Monrovia – Liberia is poised to host four mid-year statutory meetings of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) beginning Thursday, May 25 which are expected to be climaxed with the 51st Ordinary Summit of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of States and government on Sunday, June 4, 2017.
While Liberia is making frantic preparatory efforts to host heads of states from the sub-region and the international community, there are concerns within the diplomatic circles over the status and security conditions at the Roberts International Airport (RIA).
Important dignitaries expected to attend the Summit include the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu; a high-level delegation from the Moroccan government, a high-level delegation from the European Union; the United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres; and the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Mr. Moussa Faki, among others.
Security Issues at RIA
FrontPageAfrica has reliably been informed that the advance security team of the Israeli Prime Minister has condemned security situation on the ground, especially the surrounding of Farmington Hotel where some members of his delegation would be lodged.
The Israeli security team would take charge security issues at the RIA during the stay of Mr. Netanyahu and his delegation.
Meanwhile, a Kenya Airways Ground Handling Audit of the RIA which was conducted from December 5-7, 2016 uncovered, amongst other things, that there was no training program at the RIA to ensure there is close monitoring to ensure that all required training are carried out in agreed frequencies as per their departmental requirements to track expiry dates.
The audit also discovered that airside training is not carried out for all staffs who have access to the airside.
In response, the RIA admitted to the auditing team that it does not have a training program, however, all airside personnel undergoes security training while flight operations personnel undergo ramp training twice a year.
As part of security measures, it was recommended that all airside personnel and flight operations personnel undergo security training which was to be implemented by March 31, 2017. It is unclear whether the airport management was able to meet this benchmark.
Furthermore, the audit noticed that there was no safety policy that will ensure a non-safety reporting to enhance proactive reporting and maintain safety management.
The management of RIA again in response to this observation noted that there is no safety management system at the airport and that the airside safety manual is mainly a guidance on safe operations while at the airside.
The audit raised the need for the development of a Safety Management System (SMS) which in progress and expected to be completed by June 30.
There have also been instances where the operator of the belt loaders and tug did not make a complete stop for break test as there were approaching the aircraft.
Standard break procedures were not followed which, as per policy all equipment operators serving a flight movement must conduct a break test once or twice before approaching the aircraft.
According to the Kenya Airways audit, safety reports are sometimes done at the RIA, but not all of these report are collated to ensure closure.
The audit noted that there was no evidence of any closure of findings raised.
The auditees recommended to the RIA to develop a specific audit handling procedure and establish a filing system on audit activities.
This task was expected to be have been completed on March 31, 2017.
ECOWAS Meetings and Summit
According to a Foreign Ministry release, the first in the series of statutory meetings, the 21st Meeting of the ECOWAS Administration and Finance Committee (AFC) takes place at the Monrovia City Hall in Monrovia from Thursday, May 25th – Sunday, May 28th, 2017.
This Statutory Committee reviews all the administrative activities, work programs and the budget of the ECOWAS Commission and its Specialized Institutions and makes recommendations to the Council of Ministers. Approximately 200 participants are expected to attend the four-day meeting.
The second statutory meeting, the Ministerial Ad-Hoc Committee on Institutional Reform takes place at the Farmington Hotel in Robertsfield from Monday, May 29th – Tuesday, May 30th, 2017.
This Committee created nearly two years ago, looks at issues arising out of the institutional reforms of ECOWAS, specifically statutory reallocation or institutional reform of the Commission.
The Committee will discuss the report of consultant, Maxwell Stamp, aimed at completing the Commission’s institutional reforms.
Already, phases 1 – 3 of the report are ready and will be discussed by this Committee. Findings are expected to be presented to the Council of Ministers and their approval.
The third statutory meeting, the Mediation and Security Council Committee takes place at the Farmington Hotel on Wednesday, May 31st, 2017.
This Committee, which includes the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Defense, looks at all the security issues, peacekeeping, and diplomacy, in the ECOWAS sub-region; specifically, what can be done to keep the sub-region safe.
The 78th Meeting of the Council of Ministers, the meeting that precedes the 51st Ordinary Summit of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government, takes place at the Farmington Hotel from Thursday, June 1st – Friday, June 2nd,2017.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Madam Marjon Kamara will chair the Meeting of the Council of Ministers. It includes Foreign and Finance Ministers of Member States.
This meeting will consider all the decisions taken by the technical and ad hoc committees, commissions, and specialized institutions.
This Committee will make recommendations to the 51st Ordinary Summit of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government.
Meanwhile, the 51st Ordinary Summit of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government takes place at the Farmington Hotel in Robertsfield, lower Margibi County on Sunday, June 4th, 2017. All sub-regional Heads of State and Government are expected to be in attendance.
On the margins of the 51st Ordinary Summit of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government, Mano River Union States (Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and Côte d’Ivoire) will launch the West Africa Power Pool Project which will provide electricity to the countries within the MRU basin.
There will also be several bilateral meetings on the margins of the Summit.