Government creates another stir at ECOWAS

The Kufuor Administration is creating yet another problem at the ECOWAS secretariat with the withdrawal of a candidate earlier nominated for position of Secretary-General of the ECOWAS Parliament.

A letter from the Office of the President, signed by Jake Obetsbi-Lamptey, Minister for Presidential Affairs, notifying the withdrawal of Rex Owusu-Ansah, Clerk of Ghana's Parliament, for the position has created a stir at the secretariat, causing the delay in the functioning of the ECOWAS Parliament.

Mr. Obetsebi-Lamptey, in his letter dated August 16, 2001, only about a mouth ago, claimed he was acting under instructions of the President.

In a sharp reaction to the letter, the Speaker of ECOWAS Parliament, Prof. Ali Nouhoum Diallo, expressed his dismay at the last-minute withdrawal of the nomination and wondered whether Ghana in no longer interested "in occupying the position of the Secretary-General of the Parliament".

Prof. Diallo also questioned whether Ghana's Parliament is also part of the decision for the withdrawal. According to the Speaker, the withdrawal letter came in when all was set for the appointment to be made to enable the Parliament inaugurate almost a year ago, to function.

"It's been almost a year now since the ECOWAS Parliament was inaugurated and it needs to have a fully functional secretariat for it to effectively carry out its responsibilities", the letter lamented.

Earlier the Speaker had drawn the attention of the Government to the fact that the post of the Secretary-General to the ECOWAS Parliament had been allocated to Ghana by the first session of the ECOWAS Parliament held in Abuja, Nigeria, from January 21 to January 26, 2001.

"It is, therefore, incumbent upon me to carry out this directive and appoint the Secretary-General, who should be a citizen of Ghana", the letter said.

This is the second time that Ghana is causing last-minute "commotion" with appointment allocated to her under the functional wings of ECOWAS.

The first was the last-minute withdrawal of support for Dr. George Yankey as president of the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID), a move, which is being challenged in court.

Although no reason has been given to the last-minute withdrawal of Owusu-Ansah, some political observers attribute it to ill motives.

Others have questioned why Ghana's Ministry of Foreign Affairs was by-passed in the whole affair and if it was the duty of Obetsebi-Lamptey to sign that letter. – Ghana Palaver.

Meanwhile, Obetsebi-Lamptey told Joy FM this afternoon that Owusu-Ansah’s nomination was withdrawn because Ghana was interested in the post of executive secretary of ECOWAS for which the government is backing Dr Ibn Chambas’ nomination.

He also said the Ghanaian Parliament had been informed about the withdrawal of support for Owusu Ansah. However, Mr Alban Bagbin, Minority Leader in Parliament has disputed this assertion.

He said in Accra on Tuesday that the Minister for Presidential Affairs does not seem to have been properly briefed on the issue and that he seems to be ignorant about the conditions under which the position of Secretary-General of the ECOWAS Parliament was offered to Ghana.

The Minority Leader said the position was reserved for Ghana and does not affact the country’s chances in contesting the position of executive secretary, citing other countries, which already hold positions in the sub-regional grouping but were still offered slots.

He said the Ghanaian Parliament was asked to submit names of three persons for the position, which it did, and Owusu-Ansah was selected.

He said the House was not informed before the government wrote to withdraw support for Owusu-Ansah, adding that the executive arm of government has no business in writing that later.

Mr Gagbin however said he is aware that the Speaker of Parliament, Peter Ala Adjetey, had been written to by the ECOWAS Parliament on the matter and that he had accordingly replied that the Ghanaian Parliament did its job by presenting the names of the three nominees.