…ECOWAS reiterated its promise to reduce the airfares amongst its member states. But I wonder why the emphasis as regards regional transportation is not on building railways across the region and a coastal transport system, since eleven of the ECOWAS countries are along the coast. In my view, the 51-year-old ECOWAS is dozing.
A dozen Heads of State of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) met in Lungi, Sierra Leone on 19 July. They issued the usually bland communique on a single currency, supported the illegal violation of a sister country’s sovereignty, and made false declarations on the region’s political situation and democracy.
The West African leaders spoke tongue-in-cheek when they declared that they are satisfied with “the steady progress made in democratic consolidation and political governance, as well as the relative stability and resilience of the region, amidst increasing geopolitical and geostrategic pressures.” But what satisfaction in democratic consolidation can they be talking about when, of the current twelve countries in ECOWAS, Guinea-Bissau is under direct military rule, the five-year military junta in Guinea, headed by General Mamadi Doumbouya, has just on 31 May shed its military uniform for civilian regalia, with the people having no free choice, while Presidents Alassane Ouattara of Côte d’Ivoire and Faure Gnassingbé of Togo are civilian coup plotters who continue to subvert the constitutional term limits in their countries? In fact, Gnassingbé has been in power for twenty-one years since his 2005 coup.
