COURT PRESIDENT PLEDGES COOPERATION WITH STAKEHOLDERS TO ENSURE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF ITS INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

The President of the ECOWAS Court of Justice, Justice Edward Amoako Asante has pledged to engage with the ECOWAS Commission, relevant institutions of the Community and Member States to ensure the implementation of the recommendations of the just concluded international conference of the Court as these will help arrest the resurgence of military rule in the region.

‘Obviously, the resurgence is not only a threat to regional peace and security with implications for all of us but also to our cherished values of human rights, accountability and fundamental freedoms that require our collective effort to reverse for regional stability,” the President said during a thank you visit to the Chief Justice of The Gambia, Justice Hassan B. Jallow.

He assured the Chief Justice that the Court will follow up on his proposal for the creation of a forum of Chief Justices of the region that will facilitate experience sharing, cooperation and interface with the Court as this will help deepen Community law and justice.

“Hopefully, it should be possible to inaugurate such a forum from next year as this will facilitate judicial cooperation and help in the development of Community law,” he said.

He used the opportunity to commend the Chief Justice for his contribution along with the judiciary and other high officials of the government to the success of the international conference hosted by The Gambia held between 22^nd and 25^th May 2023 on the theme ECOWAS’ zero tolerance for unconstitutional change of government.

He said that the visit was consistent with the demands of the African tradition and to acknowledge the ‘fervent’ support enjoyed by the Court for the conference which has left an ‘indelible’ impression on its management and staff.

In his response, Justice Jallow urged the President to work with Member States to ensure the implementation of the recommendations of conference, particularly those that will enable the region address the creeping threat to the region’s democracy with the resurgence of military coups in the Republics of Burkina Faso, Guinea and Mali.

“We wish we could have contributed more to the conference, particularly the participation of officials of the judiciary, including judges in the panel,” the Chief Justice emphasized.

Justice Asante was also at the Ministry of Trade, Industry, Regional Integration and Employment where has was received by the Permanent Secretary, Mr. Lamin Dampha and used the opportunity assure the State of the possibility of hosting another activity of the Court.

“With the state of the art facilities available at the new Sir Dawda Kairaba conference centre, we are hopeful of organizing another activity of the Court in The Gambia very soon,” the President assured the Permanent Secretary, who received the delegation of Court on behalf of the Minister.

The President had earlier met with the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Mr. Dawda A. Jallow, who told him that the government was mulling the possibility of transforming the country into a hub for international conferences because of the facilities available at its new conference centre and the negative effect of the Covid pandemic on its tourism industry, a main source of government revenue.

He also told his visitor that the government plans to construct three star hotels behind the conference center to provide quality hotel adjoining the centre for visitors while a new VIP facility has been constructed at the airport for the use of this category of visitors.

Earlier, Justice Asante had described the conference as the most successful organized by the Court and the venue as among the biggest and best of such facility in the region.

Some 24 papers were presented and discussed during the four day conference under seven sub themes while Professor Anslem Odinkalu, a lawyer, human rights activist and professor of Practice at Tuft University in the US delivered the keynote address as the Guest Speaker.