THE leadership of ECOWAS Female Parliamentarians Association (ECOFEPA), has raised alarm over perceived secrecy shrouding the spending of the association’s budget by the administrative department.
Speaking at the margin of the just concluded first Extraordinary Session and seminar of the Parliament of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS Parliament), they expressed worries that although the association has annual budgeted, the executives could not account for it as they were kept in the dark on the expenditure.
Even the newly elected President, Honourable Moussokoura Chantal Fanny, claimed ignorance of the executives’ Terms of Reference (ToR) or any information about the association’s finance.
“I don’t have Terms of Reference (TOR) of my function. We are not sure of a functional account of ECOFEPA or who the signatories are. Up till today, it has not been submitted to us.
“We don’t receive any information about the account or financial expenditure. We just have information of the programmes from the Clark; we are not in control. We tried to allow sanity reign but nothing was working”, said the President,
Although it was not the first time the issue was raised, members bemoaned administrative domineering approach to the budget and demanded to be carried along on how their annual budget is expended.
“We are holding the rope while others are holding the animal. I didn’t want to create pandemonium but it was challenging. How can we be running our activities as though we don’t know procurement? Nothing was reported. We have asked several times but no information was forth coming”, said the past President, Honourable Veronica Kadie Sesay.
To allow for smooth and transparent operation of the new executive, members suggested opening a fresh bank account. However, such move was constrained by the understanding that as an association within the parliament, they may not have the legitimacy of running separate bank account.
In spite of such limitation, members insisted that henceforth, they should be part of the management and planning of how budgets are spent.
“The law states that the parliament takes charge of the running of the cost of our programmes. This is a difficult procedure but things must change. The fact that we must have action plan for 2026 is validated. It is for the visibility and progress of ECOFEPA. We know how much is budgeted for the association but how it is used is the problem. Even though the parliament controls the spending, members must know how its budget is spent”, they held.
“Considering that we have a treasurer and finance officer, we must draw our budget, our needs and the cost, and forward same to the directorate of finance. If we say because it is a parliament group and have to rely on the parliament for our spending, things will not be fair enough”, a member suggested.
Earlier in her remarks, Sesay explained that though the budget was not visible, the group achieved the 30 per cent women representation in ECOWAS Parliament, which she said, was a pass mark for her executive.
“But thank God there was a budget. Also, we fought for 30 per cent women representation. Sometimes in the past, some people could not even talk about woman in the parliament but now, we can speak about it. We empowered our men, we empowered our countries to send at least, 30 per cent of women representation and that is reason we have a host of women here.
“That was the first achievement during our tenure. For anybody, if you are not applauded, if you are not given praise, praise yourself, and I know we did very well”, she said.
Welcoming the incoming executive, Sesay called for unity, pledging to work closely with members in achieving greater success. Having served as a legislator in her country for over two decades, she admitted knowledge of challenges confronting women in West Africa.
“And to the present executive, I am happy and I need to work with you. We have to work with you. I need to share my experiences with you people because to be in parliament for 23 years is not a child’s play. So with that, I know the good, the bad and the ugly, and the challenges we women face. It is for us to come together. It is not about tearing apart. It is not about fighting. It is about bringing us together”, Sesay said.
