The heads of state of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) found in late January, the failure of their project of reforms of the organization, after much bargaining.
Meeting in Addis Ababa on the sidelines of the 30e Ordinary Session of the African Union Summit, the Conference chaired by Togolese President Faure Gnassingbe “noted the enormous difficulties associated with the allocation of statutory posts to member states, particularly in the case of a nine-member ECOWAS Commission “, We read in the final communiqué of this extraordinary meeting.
In this regard, he continues, the ECOWAS Heads of State decided, “in the name of solidarity and cohesion, and in order to allow all the Member States to occupy a post of Commissioner within the Commission without increasing the costs, to return to the structure of the Commission at fifteen “.
The meeting was held just one week after the 17 failedrd extraordinary session of the Council of Ministers in Lomé, to precisely define the statutory positions to the Member States, within the framework of the implementation of the reforms of the sub-regional institution. The organization planned a reduction in the number of 15 commissions to 9, for so-called “essentially budgetary” reasons.
In the course of this work, which is taking place at the headquarters of the ECOWAS Investment and Development Bank (EBID), almost no foreign minister from the member states of the organization had wanted to sacrifice a possible post to return to his country, on the altar of these reforms so dear to their leaders.
Moreover, it was to be expected, if at their ordinary summit of December 2017 in Abuja, the heads of state themselves had not privileged the compromise.
