By Mousa E. Massaquoi
Members from ECOWAS parliament headed by the First Deputy Speaker, Hon. Sani Malam Chaibou Boucary, have concluded an oversight visit to Sierra Leone on projects being financed by ECOWAS in Sierra Leone.
First, the team paid a courtesy visits to the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and that of Planning and Economic Development.
Explaining the purpose of the visit, the head of Sierra Leone delegation to ECOWAS parliament, Hon. Veronica Kadie Sesay said, members from the regional parliament were in the country to oversee and inspect some of their projects.
Welcoming the team at her ministry, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Madam Francess Alghali said, the work of ECOWAS is very important to Sierra Leone. As a community, she added, they should invest in peace, security and democracy.
She assured the delegation that their doors are always open and they are ready to assist ECOWAS to achieve their goals.
Minister of Planning and Economic Development, Madam Kenyeh Ballay said, her ministry housed the desk of ECOWAS and that they are also responsible to monitor ECOWAS activities in the country.
She shed light on the depot project at the Sierra Leone-Liberia border and the one being undertaken by ECOWAS at Lungi.
She reechoed to the visitors the government’s big five changers including feed Salone, human capital development, youth empowerment scheme, revamping the public service and tech and infrastructure.
In a similar development, the delegation also visited the office of West African Monetary Agency (WAMA) to get first-hand information on their activities.
WAMA is an autonomous and specialized agency of ECOWAS which was established in 1996 to monitor, coordinate and implement ECOWAS monetary cooperation programme which is geared towards the creation of the ECOWAS single currency, promote the use of national currencies in trade and non-trade transactions within the sub-region, promote and encourage trade exchange liberalization among member states, enhance monetary cooperation among member states, initiate and promote policies and programmes relating to monetary integration among others.
Officer-in-charge of WAMA, Alhassane M. Diallo, updated the delegation about their activities. He informed the delegation that they are working tirelessly to achieve the single currency ambition of ECOWAS.
However, he explained some of the challenges the agency is facing in achieving the single currency dream of ECOWAS among which he said, are economic integration, trade in member states lower than trade outside ECOWAS, low production, and high inflation among hosts of other challenges.
The officer-in-charge did not give any timeline when this long awaited dream will be achieved.
Meanwhile, some MPs questioned the political will from member states to achieve the single currency, thus urging WAMA to engage in massive sensitization in ECOWAS member states.