The founder and executive chairman of the Africa Prosperity Network (APN), Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko has said the leadership of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to sit up and attend to the needs of the region.
He said the ECOWAS leadership has been very slow in engaging the three countries that have exited the regional bloc.
Speaking with Kwaku Nhyira-Addo on the Asaase Breakfast Show on Wednesday (31 January), Otchere-Darko said, “I’m absolutely convinced that they will find a way forward…what we have to ask ourselves is, are there any external forces behind these three? For me, the ECOWAS leadership must just sit up.”
He said, “I was worried when they made Tinubu the chairperson [of ECOWAS] because he’s just come on and there’s a lot of focus on Nigeria. I think the kind of proactive leadership that ECOWAS was expecting of the new chair has not happened but it must happen because really, they should sit up.
The exit
Three West African junta-led states – Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso – said on Sunday they are immediately leaving the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), a regional economic bloc that has been urging them to return to democratic rule.
The decision by the three countries, announced in a joint statement read out on Niger national television, is a blow to the bloc’s regional integration efforts after it suspended the three countries following military takeovers.
Since the coups, and despite the sanctions, negotiations and threats of military intervention, the military leaders have failed to provide a clear timetable to return the countries to constitutional rule.
Instead, they have hardened their rhetoric against the bloc and accused it of being influenced by external powers. The three countries have also cut military and co-operation ties with their former colonial master France, and turned to Russia for security support.
The three military leaders in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger have argued that they want to restore security before organising elections as the three Sahel nations struggle contain insurgencies linked to al-Qaeda and Islamic State.
Slow engagement
But the executive chairman of the Africa Prosperity Network said the ECOWAS leadership has been very slow in engaging the three countries that have exited the regional bloc.
He called on ECOWAS to be proactive in addressing challenges of the regional bloc.
“I expect that next week they will find a way forward. The engagement has been slower than one had anticipated.”
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