Burkina Faso Leader Tasks ECOWAS On Anti-Corruption

Posted by African Examiner Latest Headlines, West Africa Thursday, August 8th, 2019

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – Mr Christophe Dabire, the Prime Minister of Burkina Faso on Thursday says corruption is a phenomenon that must be curbed for the sustenance of development in the region.

Dabire said this when the ECOWAS Delegation on Joint Committee on Political Affairs, Peace, Security and APRM, Gender, Women Empowerment, Social Protection, Legal and Judicial Affairs visited him in Ouagadougou.

He said that corruption and terrorism has caused major setback for the region, stating that all necessary contributions from the committee would be needed to fight this menance.

“The issue of terrorism has gone beyond the national borders and we need to come together to counter it, corruption have eaten the gains of development and ECOWAS have a key role to play in fighting against it.

“The level of corruption is dangerous for our national economy, if we don’t fight against it, we won’t have development or growth. So, we need to eradicate it in our sub-region and tackle the phenomenon of corruption because it’s dangerous for development.”

According to him, the Members of Paliament should come up with useful deliberations that can be implemented to address the issue of gender and corruption.

He said that regional integration was very important for the region and ECOWAS has a big role to play in representing the people outside the region.

The Prime Minister, however, appreciated the solidarity shown by the delegation, stating that Burkina Faso was ready to collaborate with ECOWAS to fulfill its mandate.

The Speaker of ECOWAS Paliament, Moustapha Cisse-Lo, said that the ECOWAS delegation was visiting to show their solidarity, to condemned various attacks and condole with those who lost their lives to terrorism attacks.

He said that his team has just five months left to end their tenure, stressing that it wants to ensure that the issue of Single Currency and women representation was achieved.

“ECOWAS is a regional Organisation, working for the interest of the people in the Sub-region, we want to laud the government and the Burkina Faso parliamentarian for playing an effective role in the region.

“The objective of this delegation is in line with the vision of ECOWAS to enhance integration and fight against corruption.

“The ongoing ECOWAS Committee meeting is to discuss on issue bordering on corruption which the Parliament has a role to play in dealing with the challenges in the region.”

Cisse-Lo, however, stated that the Burkina Faso government should ensure that in the next election women should have 30 per cent representation in the Parliament.

He said that each member state should ensure that at least three female were selected for ECOWAS Parliament. (NAN)