The ECOWAS Parliament will play key role in Community Levy mobilization with the revised ECOWAS Protocol on Community Levy which has been replaced with the Community Levy Act.
The ECOWAS Commissioner for Finance, Mrs. Halima Ahmed, disclosed this while presenting the Commission’s 2020 consolidated annual audit report of the community institutions at the ongoing joint-delocalized meeting organized by the ECOWAS Parliament in Lome, Togo.
Mrs. Ahmed explained that the revised ECOWAS protocol on Community Levy which has been replaced with a Community Levy Act made provision for the regional parliament to play important role in Levy mobilization in the region.
“The new Act has made provision for the role of the ECOWAS Parliament in Community Levy mobilization.
“Therefore, little by little, we are seeing the enhancements in the role of Parliament in the community integration process.
”However, these changes also confer on the Parliamentarians more responsibility.
“Particularly the responsibility to devote more time and attention to fine details, to establishing a connection between what we do at the regional level and the situation of their constituencies.
“It is therefore, encouraging that this Joint Committee will be examining the specific provisions of the Supplementary Act of the Parliament on consideration of the community audit reports” said Mrs. Ahmed.
Consolidated annual report
The ECOWAS Commission presented the 2020 consolidated annual audit report of the Community Institutions with a pledge to sustaining accountability and transparency to West African citizens.
The document was presented before the ECOWAS Joint Committee on Public Accounts, Administration, Finance and Budget, Macroeconomic Policies and Economic Research, Trade, Customs and Free Movement.
Mrs. Ahmed while recounting the Commission’s successes said the Commission had updated its accounts, produced financial statements and gotten them audited using the International Public Accounting Standards (IPSAS).
This is also as she disclosed that from June, the Commission will publish the financial statements in line with the provisions of ECOWAS financial regulations which would be made available to the citizens regularly.
“When the current Management assumed duty in March 2018, we inherited a reform process that was driven largely by the Finance Department.
“We also inherited some problems and challenges confronting the department, particularly the backlog of financial statements that were not prepared, dating back to four (4) and pending audits.
“Fast forward today, I am proud to report that we have updated our accounts, produced financial statements and gotten them audited using the International Public Accounting Standards (IPSAS),” she said.
The Commissioner said that a consolidated financial statement of all ECOWAS institutions had been produced.
“By next month, in June, we will publish the financial statements in line with the provisions of ECOWAS financial regulations.
“With that, the financial situation of ECOWAS will be regularly available to the citizens for their appreciation, thereby improving public accountability,” Ahmed said.
Mrs. Ahmed said that under the current Management, the implementation of the enhanced powers of the Parliament commenced with the consideration of the budget of the Community.
This she said is a significant step in the direction of public accountability as the opinions expressed on the budget now constitute a core part of the budget approval process by the Council of Ministers.
Transparency and accountability
The Chairman, Public Accounts Committee, ECOWAS Parliament. Youssoufous Nouhoume, disclosed that ECOWAS has shown commitment to transparency and accountability with the implementation of new policies.
Honorable Nouhoume said that the desire for transparency in the management of ECOWAS Institutions had been accompanied by the recent creation of the Office of the Auditor General as an Institution, independent of other Institutions.
“In the same vein, Parliament created in March 2020, during its inaugural session in Niamey, the Public Account Commission.
“With a view to supporting the dynamic of seeking transparency and publicly reporting on the efficiency of the entities of the ECOWAS.
“For sound and effective functioning of the Community and to ascertain that the benefit of public funds (Community Levy) being used, reach the lowest strata of society and to every individual, annual audit is an indispensable tool.
“It helped secure accountability of the executive to the Parliament and towards the public in general.
“The legislature can exercise control over the executives and verify that the public resources (Community Levy) have been utilized responsibly, for the purpose intended.
“And funds raised through various sources like taxes reach government fully,” she said.
The theme of the joint-delocalized meeting is ”The modalities for the practical implementation of Articles 9 and 11 of the Supplementary Act of the Parliament in respect of the consideration of the Community Audit Reports’’.
The meeting aims at enabling members of the Joint Committee of the ECOWAS Parliament and other ECOWAS Institutions deliberate, better understand, and take ownership of the practical implementation of the said Articles.
Emmanuel Ukoh
