Participants at an ECOWAS information and sensitization workshop which took place in Accra, Ghana, has called on member states to ensure effective implementation of the regional free movement protocol, through reducing and ultimately eliminating “harassment, corruption and extortion by border agents.” The participants, mostly government officials, said at the end of the workshop that the implementation of the ECOWAS flagship Protocol on Free Movement of Persons, Goods, and the Rights of Residence and Establishment, made the region the only one with a visa-free regime in Africa.
A statement issued Tuesday by the ECOWAS Commission in Abuja said the participants noted that the protocol was facing impediments, mostly extortions and multiple road blocks mounted by security officials of member states along the regional road corridors. As a solution, they recommended that member states should install security cameras at border posts to check the extortion of monies from travelers. “Information and complaints desks should also be created at entry points to address issues of violations and abuse of Community citizens’ rights, while trans-border traders should be educated on various Community protocols”.
The seminar also urged member states to harmonize their laws and policies in conformity with ECOWAS protocols and decisions to facilitate compliance and implementation. “They should also integrate the values of ECOWAS into their educational curricula to inculcate the sense of community into citizens while efforts should be expedited towards the early introduction of a single currency, in view of its critical role in fostering intra-regional trade.”
The workshop participants called on the ECOWAS Commission to adopt the bottom-up approach with greater involvement of ordinary citizens in the formulation and implementation of its programmes.
They also further urged the Commission to pursue efforts at reviewing the mandate of the ECOWAS Parliament to “enhance its process with a view to transforming it into a legislative body” and in regards to its role in regional peace and security.