Worried by the recent surge in coup d’ etat in west Africa, the Speaker of the Parliament of the Economic Community, ECOWAS Parliament, Senator Ike Ekweremadu has advocated the enhancement of the jurisdiction of the ECOWAS Court of Justice to help address the challenges of military coups and terrorism in the West African sub-region.
Speaking at the opening of the 2012-2013 Legal Year of the ECOWAS Court of Justice in Abuja, Senator Ekweremadu who cited the case of Mali regretted that national parliaments of some Member States of ECOWAS were prevailed upon by local exigencies to make provisions that pardon coups plotters.
He however stressed that with the enhancement of the powers of the Community Court, ECOWAS could nevertheless ensure that such usurpers of constitutional powers were eventually brought to book.
He said the trial and punishment of coup plotters at the sub-regional level were necessary tools for forestalling unconstitutional attempts at powers which usually result in instability, wars, and underdevelopment.
The Speaker who also doubles as the Deputy President of the Nigerian Senate, said though the 2005 Supplementary Protocol on the Community Court of Justice had improved on the judicial welfare of individuals, groups, and corporate bodies in the sub-region, the ECOWAS Court needed to be repositioned in terms of scope and effective enforcement of the Court’s verdicts to promote democracy, integration, and development.
Ekweremadu said “It is the desire of the ECOWAS Parliament to see a Community Court of Justice whose powers and jurisdiction covers the trial and punishment for crimes against humanity, especially genocide; cross border terrorism in the sub-region; violation of ECOWAS Conventions and Protocols; sea piracy on West African waters; and cross border money laundering, drug and human trafficking in the sub-region”
Declaring open the 2012-2013 Legal Year of the ECOWAS Court of Justice, the President of the Court, Honourable Justice Awa Nana regretted the non-referral to the Community Court by national courts of Member States cases that border on the interpretation of ECOWAS Community texts of Protocols.
“It is also of great concern to the Court, that only three Member States have appointed the competent national authority for the enforcement of the decisions of the Court as prescribed by the Supplementary Protocol”, she added.
Honourable Justice Nana said the primacy of ECOWAS Community Law could only be achieved through the cooperation of the Member States and therefore called for greater support by all to the Community Court of Justice.