The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliament has approved a total of US$557,262,476 as its 2021 consolidated budget. The recent budget represents an increment of 6.5% compared to that of 2020.
Of this budget, US$28,561,761 has been allocated to the ECOWAS parliament. Following the presentation by the President of the Administration and Finance Committee (AFC), the Auditor General, Heads of Institutions, and Commissioners also presented the main lines of their projects and programs as well as the challenges that they are confronted with.
These challenges include the non-application of the protocol relating to the community levy. Parliament had already noted this difficulty during the review of the 2020 budget and had drawn the attention of states to the need to implement the provisions of this protocol.
Thus, the Parliament urged the Member States to proceed to the direct and exclusive payment of the revenue collected under the community levy into the ECOWAS accounts opened in the central banks of the member states.
The low recovery rate has the immediate consequence of reducing the capacity of ECOWAS to implement its projects and programs.
The community levy is the main source of funding for the ECOWAS budget. It is supposed to cover between 70 and 90% of the Community budget.
The approved budget of last year was US$559,298,965. This amount was revised downward by 6.5% due to the COVID-19 pandemic which had negative repercussions on the community levy. Thus, the 2020 budget was implemented based on the revised amount of US$ 523,119,051.
The execution of the 2020 budget was marked by the difficult situation experienced by countries and organizations around the world, including ECOWAS, whose activities were notoriously impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Parliament took the opportunity of this budget approval session to salute the efforts of institutions such as the West African Health Organization (WAHO) and the Intergovernmental Group for Action and the Fight against Money Laundering in Africa (GIABA), (all ECOWAS institutions) which, despite a gloomy global and sub-regional economic environment, have been able to mobilize external resources to ensure the financing of their projects and programs.
Addressing the agenda of a session held before the approval of the budget, the Speaker of the Parliament of the ECOWAS, Sidie Mohamed Tunis stated that the present parliamentary session, called budgetary session, offers Parliament the opportunity per the provisions of the Additional Act, to examine the budget of the Community.
“The 2021 budget should not only cover the immediate threats linked to COVID-19, but it must also advance efforts on other fronts and priorities dear to our region: in particular, democracy, the rule of law, peace and conflict resolution, the fight against terrorism, poverty reduction and climate change” .
Rt. Hon. Sidie Mohamed Tunis
In opening the proceedings of the session, the Speaker recalled the constraints linked to the COVID-19 pandemic which forced the Parliament, once again, to hold this session virtually. He, therefore, called on the citizens of the community to respect the measures put in place by the respective governments of the community space to curb the spread of this disease.
As the plenary opened, the President of the ECOWAS Court of Justice, Hon. Justice Edward Amoako Asante delivered a goodwill message and speech of solidarity to the Parliamentarians.
During the ceremony, six MPs (five from Guinea and one from Liberia) were sworn in, marking their entry into the Community’s Parliament.
ECOWAS is currently holding the 85th Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Council of Ministers meeting. The two-Day meeting, via videoconferencing, is in preparation for the Summit of the ECOWAS Heads of State and Government which will also hold virtually on the 23rd of January 2021.
