The West Africa Youth Alliance (WAYA) has called on the ECOWAS Parliament to establish an ECOWAS Youth Parliament as part of the measures to address the issue of Unconstitutional Change of Government in the West Africa sub-region.
The Group made this call during the High-Level Seminar of the ECOWAS Parliament on the theme: “The Challenges of Unconstitutional Regime Change and Presidential Term Limits in West Africa – The Role of the ECOWAS Parliament”. The seminar was held from 29th September to 1st October 2023 at Winneba in the Central region of Ghana.
In a presentation made by Ms. Mary Onwu on behalf for the group, the Alliance indicated that young West Africans are “very worried about the resurgence of coup d’états, violent extremism, terrorism, and the sheer violence in our sub-region” They said the ‘very tenet of Democracy is shaken, and we urge this august house to establish the Youth Parliament as one of the measures to overcome this challenge”.
WAYA in the call supported the statement of the Right Honourable Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament in his opening remark that ‘the establishment of an ECOWAS Youth Parliament is “in response to the growing understanding of the value of youth in building resilience and peaceful societies, especially across our region’. It is also a recognition of the contribution of the youth in building and promoting inclusive and transformative democracies.”
Ms. Mary Onwu revealed that the Alliance and its partners have developed a draft conceptual framework for the ECOWAS Youth Parliament and are ready to embark on consultations with the ECOWAS Parliament and other key stakeholders across West Africa to finalize the framework for adoption and to make way for the establishment of the Youth Parliament.
“The ECOWAS-Youth parliament when established will be the first in the AU Community and few across the globe that demonstrate strong recognition of the socio-political worth and value of young people beyond just mobilizing them for voting.”
WAYA is a regional youth network working in partnership with the ECOWAS Parliament, the Foundation for Security and Development in Africa, FOSDA and the Campaign for Human Rights and Development International (CHRDI) with funding support from Oxfam to establish the ECOWAS Youth Parliament.
Source: Ghana/Starrfm.com.gh/103.5FM
