownership of its policies by the latter ».
Expressing their deep concerns to the ECOWAS Heads of State and Government, the citizens of ECOWAS formulate demands revolving around the prohibition and definitive refusal of « any change, alteration or modification of the Constitution or any existing statute of an ECOWAS Member State aimed at or intended to make a person eligible for a third term of office. The other thing demanded is to « depoliticize the ECOWAS Commission by reducing without delay the number of statutory members to a maximum of 5 in the ECOWAS Commission instead of the 16 budgetary commissioners representing each member ».
« Denouncing the delay in the key integration files, notably the common currency (Eco), symbol of sub-regional monetary sovereignty, which has been diverted from its initial vocation and plunged into bankruptcy due to technical unpreparedness and lack of political will, reducing to nothing decades of efforts, without prior consultation of the peoples, The socio-professional organisations of civil society and the private sector are anxious « to build and carry forward a true popular vision of Ecowas, in which citizens are listened to, involved and empowered, so as to enable them to play their role as actors in the economic and social development of the community.
These organisations promise to put their weight behind forcing ECOWAS heads of state to respect the promise to make the 2020 vision a reality by making them sign the declaration. « There is no Eco-Cfa, there is no Eco-Uemoa, there is only one Eco, it is the Eco of Ecowas. I am convinced that integration will take place through ECOWAS. Uemoa will be a technical arm that will only support ECOWAS by using its experience, » said Dr. Cheikh Dièye.

Source: AMADOU MBODJI – AMBODJI@LEQUOTIDIEN.SN