The ECOWAS Council of Ministers will hold a two-day meeting from Friday in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, on the allocation of nine statutory positions in the ECOWAS
Commission and other Community institutions.
The two-day extraordinary session, will consider proposals by the
President of the ECOWAS Commission to fill the vacant positions,
including those of the Institutions’ Financial Controller as well as
Director-General and Deputy Director- General of the West African
Health Organization (WAHO) based in Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso.
A statement released on Wednesday said also due for allocation was the position of the Commissioner for Human
Development and Gender in the ECOWAS Commission which will become
vacant by July 2012 as well as the Director-General and Deputy of
Inter-Governmental Group Action against Money Laundering and terror
financial in West Africa (GIABA), which fall vacant in April 2013 and
January 2013 respectively.
Three other positions in the Community Court of Justice which will be
vacant in February 2013 are also to be filled.
The Authority of Heads of State and Government, which approved the
guidelines for the allocation of the positions in the Commission and
the other community institutions in February 2012, vests the President
of the ECOWAS Commission with responsibility to make proposals based
on agreed criteria for consideration by the Council of Ministers.
The criteria/guidelines seek to ensure an equitable, transparent and
predictable system for the allocation of positions.
The statement said countries in breach of the provisions of the regional Protocol on
Democracy and Good Governance were, however, excluded from benefitting
from the posts allocation.
The provisions relate to the occurrence of a coup d’état in a State, a
breach of the convergence criteria on democracy and where the
government has obtained power through unconstitutional means
In addition, countries that fail to apply the text governing regular
payment of the Community Levy may also not benefit from such
allocations. The levy, a 0.5 tax on goods imported into Member States
from outside the region, was introduced to fund the activities of the
Commission and other Community Institutions.
The statement said the Ministerial Council would submit its recommendations for approval
by regional leaders during their mid-year ordinary summit at
Yamoussoukro, Cote d’Ivoire.
