Need for Parliament and the Executive to work together-Kufuor

Accra, Oct. 20, GNA - Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Chairman, President John Agyekum Kufuor on Monday stressed the need for Parliaments and the Executives to work together with a common vision and commitment to move their various countries forward.

He said if both institutions failed to work together, they could not serve their people and countries they way they should.

President Kufuor made the call at a reception he held for delegates attending the 26th Conference and 43rd Session of the Executive Committee of the African Parliamentary Union (APU) in Accra at the Castle Gardens, Osu.

He said any successful Executive President should have an effective cooperation of Parliament.

Alhaji Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, Speaker of the National Assembly of Mali and Chairman of the APU, said the Union was determined to bring consolidated democracies in Africa together to fight a common cause in the interest of Africans.

He commended President Kufuor for his efforts to restore and maintain peace and stability within the West African Sub-Region.

Mr Peter Ala Adjetey, Speaker of Ghana's Parliament, said cooperation between Parliament and the Executive was necessary for any true democracy to be maintained and become successful.

The APU is a continental inter-parliamentary organization set up in Abidjan, Cote D'Ivoire on February 13, 1976 to bring together Parliamentary institutions of all African States to encourage contacts among African Parliamentarians on one hand and between African Parliamentarians and Parliamentarians of other Continents.

The Union is made up of 39 African National Parliaments of Algeria, Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cape Verde, Cameroon, Central African Republic (CAR), Chad, Congo, Cote D'Ivoire, Djibouti, Egypt and Equatorial Guinea.

The others are, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Kenya, Libyan Arab Jamahriyya, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco and Namibia.

The rest are, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, the Sudan, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda and Zimbabwe.