Abuja – Liberia has recorded high score at the level of its commitments to the Economic Community of West Africa (ECOWAS) by ratifying all of the remaining 32 ECOWAS protocols and conventions and being in full compliance of the Community Levy Protocol.
A dispatch from the Liberian embassy in Abuja says the disclosure was contained in a Country Report presented on Monday, September 26, 2016.
Liberia, as of the end of April this year had the highest number of ratified protocols and conventions yet to be ratified that amounted to 32, a situation the Liberian delegation during its last Country Report. The Liberian team then pledged to institute immediate corrective intervention.
Presenting the report on behalf of the Liberian delegation, Representative Edwin Melvin Snowe, Jr proudly informed fellow regional parliamentarians that he and his fellow Liberian legislators in collaboration with the executive branch, and with the assistance of the Technical Working Group (TWG) of the ECOWAS Chairperson Coordinating Committee (ECCC), have redeemed that pledge.
He stated, “We are pleased therefore, to report to you that on Thursday September 15, 2016, Liberia by the Concurrent actions of both the Honorable House of Representatives and the Liberian Senate ratified all of the remaining 32 ECOWAS Protocols and Conventions all of which have been signed by the President, printed into handbill and herewith domesticated.”
At the same time, Liberia, as of August, 2016, is in full compliance of ECOWAS’ Community Levy Protocol, according to the Country Report.
The levy includes all payments of arrears and the current monthly assessment, collection, lodgment and remittance of the levy proceeds received as of the 30th of August, 2016.
Sinoe County Representative Jefferson Karmon, the Third Deputy Speaker of the Parliament presided over Monday’s session. The session also witnessed presentations of Country Reports from other ECOWAS Member States.
Senators George Weah and Prince Yormie Johnson of Montserrado and Nimba Counties respectively and Representative Haja Fata Siryon of Bomi County who complete the Liberian delegation were also present during the presentation of the Country Report.
Representative Snowe, in his presentation, assured regional colleagues of his delegation’s determination to maximize to the fullest Liberia’s Chairmanship of the Authority of Heads of State and government of ECOWAS to the advantage of the ECOWAS Parliament.
The dispatch adds that Representative Snowe, on behalf of the delegation, renewed in particular the commitment of the Liberian delegation, and Liberia in general, in advancing the attainment of ECOWAS’ Vision 2020. Vision 2020 targets moving the Community from an ECOWAS of State to an ECOWAS of Peoples.
The Liberia Country Report also covered other wide ranging developments that have obtained in the country since the Parliament’s last session in May of the year.
They included the political, security and refugee situations in the region as well as the status of implementation of the other ECOWAS programs, including the Macro-economic Programme and the ECOWAS Infrastructural and Transportation policies and programs.
The Liberian delegation concluded its report by commending the government and people of Nigeria: “History will judge us wrong were we to leave this stage without thanking the loving people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria for their continuous hospitality towards us during our stay here.”
The presentation of Country Reports forms part of the agenda of the ongoing session of the 2nd Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Parliament in Abuja.
The 2nd Ordinary Session opened last week Thursday, September 22 and ends on next week Friday, October 7, 2016.