The West Africa Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP) has called on ECOWAS to review and strengthen its supplementary protocols on democracy and governance.

According to WANEP, this will help in addressing the growing issues of bad governance, political unrest and regional conflicts which have plagued some member states during the period under review.

In a statement issued on December 15, WANEP indicated that in recent times, there have been certain troubling events in the sub-region which have undermined the peace and political stability in the region.

According to the Network, some of these developments have also cast doubt on the credibility of ECOWAS to ensure good governance amongst member countries.

Citing the recent coups in Mali and Guinea and for example, WANEP said “these have not only stymied democracy but also led to political uncertainties in the affected countries”.

WANEP further added that, apart from the military insurgencies in Mali and Guinea, it has also noted “the trajectory of efforts towards constitutional amendment in relation to presidential term limits and tenure elongation as recently witnessed in Togo, Cote d’Ivoire and Guinea with growing fears of attempts by the other member states”.

The group also revealed that these have “undermined governance leading to fractured civic space, social incohesion, manipulation of the electoral process and violent dissensions between citizens and political actors”.

WANEP further disclosed that “this has not only weakened public confidence in the transparency and accountability of institutions of democracy across ECOWAS Member States but has also gradually eroded the trust in ECOWAS leadership as the best example of the political practice on the continent in line with its application of the 2001 Supplementary Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance”.

Based on the above, the West Africa Network for Peacebuilding is therefore calling on ECOWAS to “commit to the review and strengthening of the Protocol as already recommended by multi-stakeholders as a panacea to bad governance and multiple conflicts in the region”.

Apart from this call, WANEP has urged civil society organisations to intensify their advocacy campaigns and “further stakeholder engagements with political actors at Track one to push for collective action for good governance and peer to peer support for strengthening democratic institutions in the region”.

In conclusion, WANEP wants the creation of public awareness “on the imperatives of democratic governance in the region and the need to review the Protocol to address the pitfalls”.

Meanwhile, on September 16, 2021, an extraordinary session of the ECOWAS Heads of State and Government instructed the President of the Commission to initiate the process of reviewing the Supplementary Protocols.

This was after a series of engagements involving ECOWAS and some civil society stakeholders. But according to WANEP, the recommendations from these meetings have not been considered hence their call.