ECOWAS wants envoys at UN accountable to countries' parliaments

ECOWAS wants envoys at UN accountable to countries' parliaments

The ECOWAS Parliament has appealed to the UN General Assembly to take appropriate measures to ensure that ECOWAS Permanent Representatives are accountable to their national parliaments. 

Speaker of the Parliament, Mr Ike Ekweremadu, who is also the Nigerian Deputy Senate President, told reporters on Wednesday at the UN headquarters in New York that some representatives were not accountable to their countries’ parliaments. 

He said in view of the fact that they were cleared by the national parliaments of their respective countries, they should from time to time report back to their parliaments.  

Ekweremadu explained that if the decision was adopted, the parliaments of various countries would be able to follow up the activities of such representatives at the UN.

He noted that there was a disconnect between the parliaments of member-countries and the General Assembly, stressing that the issue should be urgently addressed. 

Suggestion

Ekweremadu also suggested that the heads of government of member-nations should always allow their parliamentarians to accompany them to the General Assembly meetings. 

He said: “there should be standing committees for member-nations that should be able to network with the UN. We believe that with the arrangement, we will be able to have some accountability on the part of the General Assembly. “
”To ensure that they too will be able to enforce some level of accountability with regards to member-nations, we need to get the resolutions of the General Assembly to be enforceable.'' He noted.

He also maintained that efforts were being made to ensure that resolutions passed by the National Assembly were effectively enforced. 

NAN/Adekusibe/Williams